I'm teaching at Houston!

I would love to see you at the International Quilt Festival!

I'll be posting details about my classes soon.

You can find the full class catalog 

here

in the meantime.

I'm teaching one of my favorite classes Saturday, June 23rd 10am-5pm at 
Thimble Pleasures
a lovely shop nearby in Chapel Hill, NC 

ABSTRACT-A-LICIOUS

A day of wonderful fun - playtime!

We'll spend time working through very easy and concrete design exercises.

We play with different methods of creating your own unique abstract designs.

By the end of the day you will have a sweet little art quilt.

we don't worry about making masterpieces.
We simply play with design. 

PLAY being the operative word!

Join me! You can sign up here.
I'll also be teaching this class on October 30th at the International Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas. 

Student Spotlight: schooling with the Pamlico River Quilters

5 Ways to Applique 

with the Pamlico River Quilter's Guild

in Washington, NC

fun was had by all....

I even had time to take a little walk along the estuary river before driving home... beautiful!

Student Spotlight: 5 Ways to Applique with Capital Quilter's Guild

Another fabulous day playing with my friends at the Capital Quilter's Guild in Raleigh, NC!

Teaching: Fun With the West Michigan Quilter's Guild

Step on in and take a peek at the wonderful day of playtime fun we had with the West Michigan Quilter's Guild in Grand Rapids. Surface Design Sampler Platter is a crazy class - six surface design techniques in six hours. It's a mix of kindergarten playtime with a little touch of insanity thrown in.

Printing with Thermofax Screens

The first "oooohs" and "aaaaahs" as students print with their own hand carved stamps for the first time.

Citra-Solv Photocopy Transfer
A tutorial can be found here

Getting creative - adding a decorative boarderstamping paint with the end of her knife around a photocopy transfer

Working out a design for a small art quilt - she's colored in her photocopy transfer with colored pencils.

Choosing a favorite design from which to make a sketchbook slipcover
A tutorial can be found here

And much fun was had by all!!! Paint, foil, photo transfer, stamp carving, stenciling - and finally - BEADS! 

All in one crazy class!

If you're thinking to yourself - I wish, I wish, I wish I could take this class....

All these methods are taught on my two DVD workshops.

Surface Design Sampler Platter

and

Bead It Like You Mean It

Studio Class: Thermofax Screen Printing April 18

New Studio Class
Thermofax Screen Printing

Wednesday April 18th 

11am - 2pm

$65.00 includes lunch and ALL supplies, fabric, paint, and a large framed screen to take home.

Enjoy a few hours of creative playtime with Lyric as you learn the basics of what makes a good image for a thermofax screen. You'll learn how to choose, how to edit, and how to send an image to a service provider or use your own machine.

After creating your own unique image, make a screen using Lyric's thermofax machine and learn how to prepare it for printing by taping the frame to a screen or binding it with duct tape.

Learn how to use the screens with a squeegee or as a stencil, what kind of paints to use, what kinds of fabrics, how to discharge and layer imagery.

Are you ready to PLAY!?!
Sign up now - space will be limited to 8 students.
$65.00

Fee includes ALL materials, you don't need to bring a thing!

Wear old clothes or an apron.
Wednesday April 18th 

11am - 2pm

Family Ties - accepted into SAQA: A Sense of Scale

The series, Family Ties has been accepted into the Studio Art Quilt Associates exhibit

A Sense of Scale

Family Ties by Lyric Kinard

 Premiere at International Quilt Festival - Houston, November 1-4, 2012

International Quilt Festival - Cincinnati, April 2013

International Quilt Festival - Long Beach, July 2013

I haven't entered many shows for the past six years or so. That happens when you have as many kids as I do. I spend much of my limited spare time teaching instead of creating. I also got a little burned out on the expense of jury fees and shipping costs. I was keeping my work "out there" and winning awards and making a few sales but only broke even with my expenses. It was  LOT of work for very little profit. No, I don't do it for the money - but right now I'm conserving my resources, both financial and emotional/mental for other things.

So this is the first year in a long time that I've entered any shows at all and most have been local fine art shows - not necessarily art quilt shows. This year I've entered five shows and have been rejected from every one so far. I've been involved in enough jury processes that rejection is not something I take personally. My finished artwork is separate from my personal identity - it's not a comment on my self worth when it is rejected. Still - rejection is no fun.

I had already received a rejection letter from "A Sense of Scale" and had forgotten that I had a third piece entered so it was a very pleasant surprise when the acceptance email came later in the day. It will be lots of fun to see it in Houston since I'll be teaching there this year.

Becoming an Artist in Italy

 Becoming an Artist in Italy

with Lyric Kinard

Arrive June 26th 

Depart July 2nd 2013

Registration deadline is 17th April 2013

******************

The beauty of the Italian countryside is a glorious setting for awakening your creative abilities and nurturing your desire to become an artist. Inspired by the alluring village of Sulmona and the astounding beauty of the Asinomania grounds, you will learn the alphabet of the visual language, the basic elements and principles artist use to create their interpretations of the world around them. With the firm support and gentle encouragement of Lyric Kinard,  the 2011 International Association of Professional Quilters Teacher of the Year, you will take your first steps on a new artistic path, seeing the world in wonder through the eyes of an artist.

Goals/Expectations

This class delves deeply into the basics of design and involves time spent observing, absorbing, and recording your visual environment. You will interpret what you see by creating easily understandable exercises in fabric and on paper in order to give you hands-on experience with each design element. Basic drawing skills will be taught - no previous experience is necessary. You will spend time working on an original composition inspired by Italy, and learn to evaluate your work and the work of others. You will gain the skills you need to make confident design decisions about your own work.

Days 1 and 2: The Elements of Art

    Introductions and explanations of expectations

    What are the basic elements of design, the alphabet letters of the visual language

    Texture, shape, line, color, value

    Explore each element with timed cloth exercises in our sketchbooks

    Basic sketching and drawing instruction and exercises

    Explore and find inspiration focusing on each element in the environment using cameras and sketchbooks

Day 3: The Visual Language

    Introduce the principles of design, the way the letters (the elements of design)

    are put together to create meaning in the visual language

    Focal Point, Balance, Symmetry, Motion, Repetition, Unity, Scale, Proportion

    Explore each principle with timed cloth exercises in our sketchbooks

    Basic sketching and drawing exercises

    Explore and find inspiration focusing on each principle in the environment and in the art world using cameras and sketchbooks

Day 4 and 5: The Artists Eye

    Continued sketching and observation exercises

    Students will begin construction of their own original designs

    Introduce the basic structure of evaluation, how to analyze and critique artwork

    Students will lead group critiques of artwork (I could bring posters if there is no local gallery)

    Group design exercises if time allows

    Final evaluation of student work - students will be let through the evaluation process, gaining the skills they need to make confident design decisions about their own work.

    Wrap up and review

Supply lists and costs can be found here:

http://www.abruzzoschoolofcreativeart2013.com/lyric-kinard.php

It's going to be the trip of a lifetime. Join me for a week of creativity, joy, and beauty!

Creative Wisdom: How Believing Makes It So

I sing with my church choir. I love music. I love Patti, our choir director. None of us get paid and neither does she. There are a few adequate voices that can read music and hold a pitch - nobody spectacular. There are a lot of us that can only sing it if someone else is singing the right pitch in our ear.

Patti welcomes anyone who wants to sing in the choir, and I do mean anyone. We have some young children who come sing with us. Sometimes we have eight bases and no altos. I sing tenor most of the time (I'm really an alto) because we get desperate for tenors on a regular basis. There are probably only one or two people who would ever feel remotely comfortable singing a solo.

And yet, every time we sing in church - it's beautiful. I'm not just saying that. I mean it. I have a good ear, I have musical training (not in voice) and I know when something sounds less than good.

I think that we sound beautiful because Patti believes it's going to sound beautiful and we live up to her expectations. We work pretty hard on the songs but not anywhere close to how hard we'd work back in college where we'd get all stressed out. Patti never frowns and never has anything but encouraging words for us.

It's not because she's choosing easy music either. She often will pull out things that are WAAAY beyond our ability level and somehow we pull it off. Because she believes we will. She'll tell us how much the song means to her, we'll work on parts a bit or a lot, and she just smiles and says "I know the angels will fill in the part we aren't getting" and somehow, it always happens.

We all can learn so much from the "Patti Effect."

She believes it will be so - completely, unabashedly.

And it is.

I want to teach like Patti conducts... knowing that each of my students is capable and that they ARE creative, they CAN do it, they WILL find that spark that they are looking for. Believing so much in each one of them, without any hint of doubting, that they can't help but succeed.

I Love ... On-Line Students!

May I tell you how much I love my on-line students? The Artist's Toolbox (new session opens this friday) is an especially wonderful class for me to get to know these lovely people. 

Angela - value study

So many of them come in saying "I can't draw" or have real reservations about their abilities to create original art but by the end of class you see their confidence just blossom. 

Dahlia - depth study

 I truly DO believe that everyone is creative in some way.

If you give yourself time to learn and permission to be imperfect it is amazing what you can do.

Cindy - shape study

 Art CAN be taught. You can learn to draw through some simple steps and exercises if you are willing to put in the effort. You CAN learn to understand the basic elements and principles of design. 

Uliday - texture study

 If you want to be and artist, if you are willing to put in the time and the effort....

YOU CAN BE AN ARTIST!

Lorelei - movement study

I'd love to share the journey with you. I feel an attachment with each one of these students.

Join me for

The Artist's Toolbox

www.QuiltUniversity.com

four lessons, $36.00 beginning

February 17, 2012

I Love ... Teaching!

Last week I had the great good fortune to meet a fabulous group called Fiber Frenzy in Athens, GA. The Lyndon House Arts Center is a beautiful venue with galleries and classrooms. We had two days of serious fun - a stretched out Surface Design Sampler Platter. 

Usually I teach it in one day and it can feel like drinking from a fire hose because we do SO MANY THINGS all in one day.

In a two day class we had time to play a little longer. Here we're trying out some instantly gratifying citrasolv photo transfer - (tutorial here)

We played with foil - letting the magpie shiny sparkly things lovers come out in us all!

We were having fun - honest. Ignore all the wrinkled brows of serious concentration. 

 We carved stamps and screen printed - and LOVED every minute of it!

 Did I mention how great the facility was? Room for everyone to PLAY!

I had a teacher in high school that I loved because she would let me perch on my desk or the counter by the window. I found out years later that she was always telling me to get down. I never heard her. Not once. I must have been seriously off in La La Land. 

I still love to perch.

Larry Forte came in and put together a mini-video of the day at the Lindon House Art Center.

You can find all of these techniques - and a few more on my Quilting Arts DVD Workshop called Surface Design Sampler Platter. You can purchase it from the link up there on the right side of this blog. ;-)