Has it been that long?

It's hard to believe it's been as long as it's been since I posted last, but life keeps happening and sometimes gets in the way of making art. I hope I can catch up with some of my art news. I'm happy to report that my small art quilt "Hot House Dreams" that was in the 2009 Small Art Quilt Exhibition in Groton NY won a Juror's Choice award and sold at the show. I really love that piece and am happy that someone else liked it enough to purchase it. I have a piece called "59 Downing Street" that is included in an exhibition called Fiber Force: A Futuristic Approach, that was supposed to be in the PIQF show last October but because of some mix up won't be shown until future Mancuso shows, not sure of the exhibition dates. Anyway, it was the house quilt that started all the others, and represents the big grey house of my childhood, under the shadow of Bethlehem Steel, on a brick street, with dandelions, roses, and a mom who nursed and sewed.

59 Downing Street

The text on the quilt includes parts of a poem by Ann Sexton that reads "Home is my Bethlehem, my succoring shelter, my mental hospital, my wife, my dam, my husband, my sir, my womb, my skull." I painted the background and used various methods of photo transfers including decals, gel transfers and transparencies, stamping, silk screening, and stamping. Lots of techniques.

I think the last of my house series is a piece that is in the Art Quilt XII exhibition in Chandler Arizona called "House of Dreams". The background is painted canvas, stenciled letters that read "the house shelters, protects dreams", a house from fabric I have painted/silk screened/stamped, etc. . I really like how the silk screened faces in the door turned out.

House of Dreams

House of Dreams, detail