A morning at Visions Art Museum 02-16-13

This morning was the Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast at VAM.  This year, for the first time the biennial Visions exhibit has been at our own facility, so we had many white glove volunteers.  They were very much appreciated.  The food provided by the Board members of the museum was very good in quality and quantity.  And the event was well attended.

 
We had a special treat since Won Ju Seo, whose work in the exhibit "A Korean Woman in Modern Times #1" took the Thomas Contemporary Quilt Recognition Award, was in town with her husband  They came from a cold and snowy New Jersey to enjoy the lovely winter sunshine in SCalifornia.   Won Ju talked about her work and her inspiration.  Here she is wearing a necklace that she made from silk scraps and stitches. 
 

 
Here I am with Won Ju and her lovely hand stitched piece.
 

 
Beth Smith, Director of the Visions Art Museum, with volunteer Mary Tabar.
 

This is Won Ju's husband, Howard, visiting with volunteer Judy Birchett.  He is a wonderfully supportive guy and spent his time taking pictures for Won Ju and visiting with the volunteers.  In the background are volunteers Barbara Friedman and Nelda McComb.

Last Saturday there was a closing reception for the exhibit and the Viewer's Choice was announced.  It is this piece from Valarie Robinson of Victoria, Australia.  Which garnered the most votes from visitors and, incidentally, sold just last week to a couple visiting from out of town.

 

 

 

 

 

It is quite a large piece and very white with black quilting.  Hung on a white wall it is impossible to take a good picture, so I am showing two not very successful images.  The quilt is white-white - the color in the pictures come from shadows and no flash used.  

 

The Free Motion Quilting (FMQ) is amazing.  Full of motifs that represent the era of each dress the all over view from a distance looks like lace is attached over the white fabric. 

 

These little motifs represent women's tasks during the English settlement of the continent.

 

The filler quilting is imaginative and connected to the theme of the dresses.  

 

Friday Feet 02-15-13

Is this elegant or what?  It is the invitation to the Oceanside Museum of Art annual formal fundraiser.

Happy Valentine's Day 02-14-13

Valentine's Day is not high on the days that I celebrate.  But I do have a small collection of hearts, acquired over fifty years or so.  I keep them in a Plexiglas box on a side table in the living room.

 
Top row:  a black stone painted with a heart,  a natural stone heart, the first acquired - found on a beach , two carved stone hearts, a tiny metal heart.
Front row:  a mirror compact, a wooden box, a carved jasper stone heart, a leather heart filled with B-Bs to use as a paper weight.

Wordless Wednesday 02-13-13

 

Food - again. 02-12-13

At the pre-closing reception at VAM for "Brainstorms" on Saturday evening (it will actually close on Sunday, Feb 17th) the winner of the Viewer's Choice award was announced - "Homage to Federation" by Valarie Robinson of Victoria, Australia.  This is a large quilt showing four white 1890-1920 period dresses, extensively machine quilted with words and symbols. The quilt "Sentinels" by Denise Oyama Miller was a close runner up. 

After the event at the Museum, Beth and I tried a sushi restaurant that opened in mid December a few blocks from VAM.  The food was very good, but there is nothing in the room to absorb the sound, making it very noisy.   We started out with miso soup (excellent) and then shared vegetable tempura (wonderfully crisp on the outside), followed by a rainbow roll (delicious).  When we had devoured all that, we were still a little hungry so we shared one plate of nigiri which was served with hairlike threads of diakon radish (delectable).   To end the meal, since we are both dessert lovers, we each had a serving of green tea ice cream. 

 
Nigiri at Sushi Mura restaurant in Liberty Station, San Diego.
Ahi tuna, Yellowtail, Salmon w/lemon and a dab of wasabi.
 

 
Green tea ice cream with chocolate drizzle and a sprinkle of powdered sugar.
 

 
The green tea ice cream is very dense and rich.  As much as I like it, half this serving would have been enough.  However, I couldn't waste it, so, of course, I ate it all. 
http://libertystation.com/blog/sushi-mura-grand-opening-sunday-december-16th

Today I joined 20 ladies from Surfside Quilters Guild for after-the-meeting-lunch at Carbonara's in San Clemente, which is just down the hill from the church where we meet.  The main dish was salmon accompanied with pasta in a tomato/vodka sauce and steamed veggies.  Very good.

But the highlight was this wonderful Tiramisu we were served for dessert.  So light and tender, like eating a piece of cloud.  Nice presentation, too.   

http://www.carbonara.com/

Monday Browsing 02-11-13

Loving cat video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_5tpLjUcrE

Textile and Fiber Art List - online galleries:  http://www.tafalist.com/

Valentine wall hanging tutorial from Frieda Anderson: 
http://www.friestyle.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/ValentineHearts.pdf

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2013/02/youth-age-music-news.html?mbid=nl_Daily+%28176%29    Age, Youth, Music

http://www.flickr.com/groups/2105749@N24/pool/   Modern Quilt Guild national fabric challenge

There are over 400 pictures, many WIP repeats, but scrolling through the thumbnails is interesting.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B7VlGPQWcMbZZGE0Y2YwYzItMzQyOC00MTU1LThhMzktZTUwNzk2ODk1ZTZk/edit?hl=en#    Cute sewing tote tutorial – image toward bottom of MQG challenge Flicker page.

The Modern Quilt Guild is a nation wide group of over 100 Guilds.  Learn about them here: http://themodernquiltguild.com/about-2/

Carolyn Ducey, curator of the International Quilt Study Center & Museum, has posted a series of videos discussing each of the artists in the SAQA Showcase exhibition.

Introduction - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9zVhhLSdO8&list=PL8wATen2F8396_r4AJMdZUIDhpwQaZdAD
Jan Myers-Newbury - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClhV82ZxUg8
Gay Lasher - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJa8xHRiSVE
Wen Redmond - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnpIwiXKNL4&list=PL8wATen2F8396_r4AJMdZUIDhpwQaZdAD
Deidre Adams - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1OBvF-so0o
Michael Cummings - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7ToW2SoVX0&list=PL8wATen2F8396_r4AJMdZUIDhpwQaZdAD
Susan Shie - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iq7msimBzmI&list=PL8wATen2F8396_r4AJMdZUIDhpwQaZdAD

Dog tags at the National Vietnam Veterans Art Museum in Chicago:
http://www.nvam.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=218&Itemid=54


Pacific Ocean along I-5 enroute to San Diego  2004

C. Terry Meyer quilt from SAQA 2011 auction 02-10-13

Here is another quilt from the SAQA 2011 auction.   I love Terry's use of older fabrics, I have some of these in my fabric library.  I also think one of the attractions is the contrast between the older, bluer fabrics and newer, brighter fabrics exposed underneath.  The pictures are bluer than they should be, but I have tried for different images to no avail. 

 
"Ode to a Cabbage Rose"  C. Terry Meyer - Espanola, NM  2011 12"x12"
Cotton fabrics, metallic gold thread.  Machine reverse applique, machine quilting.
 

 
It appears that Terry made nine blocks (there are nine 'surface' fabrics) and then cut them into fourths and recombined them to make four patches.  The edges of the patches are butted together and stitched with mono filament.
 

 
I believe there are four layers of fabric and Terry cut away to different layers.
 

 
The quilting is done with gold metallic thread and the edge is finished with a machine blanket stitch also done with gold metallic thread.
 

 
The back with a nice sleeve.
 

 
The label doesn't give a contact and a Google search did not find a website.