TA DA!

The wallhanging is finished!!!  It was presented this morning at the monthly get together, and she loved it! Last night, I had a moment around the possibility that she didn't even like quilts...but she does...not quilts in general but quilts that have meaning to her personally.

I call it A Community of Strength.  If you can relate to this quote, you can relate well to Darlene---it is on the label on the back.

“She danced. She sang. She took. She gave. She served. She loved. She created. She dissented. She enlivened. She saw. She grew. She sweated. She changed. She learned. She laughed. She shed her skin, She bled on the pages of her days, She walked through walls, She lived with intention.”

The unveiling- 

Pam, told me she promoted my postcards at a local upscale gallery...the woman was very interested and Pam provided the woman with the site address for Postmark'd Art.  I'm thinking I should follow up with her next week in person.  Pam has been exceptional in her enthusiasm and support for the postcards.  She is why I taught the workshop at the conference and had a vending booth...I plan to make her a card and one for Dale who bought me a piece of fabric back from Australia.  Lets see, I have about 20 cards to make for friends and family in the next 2 weeks...groovy! We all know how well I love deadlines.

Pam, not the Pam above, but Memphis Pam, and Kel are interested in a M8 website.  I've emailed David Walker (see his link under Quilt Artist) to inquire with him his fees, etc.  I love the pages he has created.  Beautiful color, but easy on the eyes and great navigation on his sites.  Even though none of us are selling our work at mega bucks (yet), I think if we get a presence on the internet, it should present our work in equal fashion of the heart and soul and integrity and sacrifice we go through to create it.  So a well designed, well presented representation of our work online, as a collective is central. 
     

A line to the dead

Deadline...a line to the dead. Thats what I feel like when I have to meet them.  Note the time of this entry...yeap! I have just NEARLY completed Darlene's wallhanging.  I still have to add a binding (possibly), a sleeve, the back label, some beading, and embellishments.  I zigzagged the edges.  Could stay like that...not sure yet.  But I'm going to present it to her in the morning (6 hours) to give me some closure around it. 

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Postmark'd Art Web Site

More about the postcards...my items went up in the gallery 2 days ago! The "For Sale" page will go up today!  My excitement stems from working collectively with others in making this happen. Somehow, I don't see that I would be happier if it was just my site solo...collective creativity, group projects, I find so much more exciting. It increases the dynamics, keeps the juices flowing, energies high, ya know?!  Poetry and quilting, although can be solo endeavors, for me it is as much about building community and creating relationships, connections as it is self-exploration and self-definition. 

From where I sit, Franki and Carol where the catalyst that funneled our energies together to create the site.  Franki is in California and Carol in Alabama and here I sit in Kentucky and the other artists are spread all around the U.S.  They are some really incredibly talented women.  The cards that I have received from them are on my Webshots album in a private album. If you are interested in seeing them, email me and I'll send you an invitation to view it. 

Margaret Mead has a quote about not underestimating the power of a small group of people to make change.  The creation of the website for Postmark'd Art demonstrates this quote in action.  Back in late summer I was thinking about how to increase my visibility as a contemporary quilter and connect with others with shared interests and using the internet as a tool to do it...after weeks of pondering this it was too daunting and I decided that I would focus on making small works, photographing and documenting my journey, learning, and submitting my work in appropriate venues for the next year.  When the chance presented itself on the QuiltArt list that I lurk on to join the postcard exchange, I took the chance thinking it would be a good ground to play, condition me with meeting deadlines (which I resent), get feedback, and hopefully make a friend or two around quilt art.  This is happening, and maybe it doesn't take much to thrill me, but I find the coming together to create the website is phenonmenal.  I'm having fun just promoting it.  This experience falls under the heading of "trusting the process" to bring you where you need to be.

From this, I've been wondering if the M8 would be interested in a similiar site for us?

Altered Living

No surprise that Altered Art appeals to me since I was born and reside still in an Altered State of Mind...I mean if you see me, I look like I'm paying attention and am fairly coherent, but upon closer examination (and if one's heart and eye is aligned just right with the rotation of the planets) I can be seen moving slowly through acreages of discarded letters, words, colors, textures..holding up eggplant to the light trying to decipher if its burgundy or purple and just what is the difference. I can be found nailing rusted words up against the back board of my soul, trying to express something more felt than spoken.  You can find me under the scraps diving deep under the fiber of living to find that elusive thread that keeps us from unraveling completely...after all, rummaging through discards to alter something into art...is about discovering connections with others where none seem to appear.  Altered living.

Pam made this altered piece for me...it is personalized with M8 which stands for Magnificent 8, a group of soulful women who through cyberhood have become soul sistahs in each other's journey that has grown beyond the internet over the last five years. 

The JtQ stands for a self-imposed nick name that reflects my lack of enthusiasm for taking on a royal name when I joined another site based on a book written by author Rebecca Wells...the initials stand for Just the Queen. 

I love the vintage imagery and in this piece the woman standing on top of the rock with her hand on her hip looking back over her shoulders as if she is saying "why don't they come on!?" to those who are lagging behind her. The back is an affirmation from Pam and a quote of something I said to her that was affirming...always nice to know that the meditations of my mouth had a meaningful impact on another.

But I looked around my office at work, where I took this piece to show the art therapist at work, and noticed other altered pieces that surrounded me...some I made, some made by others.  Here take a look at this shoe I made in a workshop at my work place a few years ago...

this was originally a sandal...selected for its openness and east of getting on and off...my dream  of the way life should be...

The next piece, I purchased A Place To Create, the gallery/studio owned by Rauch Rehabilitation Svcs. , an agency that serves people with Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities. Its been well over 12 years since I worked there.  Rauch was well known for weaving on the floor looms and producing rugs. The Director, Sandy, was so incredibly inspiring and soulful, we connected immediately, and I bloomed there...she encouraged me to dive into laying the foundation for a fine arts program to serve the people who utilized the services...so for me to return many years after my departure to visit and see the gallery/studio in the heart of downtown New Albany was so incredible. The emphasis on creating is not on individual artists but the process of creating in a collective.  The wider community donates discarded pieces and the artists at Rauch refashion them and sell them back out to the wider community.  Altered living at its finest!

Grandma, you want me to bring over a live chicken?

Yesterday I was at my mother's when Adrian called from the flea market and asked my mother if she wanted him to buy a live chicken so that she could wring it up and fry it.  A vendor there had them which was intriguing in and of itself. 

Adrian was bragging to his friends while on the phone about his grandmother doing it up ole' school style because she was from the country.  Now, lets overlook the fact that my mother left the country when she was 18 running away from all things "country" and the limitations for an African woman during that period in history. She ran to the city fully embracing urban life and a chance to re-fashion her dreams and at 70+ she ain't looked back and has no plans to even retire back to "the country" as a brother and sister did after living in Chicago.  Did he really think my mother was going to wring the neck of the chicken while it ran around in her back yard and we waited for it to kill over in order to prepare it for Sunday's Fried Chicken dinner????????????? 

He got a big kick out of her response...I so wish my farming uncles where still living so that he could have had a chance to really get a taste of living in the country.  Maybe, he too, is just a misplaced soul trying to find his tribe.

Here he is on the left with the other future patriarchs of this family:

Also, yesterday, Ade, (on the right) sung with his choir at The Brown Theatre . It was their major annual fundraiser and the honoree, Martha Dawson, gave a moving acceptance speech that was a call for every single segment of life to respond to the call of developing our city's youth.  She announced the partnerships with Spalding University and Sullivan University in joining University of Louisville in offering partial and full scholarships for each and every child who stays in the choir for all four years of high school, maintains 2.5, and stays out of trouble.  The first recipient of this arrangement was introduced. A pianist who started with the choir when he was 10 and is now 22. 

Here is a link to a local news article and photos of them rehearsing with the Girls Choir which is only 2 years old: West Louisville Choirs Plan Holiday Show  .  Ade is way in the back on the photo and I never would have found him but in true Ade fashion he was proud of his picture in the paper and pointed himself out to me.  I do not have any current photos of them but here is an older photo before Ade joined that gives an idea of how they appear in concert: WLBC  The girls wear simple black satin formals with a single strand pearl necklace and earrings and black low heel pumps. 

This was the 3rd year that an honoree was given an award. The award is always designed by a different fine artist...last year's award was given to basketball coach Rick Pitino and was a sculpture designed by William M. Duffy.   This year's award was a blown glass piece that was made by one of the master glass blowers at GlassWorks . The program is out in the car so I cannot name the artist. Will do so later.

How are these related to my quilting journey?  ...well, I got a brainstorm to do a pictorial quilt of a chicken from the yard to the dinner table and then I thought about taking the logo for the Boys Choir and placing it on a quilt with the words "hope, love, and freedom" and use the quilt as a raffle to raise money for the choir.

Half way there...YES!!!!!

Well here are the 12 blocks I finished Saturday morning at 3:00 am.  Since then, I've sewn 2 rows and the 3rd is on top of the sewing machine.  I'm going to use the left over fabrics for a pieced backing. Then I'll add a layer of pellon for stiffness, topped with a batting, then the top.  I'm not yet sure if I'll do a traditional binding or close zig zag stitch the edge.  The label, the sleeve, beads and charms will be the last steps.    Here is my block--The medium blue (mountains in all the blocks), the dark blue that makes up the roof and the light green eaves section and purple and orange that make up the front of the house are my own hand-dyes. 

At first, I was really having a hard time seeing how the fabrics where going to work in one piece.  I added my own fabrics to make the sky, peaks, roof, eaves, and foundation to each piece.  I thought the sky would be the unifying factor, so all the fabric is identical. I went for diversity in each blocks...some, I think 3, of the blocks share the same white fabric that makes up the doors and windows. Other than this, no fabrics are repeated for the eaves and foundation and of course the body of the house.

I feel so much better that this step is complete.  Here are a few more blocks up-close:

To get an even closer look, right click on top of image and select open in new window.

Just keep on stitchin'...

7 Blocks, 5 Blocks More

I knocked out 7 blocks on the wallhanging for Darlene and 5 left to go.  I stayed home today due to waking with an awful headache and I had an appointment scheduled with a new physician to replace the one that left her practice in August, but it had to be re-scheduled due to the doctor being on jury duty.  After my 2nd cup of coffee my headache diminished and I took full advantage of the cancellation and being home to make a dent in this piece.  I'll get pics up later on.  The wall hanging is a scrappy look of row houses.  Putting all the fabrics together that 11 other people selected has been a challenge but all the elements of working with color, scale, hue, and value have come into play.  Using color to balance the busyness of the fabrics has been central in picking other fabrics to complete each block.  Overall, I'm learning a great deal from the hands on work.

Know Thyself

Well, I always say that the only people who do not have stress are dead.  My enthusiasm and love for quilting has taken me to stress city.  Once this wallhanging is complete for Darlene, I know this feeling will be a vague memory in light of the joy I'll receive from presenting it to her...on the 18th...in 10 days!!!!!!!!!   I'm thinking of some short cuts I can take...but at the moment I'm regretting ever opening my mouth.  I'm interviewing to fill a position at work, working out the logistics of HMIS, staying on top of the CoC process, plus supervising 2 folks and managing 16 units of the long term housing...the last thing I need is another deadline. 

Quilting provides me a sense of peace, communion with God, a sense of freedom and flow and playfulness, and clarity in mind and body...quilting under duress just negates all of that!  Does this mean I could never make a living with this?  More than likely, the answer is yes, I can't make a living with this because discipline, or discipline as capitalism requires, is antithetical to my meandering mind.

Subconscious talking to ego: Karoda, always know thyself and behave accordingly.

Mystery

Mystery is behaving and living toward your dreams with expectation.  Very much like quilting.  Very much like creating a poem.  Very much like justice advocacy. If this is so, I live in mystery every single moment. 

Pam sent me a guided journal by Philip Simmons (not the same Phillip Simmons that is the iron gate maker from Charleston, SC) but an author from New Hampshire.  In the opening letter from the author he speaks to falling as living richly in the face of the losses we inevitably suffer...from this alone I can see why she has sent this to me.  The early part of November was filled with so much loss of life that I was angry and fighting hopelessness down like a bear protecting its young.  The first guided topic in the journal is about mystery. I've been thinking about it since Monday night...about the sense of mystery in my own living. 

This morning Dee called excited about a program in IUP that combines the Masters/Ph.D in five years...she is gonna go for it.  Thinking about her journal after we hung up...I thought this is mystery...when one acts and behaves forward toward the vision of their dreams with expectations.

Teaching the next generation

While in the quilt shop this evening a young girl of about 10 wondered in and wanted to learn to quilt...she didn't own a machine and kept asking the owner "can I learn to make this one without a machine?"  The owner showed her a hand appliqued quilt that she could do but then the cost of the class was a hindrance...she went out of the store and came back saying her 15 year old sister wanted to learn to.  My heart was touched by the young girl's earnest inquiry and desire...I almost volunteered to bring in my old machine for her to use.  After she left I spoke with the owner about programs that would provide support for working with youth...with a perk in her eye, she asked me if I would teach it...I offered to see what info and funding was available for young people to learn.  I would enjoy teaching them, (I think), or I might just be feeling all sentimental about each one reach one.   I do have that knack for allowing my enthusiasm to write a check my behind can't cash.

Form, Not Function

I really have missed Sunday afternoon's with Juanita.  In all reality I probably will not see her until next month, (God willing and the creek don't rise) (I've always loved that cliche I often heard while growing up).  The Form, Not Function exhibit will kick off January 14.  I'm aiming to take the workshop lead by Melody Johnson and will see Juanita then.  I'm going to send her the link to my postcards.

I sold five postcards at the conference! That was such a great feeling and I realized how much I missed selling. Darlene purchased my favorite one and I had a little seperation anxiety over letting it go but I know Darlene will provide a good space for it.  She said she would not be mailing it but displaying it in her office.  Also, I received so much incredible encouragement from people and was informed of several major art and craft festivals in Lexington and Berea that I plan to check out. 

This leads me to ponder getting a business license and tax id and all that jazz.  I charged a flat fee of 20 dollars for the postcards.  But that was really undercutting it. Even the most simple constructed ones should start at nothing short of 25.00.  But if I do this on a circuit, I will probably need to charge tax and be able to take credit cards, etc.

Working the circuit would be so cool to do with Deborah. Maybe target about 3-4 venues annually and just take our wares and see what happens.