SEEDS for SAQA PREMIERE

The New Mexico SAQA exhibit, Seeds for SAQA, How Does Your Garden Grow?, premiered last weekend, July 17, at the Silver City Fiber Festival. The exhibit spanned fourteen panels, consisting of over 70 quilts.  The exhibit was met with rave reviews!

Each quilt is 16X16 inches square, mounted on an 18X24 inch foam core board.  Each board is labeled with the title of the seed and the artist's name...they look just like the front of a seed packet!  The polka dot edge really sets them off against the black drape.  The consistency of the presentation has a wonderful impact on the audience.

These photos show only a few of the many quilts...just a tease.  A PDF catalog of the entire show, including the artist statements, will soon be available on this blog site.  Check back in a week or two.

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT - APRIL FOSTER

Santa Fe Sunflowers: Enchanted Threads 2012  Albuquerque, NM, 

New Mexico Unfolding, 2013, Capitol Rotunda Gallery

Shades of the Southwest, AQS show 2015

I guess I have always had a desire to be an artist but never seemed to have the talent/ability.  From my earliest memories I wanted to draw, to express what I was feeling, thinking or imagining.  This was always an inner struggle for me but when my mother began to make quilts again in the 1970’s, I became fascinated with the colors and patterns and soon was off and quilting.  So here I am now finally being able to do what I always wanted to do - make art.

In trying out several different types of art quilts, I finally found that I like to tell stories and share what is in my imagination.  I want my quilts not only to tell a story but to be fun.  I want them to leave room for the viewer's imagination to add to the story if they want, but always the ultimate goal is to make people feel good.

 Snap Dragons:  Art Quilts XIX 2014 - Permission to Play
Chandler , AZ
2015 Fiber Arts Fiesta

I work from things I visualize in my head and when I first started making art quilts, I would just start sewing everything together, but with some workshops and coaching from my husband I now work sketching out my ideas and finalizing the design.  This is still a very frustrating thing for me to do, as I want to just jump right in and start sewing, but I now understand the value of planning.  This doesn’t mean that everything will turn out exactly as planned because I may want to make changes as I go or I may think of something that I feel will might make the piece more interesting.

I wish I would have started doing this a lot sooner, but as it is I do get a lot of support and encouragement at home.  I have learned that the only way to get better and grow is to keep experimenting and trying new things.  If you just keep doing the same thing the same way life will become really boring really fast. My hope is that when people see my quilts they go away with a little more joy in their lives.  Life should be about joy, happiness and having fun.

Contact: aprilspring43@msn.com

Once Upon a Time:; Art Quilts XVIII: ARTrageous 2013 

2015 Fiber Arts Fiesta 

KUDOS to SACRED THREADS Artists

Congratulations to NM SAQA members accepted into Sacred Threads!!

Holly Altman, Nora Beebe, Sandra Branjord, Shannon Conley, Carolyn Castaneda, Jennifer Day, Martha Wolf, Marianne Williamson, and Judith Roderick.



For more information:


http://www.sacredthreadsquilts.com

CULTURAL RED ... OPENING NIGHT

After much anticipation and hard work, the SAQA New Mexico show, CULTURAL RED, opened last Friday evening at the Capitol Rotunda Gallery in Santa Fe.

All who attended were overwhelmed by the beauty and fine workmanship shown in each of the quilts in the exhibit.  Great food, great conversation and great art....a winning combination!

The show runs through August 17, 2015.   The gallery is open Monday thru Friday, 9 am - 5:30 pm. PLEASE NOTE:  The gallery is closed on Saturday and Sunday.

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT - NORA BEBEE

Metamorphosis  *Houston 2014, currently on tour
Internal changes represented by fiber to felted flowers.
 External changes represented by cocoon to butterfly.

 I am a story teller. I use fabric, beads, cords and other objects to write my stories. The image I create reflects what I think and feel. I want my work to be relatable and meaningful. If I am successful, when someone looks at my work, ’it’ becomes their story, too.

I don’t quilt unless the topic means something to me. I will do research, take pictures and collect objects that relate to that project. This process can take months to over a year.

Once I sit down and attempt to quilt, anything can happen! The quilt takes on a life of its own: construction or a miscue  may take me in a totally different direction. I believe my quilts have their own soul.

I have been very blessed. I have exhibited in Taiwan, Sacred Threads,  Houston, and across the country. I have had my quilts appear in magazines. I guess the obvious question would be: What next? I really don’t know!

I didn’t expect this. I didn’t plan for this, but it is a huge part of my life now.
My quilting experiences, have taught me to believe, anything is possible. Whatever the future will bring, I bet it’ll make a good story!

Contact: saltcreekarts@yahoo.com

Who’s Laughing Now  *Houston, 2015 IQF 2016 Quilt, Knit, Stitch 2016
Paiute Story: Legend People laughed at Coyote, he changed them into stone. Now they are hoodoos at Bryce National Canyon.

Bark Cloth Mask *Santa Fe 2015 Hubbard Museum 2016
Interpretation of  ancestral  New Guinea masks.

Note: All photographs done by Allen Mitchell Photography alan@alanmitchellphotography.com

WILD FABRICATIONS Artists

Please join me in congratulating four New Mexico Artists for their inclusion in the SAQA exhibition Wild Fabrications. Pieces from Holly Altman, Nora Bebee, Jennifer Day and Judith Roderick were selected by juror Geoffrey Gorman. Wild Fabrications will celebrate a world of animals both real and fantastical.  Contributing artists were asked to let their imaginations run wild, push their limits and create interesting and unusual interpretations of animals using unexpected or unconventional materials and embellishment. It will be very exciting to see their interpretation of the theme. Wild fabrications will premiere at the International Quilt Festival in Houston October 2015.

Michelle Jackson

SAQA NM Representative

HOLLY ALTMAN FEATURED IN THE SAQA JOURNAL

TWO of our New Mexico SAQA members are featured in the current issue of the SAQA Journal...Holly Altman as the artist, and Julie R. Filatoff as the author of the article.  I hope you have your copy handy and will take a closer look.
This issue of the  journal is not yet online, but past issues can be read online by going to saqa.com, clicking on RESOURCES at the top of the page, then SAQA Journal...sign in as a member to read.

POSTCARD FOR CULTURAL RED

From Betty Busby:

 

MANY thanks to Vicki Conley for designing our fabulous postcard for Cultural Red.

The printer has the go ahead on these, we can expect the actual cards soon- in the meantime, you can use these images in your email.

 

We'll also be ordering flyers to put up in stores, and Mark Hollingsworth and Jim Carnevale have generously supplied photos for our large signs at the gallery- thank you all!

 

 

 

NEW INFORMATION ON THE BLOG

There are a few changes to the SAQA New Mexico blog.  There are new tabs below the header:  IMPORTANT DATES and CALL FOR ENTRY:  SEEDS BY SAQA.

IMPORTANT DATES list the next meeting date and location, in this case March 14 in Albuquerque.  Following will be relevant dates for our shows...openings, closings, deliveries, deadlines for submission.  Use this page as a quick reference guide to keep your calendar up to date.

CALL FOR ENTRY pages contain the prospectus and entry form for each show.  When the submission deadline has passed, the general show information will remain available in one place, but the heading will note the application is closed.

I hope these pages will encourage our members to use this blog as a source for "what" and "when" things are happening in this region.

If you have news to share, please contact me, Sue Szajer, at saqanewmexico at gmail dot com.