Arrowmont--Part 2--The Class

I have admired Paula Kovarik's quilting and stitching for several years, and when I saw that she was teaching a week-long class at Arrowmont, I made my plans to be there. It involved driving to Jackson, flying to Knoxville, and an expensive taxi ride from the airport to Gatlinburg, Luckily, sewing machines were furnished although having one's own is preferable. The large classroom gave the 14 students plenty of work space and room for discussions and sharing around a table. Paula gave us exercises and instructions, and we tacked our pieces on the walls so we could see each student's work and follow progress.
The emphasis was on LINE--the properties of a line, what it can do, how it can lead the eye around an artwork, how it can tell a story. To capitalize on this, we worked primarily in black and white-- white thread on black, and black thread on white, as well as a variegated black-to-white thread, which resulted in unusual pieces. We did some group work such as drawing a line on paper and then moving to each station to react to the last line placed there. We also used a line to react to a word prompt, adding to each other's line. One exercise was called "slow build," meaning to start with a line and react to it over and over to slowly build the composition.
We came home with lots of exercises and sample stitches.  I like the slogan that "Product is for the ego; Process is for the soul."

Lots of room to work

Paula commented and critiqued our pieces

I wish I had done this one!

Some of my exercises

We filled the wall; Paula is on a chair tacking mine up

After lots of black/white work, we stitched on a piece of drop-cloth; Paula liked mine!
Holly, my table mate kept incorporating color in her pieces.

The Dining Hall had coffee cups made at Arrowmont--I wanted to steal this one!

The week was instructional and inspirational. An unexpected plus was meeting and forming strong friendships with several people. I was one of the few first-timers; most had been to classes several times, taking a variety of classes. I highly recommend this school for learning and an all-around good time!

Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts-The Place

As if enjoying crisp fall weather were not enough, I got to do it last week in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, at the edge of the Great Smoky Mountains. This school is carved out of a mountainside with scenic, steep walkways joining the campus of housing, classrooms, dining hall, galleries, and offices. The town is filled with tourist shopping, amusements, dining, and a skylift that went above my cottage for a view of the area.
The Gatlinburg fire two years ago destroyed the Dormitory and woods behind it. A new 4-story dormitory has been built on the site of the destroyed one.
Enlarge any picture to see how steep some of the paths were.

Welcome to Arrowmont (see skylift above)
My housing was in Teacher's Cottage, up the hill and behind the auto on far right

My housing--Teacher's Couttage--one of the original buildings on campus
Steep drive up

My housing side view with path toward class

Work-study student housing along the path

Down the Path to class and dining hall

Down and then up--Path to class; another studio below

Map of campus; my housing was in Teacher's Cottage on far right; Dining Hall is far left.
Lots of walking up/down hill

Looking from Dining Hall toward the Classroom Building (over the hill)

Looking from Classroom toward Dining Hall (over the hill)

More about Arrowmont--The Class in next post.

Fall Is Here; Successful Quilt Show

Hattiesburg Mayor Toby Barker with Martha Ginn
(Best of Show-Small quilt by Vivian Plummer/Susie Jackson)

Hattiesburg City Councilman Jeffrey George
with Linda Ginn and Martha Ginn

It's 11 a.m. and the temp is 70 degrees--wonderful morning to enjoy coffee on the front porch! It's been a whole week since our Pine Belt Quilters show and I'm still smiling over the successful event. Receiving 290 quilts and returning 290 quilts to their makers is what I call a successful event! Diane Leclair from San Antonio was our NACQJ for the second time. She is highly complimentary of our work and enjoys coming to Hattiesburg. We also had 54 art quilts in a special exhibit by Southern Fiber Artists, which helped fulfill the title of our shows--Fiber Art & Quilt Show.
Mayor Toby Barker issued a Proclamation of Pine Belt Quilters Day and City Councilman Jeffrey George did a ribbon cutting to open our show. Linda took the entire week off to work and enjoy the quilt show. She also had two quilts entered in the show, quite impressive for a less-than-two-years quilter, says her proud mom!

Elizabeth, My Almost Perfect Cat won a first place (blue) ribbon in the Art category, and The Window Watchers (featuring Rahrah, Tarbaby, and Elizabeth) won an honorable mention (white) ribbon. My other entries were Mississippi Orange Peel, Winter Cabin, and Crayon Challenge, which did not win ribbons. "Held up well against very strong competition" I think is the comforting description often given. Insert smiley face here.

Elizabeth, My Almost Perfect Cat, 34" x 25"

The Window Watchers, 23" x 28"

Crayon Challenge, 42" x 52"

Winter Cabin, 27" x 20"

Mississippi Orange Peel, 48" x 48"
I love pictures with people admiring quilts!

The week following chairing a quilt show is totally taken up with gathering reports, sorting and organizing files and show supplies. Rahrah is checking to see if there is anything interesting here.

Quilt show supplies to go to storage