November Happenings

Cool fall weather is perfect for another Brown Bag Concert sponsored by the Hattiesburg Arts Council, featuring the Spectrum Trio playing cool jazz. It was necessary to sit in a sunny spot!

Oddfellows Gallery invites South Mississippi Art Association artists to display monthly. Here (back wall) are works by Carla Carlson, Hector Boldo, Cara, (right wall) me, Mike Box and two others. I always feel I'm in good company with these talented artists! 

SMAA section at Oddfellows Gallery

 I just picked up some work from the frame shop which I plan to use in an upcoming show.

12" Stitched pictures on gallery wrapped canvas set in frame

Sunday Ties, 12" x 26"

Paula Kovarik's fearless stitching class resulted in these two pieces. She shared some previously quilted pieces from a good friend which she invited us to cut up and use. I first created this Storm at Sea block, then sliced it up and reassembled to make The Foolish Man's House.

Storm at Sea block made from previously stitched quilts

The Foolish Man's House, 19" x 24"

Triangle Extension, 16" x 16"

A friend often shares her jigsaw puzzles with me with the edge pieces in a Ziploc bag. This one had all the borders assembled and taped in sections, giving quite a head start. This 1,000 piece scene will still take me a while.

Cool September Mornings

Ahhh. . . how pleasant to wake up to some 60-degree temperatures in late September!  And I got my Pfizer booster vaccine today. Another milestone.

I've been busy preparing my part on the program at the Fall Gathering of Mississippi Quilt Association this weekend--our first in-person since February 2020. I'll be talking about my stitched pictures and ghost-quilted flower pictures. I picked up these stitched abstract pieces from the framer today.

There isn't much blooming now after our hot summer, but I was fascinated by the huge mushrooms in my neighbor's yard. They look so delicious but of course I wouldn't dare try them. They are about 6" across.

Seed pod on Magnolia tree

Our Readers Theatre group presented a program for PrimeTime at University Baptist Church, and Linda read the role of a sassy teen-aged daughter in one of the skits.

Linda Ginn in Readers Theatre

The SMAA exhibit at the Lucile Parker Gallery is over but I am still amazed remembering the wildly colorful work of Hector Boldo. Here is my favorite of his work in the show.  

Offrenda (Offering) by Hector Boldo

Hector painted one of the utility boxes that we are enjoying around Hattiesburg. You can see his art on the corner of Hardy and S. 34th Avenue by Toefer's. Thanks to the artists who spread joy through these paintings around our city. 

Southern Fiber Artists Meeting

It was my privilege to present a program on Critiquing My Art at our August 25 Southern Fiber Artists meeting in Ridgeland. This group of art quilters meets quarterly to learn, share, and show our art. I recently took an online course with Lyric Kinard to study the elements and principles of design as they relate to art quilting. I shared with the group some of the points I had learned, showing some examples of good design and some that were not successful, discussing the strong points and weaknesses. You know those magic "building blocks" Shape, Color, Value, Line, and Texture. We can learn from every piece of art we make if we understand how these building blocks function. Having a group to study and critique with can be valuable because sometimes we are so close to our own work we can not view it objectively.
At each SFA meeting we have a challenge to create an 8"x 11" piece using a specified color and object. The color/object challenge for this meeting was Forest Green/Spirit; next meeting's challenge is Red/Water. The designs and techniques the quilters come up with are amazing and inspiring.
The SFA group has been invited to create a special exhibit at the Pine Belt Quilters show October 5-6, and Marcus Weekley volunteered to curate this exhibit. This exhibit will take the place of the Hoffman Exhibit that has been a part of PBQ's last several shows.
I have two pieces accepted into the South Mississippi Art Association show in the new Lucile Parker Gallery at William Carey University. This is the first show in the new building after the hurricane destroyed the former building. The show runs September 4-27.

Red-Green Interleave

Green Fish

The Pine Belt Quilters show is nearly here. We receive the quilts and Diane Leclair begins judging on Monday, October 1. It will be a whirlwind FOUR days of activity, followed by TWO exciting days the show is open to the public.

Merry Christmas

It's hard to believe this year is nearly over. I feel as if I've been in some sort of time machine zooming along. Here's hoping I can recall some of just this one busy month's happenings.
Making a little progress on The Window Watchers although it has taken a backseat to more pressing matters--like a bit of Christmas mail, beautiful choir special music, SMAA art show, and quilt meeting.
And we had a beautiful one-day 5-inch snowfall in Hattiesburg. We only get snow about once in 5 years, so we take lots of pictures, close schools, stores and streets. Here's what it looked like at my house--outside and in.

Elizabeth, My Almost Perfect Cat won a 2nd place ribbon in the South Mississippi Art Association's annual show. Coming in 2nd to Andrea Kostyal's 1st place always makes me feel like a winner.
I also entered Winter Cabin and Jacob's Ladder, all in the Mixed Media/Other Category

Elizabeth, My Almost Perfect Cat--2nd Place
Mixed Media Category

Winter Cabin

Jacob's Ladder

My guild, Pine Belt Quilters had the reveal for the challenge we have worked on during 2017--a "modern" quilt. We drew three crayons from a bag and had to use these three colors (plus neutrals),  using at least 20 of the 27 patterns given during the year. My crayons were bittersweet, peach, and green. We were to stretch, skew, alter, "modernize" the blocks in some way in our 59+ inch quilts. I did not alter but chose to use different size blocks and set with some negative space for a variety of quilting designs in a smaller quilt. All the guild challenge pieces can be seen Here.

Crayon Challenge, 42" x 52"

Detail of quilting

Detail of quilting

Decorating takes a back seat to other holiday celebrations--like music and church gatherings and communicating with friends. The Boehm Spirit of Bethlehem porcelain figures are on display all year but are difficult to photograph in a lighted, mirrored cabinet. Two Santas and an elf are added, which makes enough around here, as long as there is music!

Several friends and I celebrated with Gwen Yijuan Yin as Kat Kimmel pronounced a house blessing at her new home. Gwen lived with me for a couple of months while she was making this move. She is a talented artist and musician and friend, a real asset to Hattiesburg!

Gwen and Kat

Linking to Nina-Marie Sayre's Off the Wall Friday

SMAA's 50th Anniversary Celebration

I'm a proud member of South Mississippi Art Association, and we're celebrating our 50th anniversary with an exhibit at Hattiesburg Cultural Center. The exhibit opens June 5 and runs through June 21.

About 40 artists have a piece representing their art in the show. It is interesting to try to decide what piece best represents my work, but I decided on one of my favorites--Galaxy.

 

Galaxy, 37" x 24"

R T Thomas cutting the cake