Mississippi ArTEAst Festival at Simply TeaVine

Simply TeaVine hosted a delightful event last week--A Mississippi ArTEAst Festival. Dean Meador Smith, co-owner, celebrated past and present Mississippi artists by inviting 12 artists to display their works in this charming Victorian tearoom.

There were writers, potters, jewelry makers, photographers, stained glass artists, and I was honored to show my fiber art.

The menu featured favorites or special recipes such as:

Elvis Presley's Fried Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwich

Eudora Welty's Shrimp Eudora

Brett Favre's Chili

Morgan Freeman's Greens

Faith Hill's Cornbread

Oprah Winfrey's Berries

Tennessee Williams' Lemon Ice Box Pie

William Faulkner's Peach Cobbler

Elements Series completed - May 2008

I took Linda Schmidt's online class on Elements in Fabric through Quilt University. What fun it was to experiment with all those strange products. I burned fabric, bleached holes in fabric, melted cellophane and Tyvek, added several kinds of paints and Angelina and foil, all to make the four elements: Water, Air, Fire, and Earth. Each is a separate layered, quilted piece which I had framed. The Fire and Water pieces won 1st and 2nd place awards in the April 2008 SMAA Focused Art Show (see previous post). The other two elements, Air (15x15) and Earth (23x24) are complete and pictured above before framing.

April 2008 South Mississippi Art Association show

Fire won a blue ribbon and Water a red ribbon in the April 2008 SMAA Focused Show. Purple Mountains placed third. This focused show of limited categories featured Glasswork, 3-D, Fiber Art, and Mixed Media. Although my eight entries in Fiber Art were the entire category, I was still pleased about the sweep. There were some 50 Mixed Media entries, and 10-12 each in Glasswork and 3-D.
I recently learned how to incorporate some weird and unusual materials from Linda Schmidt of Dublin, CA, in a Quilt University online class, and the Fire and Water pieces are the beginning of a series of the four elements. Air is at the frame shop and Earth is still on my design wall. These pieces incorporate paint, puff paint, burned fabric edges, Angelina, organza, cellophane, ribbon, tulle, and Tyvek, in addition to the usual fabric, shiny threads, and machine stitches.
Fire (14x21) and Water (16x14) shown before framing. The finished/framed pieces are pictured at the art show.

Juried Exhibit at William Carey University

Chatham Meade, director of the Lucile Parker Gallery at William Carey University, selected 17 pieces made by Pine Belt Quilters for a month-long exhibit at the Gallery. The exhibit opened with a reception March 27 and closed on April 28.




My pieces "When Worlds Collide" (left), "Purple Fern Shadows" (below center), and "Return of the Trees" (below right) were part of the exhibit.

Springtime in South Mississippi

After our one snow day in January, springtime is bursting forth in riotous color. First hint is the redbuds with tiny lavender flowers, then the Japanese magnolias that often bloom so early they get nipped by a late frost, then yellow forsythia and wild vines of yellow flowers, plum and pear trees, and now the large Bradford pears trees covered in fluffy white blooms for a couple of weeks before their green leaves take over. By mid-March the dogwood and azaleas are in full bloom and wisteria vines climb to the tops of pines trees. Our Lady Banksia rose bush climbs and cascades from a dogwood tree as tall as the neighbor's house. Oh, how blessed we are to enjoy these God's gifts to us!

Quick Draw

No guns involved, just lots of paint with one sewing machine added. Fiber art can compete with oil and watercolor and acrylic!
The South Mississippi Art Association co-sponsored a Quick Draw fund raiser with the AIDS Services Coalition in Hattiesburg, MS. About 25 artists created their works in a variety of mediums during a one-hour session, with patrons and customers milling around watching. At the end of the hour, we had 15 minutes to frame or finish up the piece before the live auction.

In my case, I took my sewing machine, fabric, threads, batting, and a planned design of the landscape I thought I could create in an hour's time. Just to be sure, I did a trial run of another piece the day before, which I learned nearly all the others had done. We cleared over $3,000 after expenses, and other artwork sold for the artists at the silent auction.

It was a fun afternoon with food and drink and music by a steel drum artist and lots of visiting. This event was so well received that it is planned to be the first of many annual ones.

Quilts for Camp Shelby

Thousands of soldiers are trained and deployed at Camp Shelby just south of Hattiesburg, MS. Every time we see these US Army dads and moms saying goodbye to their children, we are moved to want to add a small measure of comfort and to express our appreciation for this enormous sacrifice. Our quilt guild, Pine Belt Quilters (www.pinebeltquilters.com) , makes quilts for children all year, so in November we donated 46 quilts to the chaplains for distribution to children of soldiers shipping out.
1st Sgt. Stephanie Williams brought copies of the Reveille, the Camp Shelby newspaper to our president, Gloria Green (Linda Basden, Marilyn Tucker, Jo-Ann Evans in the background).
Our Children's Quilt group is shown at our December meeting with Christmas goodies.
Our oldest member, Leola Kriegbaum, recently celebrated her 99th birthday on November 10; she continues to make quilt tops and bring them to us for quilting. She was delighted to share in our day with the soldiers. Pictured with Leola are Capt. Terry Partin and 1st Sgt. John Stiles and Martha Ginn, coordinator of the children's group.

South Mississippi Art Association 31st Annual Show

What a thrill to win two ribbons in our 31st anual art show (SMAA: www.southmsart.org) in Hattiesburg, MS, Dec. 8, 2007! It's always interesting to find a suitable category for my fiber art; if there is a "Mixed Media" category, I enter there; if not, "Other" covers it.

My "Sunrise in the Forest," a small landscape scene in an 8x10 mat with a 16x20 frame won a blue ribbon. "Return of the Trees" (17x22) won a red ribbon. It began as my 2007 Journal quilt but I withdrew it because I had not fallen in love with it in September when it was due. I later added more stitching and was satisfied with it.

But having a well-known collector, Sarah Gillespie, purchase "Slashed Trees" (21x19) was a very special honor. She has a large collection of artwork that was housed at William Carey University on the Gulf Coast. This gallery was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in August of 2005 and funds are being raised to build a gallery on the Hattiesburg WCU (http://www.wmcarey.edu) campus to house her extensive collection. Fortunately, none of her artwork was lost in the storm, but this valuable collection is in storage and needs a permanent home where it can be enjoyed.

Sunprinting, vintage damask napkins

I love to do sunprinting using leaves and a little fabric paint. Muslin or other solid light-colored fabric is the usual background, but I tried this on an antique damask napkin and got an interesting surprise when the texture of the woven fabric showed through. Machine quilting with rayon or polyester threads further defines the shapes of the leaves.

Variety in the HOPE Exhibit at the Cancer Center

The HOPE exhibit was well received. Here is an example of the variety of artwork included in the show.

HOPE Exhibit

"A Brighter Tomorrow" (23" x 18") was prepared for the HOPE Exhibit in the lobby of the Forrest General Hospital Cancer Center in Hattiesburg, MS, Aug. 20-Sept. 7. The exhibit contains 30 pieces of artwork by the South Mississippi Art Association and is sponsored by Spirit of Women, SMAA, and Waiting for a Cure.

The piece features reverse applique, AngelinaTM fibers, organza, with an overlay of tulle. The bright sun is made of Fantasy FilmTM (http://www.artglitter.com/). Various colors of rayon and polyester thread were used for the quilting, and the white border was quilted by bobbin drawing, using Madeira Glamour thread.

Color My World

This piece, entitled "Color My World (18" x 17"), was painted with Jacquard textile paints, using melted paraffin and beeswax for resist on white Kona cotton. The four borders are hand-dyes, and the inner borders of print in a swirling, rotating fashion were added to carry out the feeling of circular movement. The binding strips also rotate clockwise.

More Painting on Silk

Here is the second painting, also using a resist. With this much detail and the objects being rather small, I decided to frame it (11 x 14) under glass. There is no stitching on this one.

Painting on Silk

I used Jacquard paints on white silk to create this Angel Trumpet based on a photograph of this beautiful flower in my yard. The borders are hand-dyed Kona cotton. The machine quilting was done with rayon thread.

Welcome to Martha's Blog

As a fiber artist, I love to create using fabric, threads, layers, appliques, and embellishments. This blog will enable me to post pictures and text of what I am working on. I hope friends will check in often and let me hear from you.