FAN Abstracted Exhibit

Abstracted is an exhibit by Fibre Art Network members. This exhibit has artists paired up with one artist doing a realistic version of an agreed upon image, the other partner doing an abstract version. 

I first saw this display in St Catherine's in 2014. The exhibit wowed me just as much on second viewing. Now that I too am a member of FAN I know many of the artists whose works are included. 

Everyone from our fibre workshop group loved the Abstracted show. We stayed and discussed various pieces until closing. One person in our group, Diane, has a gorgeous forest floor realistic piece in this show. Congratulations Diane on fabulous texture in your piece!!

I'm looking forward to the next FAN exhibit called Ekphrastic, which is in the development phase. I am hoping to have a piece in this show!!  Yikes!!  I've got my work cut out for me!!

Here I am standing between two pieces of the Abstracted show. The one to my right is by Coreen Zerr. Gorgeous strip pieced landscape!

Here we are all in deep discussion about FAN, art and creativity. Thank you Martha for being a part of the founding members who began FAN 20 years ago. You are a wealth of knowledge and a source of inspiration for new fibre artists like us!! 

Fibre Group Fun

The fibre workshop group, 10 of us, had lots of fun together. One evening we went to Jaynie's house for apple pie, wine and a visit to her studio. 

Jaynie was the inspiration behind the gathering of fibre art in Weyburn this summer. She organized the All Beings Confluence exhibit, the Abstracted exhibit by FAN (Fibre Arts Network), the Thread exhibit at the Signal Hill Art Centre by local Saskatchewan fibre artists and the Art Walk - a fibre art show in various local businesses. 

So much fibre art all in one place for us to view!  Very inspiring!!

At Jaynie's back yard. Notice the bonfire enclosure designed and built by her sculptor husband.  

Out for supper. A male admirer wanted to pay for our meals!  Guess we made an impression. 

Checking out the detail in Jaynie's work which was hanging at the credit union. The background sky in this piece, Rush Hour, is entirely constructed out of couched threads, not fabric. Incredible!!

Jaynie's current pieces use the couched threads on topographical designs. This piece, Monte Cliche, depicts a topographical map of a mountain, forest, river and lake with appropriate cliches written overtop. You have to see it to believe it!

All beautiful works by Jaynie!!

Panels in the Making

The weeklong workshop with Martha Cole flew by. We did our artwork on the third floor of the Signal Hill Art Centre in Weyburn, a wonderful five story building, built in 1905 as a hospital. 

On day one we sketched out the being we wanted to put on our banner. I chose DNA, Helen chose trees regenerating after a forest fire, and Beth chose cattails. Others in the group focused on viruses, peacocks, hummingbirds, bees, jellyfish, and the forest floor. 

Day two we began painting. For many of us it took two or more days to complete the painting portion of the banner. For others the process of sewing sheers onto their banner was the main focus. 

The next few days were spent deciding on the proper embellishment techniques to make the banners transform into the essence of the being that was depicted. I spent a lot of time adding ribbon and satin stitching on the DNA and building a reflective lightning bolt. Helen added sheer flames to her banner. Beth focused on adding texture to her cat tail heads and dimension to the reeds. 

Painting the Sheer Fabric

The panels in the All Beings Confluence are made of sheer fabric. Martha instructed us in applying paint using wheat paste as a binding medium. 

Visiting the Beings

To start our All Beings Confluence workshop with Martha Cole we visited a display of 70 banners out of over 250 already created. They are currently hanging in the Grace United Church in Weyburn. Here are some photos. (Although, walking thru them is a marvellous experience not recreatable in photos!!)

Martha Cole in front if the All Beings Confluence in Grace United Church in Weyburn. 

Kaleidoscope Quilts

Yvonne convinced JoAnne, Annette and I to try our hands at building Kaleidoscope Quilts a la Ricki Timms. We got together for the weekend. It was hard to focus on quilting as we had lots of company. Not only did the Matskiws visit ( see previous post), but Georgette and Harold were out from BC and Elaine also came over from Swan Lake. We had lots of fun visiting!

None of us got finished our kaleidoscope quilts. Yvonne got the most done. She was actually sewing the pieces together. Whereas JoAnne and I only got as far as cutting the pieces out of strips sets. 

They look really fancy:

Here is JoAnne's quilt with three different strip set pieces cut out and arranged on the display wall. 

Here is my Kaleidoscope Quilt top with all five strip set pieces cut out and arranged on a display wall. Lots of sewing to be done now. Why on earth do we cut up fabric only to sew it all back together again!!??

Matskiws Visit

Was wonderful to catch up with Dave, Lonna, Tori and Elly. It must have been different for them to see their house with our furnishings in it. John and Shirley joined us for supper on the deck and a great reminiscing visit.