ART CLOTH NORTH II

Last Friday was the opening of ART CLOTH NORTH II at the Blue Hollomon Gallery here in Anchorage, Alaska. 

ART CLOTH NORTH II is a SAQA Alaska juried regional show. This is the second year we have had this members show hence the II after the name.

The turn out was fabulous for the event. The gallery owners felt is might have been one of their largest crowds yet. 

The crowd was dense it was difficult to get photos of the quilts without people in the way.

If you missed the opening, you still have plenty of time to see the show. It will be hanging until the end of February. 

There were nine AK SAQA members with work in the show.

Amy Meissner

Barb Hanson

Carrie Payne 

Cat Larrea 

Diane Melms

Gail Ramsay

Jule Drake

Maria Shell 

Nancy Dobson 

As you can tell by the images, we are a very diverse group. If you are in Anchorage and interested in learning more about the Alaska SAQA group, please join us for our monthly meeting. Our next gathering is scheduled for Tuesday March 8th from 10AM to 12PM at the meeting room in the Kaladi Brothers on Brayton Road. 

AK SAQA Meeting January 12, 2016

Our January meeting was held on Tuesday January 12, 2016 from 10AM to noon. There was lots of discussion about advertising for the upcoming ART CLOTH NORTH II which opens in February. Diane has put in hours and hours of work moving this show forward. 

We all volunteered to hang posters and mail postcards. 

Within 48 hours, Cat Larrea had sent the Alaska Dispatch a press release and we were officially advertised in town. How cool is that?

We had a lengthy discussion about hanging systems. 

We had an incredible Show and Tell session.

Carrie Payne shared her latest work.

There is also a great display of her work and patterns at Seams Like Home.

Nancy Sopp had a great piece to share.

Gail Ramsey shared a bed quilt she recently made. Many of us agreed that we often get going in the studio by creating utility quilts. 

Jan Wallace joined us from Soldotna, Alaska. This photo does not do her beautiful handmade tunic justice. 

Jan has also been exploring some ideas related to the Modern Quilt scene. 

New member Kate BeeBe (welcome Kate!) shared a recent handwork that she completed while on the road traveling. 

Faye Stiehm had a great small piece for the group to admire. 

If you are in town, I hope you will join us for the opening of ART CLOTH NORTH at the Blue-Hollomon Gallery  for our First Friday Opening on February 5th from 5PM- 8PM. 

Or join us for coffee. Our February meeting is scheduled for Tuesday February 9th from 10AM -12PM at the Kaladi Brothers on Brayton. We will be in the meeting room with Nixon.

ART CLOTH NORTH II

The members of the Alaska SAQA region would like to formally invite you to join us for the opening of our second regional Exhibition Art Cloth North II on Friday February 5, 2016 from 5PM -8PM.

 The show is being held at the Blue-Hollomon Gallery.

The exhibition will be up from February 5th until February 29th if you would like to visit later in the month. 

The show features the work of nine Alaskan artists--Amy Miessner, Gail Ramsay, Diane Melms, Maria Shell, Julie Drake, Barb Hanson, Carrie Payne, Nancy Dobson, and Cat Larrea.

We hope to see you there!

SAQA AK Meeting September 29, 2015

This is a shorter version of the email recently sent to AK SAQA members. For complete details on the meeting, refer to that email.

We had a great September meeting. Amy Meissner, Diane Melms, Cat Larrea, Gail Ramsey, Barb Hanson, Nancy Sopp, Carrie Payne, Julie Drake, and Maria Shell were in attendance. The meeting was held at the Kaladi Brothers on Brayton from one to three in the afternoon.

Julie Drake said she had a great time at the Chicago International Contemporary Art Expo held at the Navy Pier in Chicago. She highly recommended it. 

Our next meeting is scheduled for Friday November 6th at Amy Meissner’s home from 10AM - 11:30AM. Please refer to the latest email from SAQA where you will find directions and Amy’s contact info.

Our next group exhibition, Art Cloth North, is scheduled for February 2016 at the bluehollman.gallery in Anchorage. Show guidelines are currently listed on the SAQA Calls for Entry page.  AK SAQA members may submit up to four pieces for consideration in this juried show. The application deadline is October 31, 2015.

If you are submitting work for Art Cloth North, be sure to have hi-quality images. 1800 pixels or MORE is recommended. If accepted into the show, artists will need to send a short bio for the show book.

For the first Art Cloth North, which was held in November 2014, AK SAQA member Diane Melms created a show book featuring works by each of the artists as well as an artist statement. Diane Melms has agreed to create a show book for the 2016 show. Cat Larrea has agreed to create template based on the 2016 show book which can then be used for future shows.

We want to try and find a venue for the 2017 Art Cloth North show. If you have an idea of a good place for us to present a group show, please let us know.

Show and Tell included these fabulous hand dyed fabrics. 

You can learn more about the hand dying adventure by visiting this recent AK SAQA blog post.

Please join us for the next meeting at Amy’s house!

And if you have interesting news to share, please email Maria Shell so we can put it on the blog!

Simple Silk Dyeing with AK SAQA Member Wendy Smith-Wood

AK SAQA member and guest blogger Barb Hanson shares a recent fabric dyeing adventure in this blog post.

WHAT:  Simple Silk Dyeing Workshop by Wendy Smith-Wood

WHO:  2 experienced (read that as PROs) fabric dyers and 2 inexperienced, meaning nothing, nada, well maybe a class at Color Creek years ago

WHEN:  Friday through Sunday, September 26 – 28

WHERE:  LITTLE BEAR CABINS, Majestic View

We (Cat Larrea, Diane Melms, Faye Stein, and Barb Hanson) drove our way to Palmer and stopped for a tasty lunch at Turkey Red and then enjoyed the full colors of autumn the next hour and a half as we headed north towards the Sheep Mountain area.  The weather was turning as we arrived, but we settled into the comfortable cabins and changed into painting togs and Wendy gave us a preview of the next two days.

Both Diane and Cat are very experienced fabric dyers using cottons in their work. 

The silk (and Wendy had many varieties of cloth to choose from including broadcloth, crepe, twill, chiffon and Crepe de Chine) was beautiful. 

The big difference that the two pros saw right off the bat was the time involved in the process was much less; so one could do much more experimenting in a short amount of time.  Also, it really was amazing to dip, dribble, squirt, and plunge the fabric into the dye and then prep for ‘cooking’ and place a sample into the microwave to set the dye.  Two minutes later, ‘voila’ the sample was done.  It was cooled a bit, removed from its plastic wrap covering, rinsed and put out on the line to dry.  

Of course, the first morning the weather didn’t cooperate very well and the dryer inside the studio was needed to complete the drying process, but once dried and ironed the pieces looked stunning.

So, key concepts for silk dyeing:

• An acid dye is used on protein fibers (silk, wool, alpaca, mohair)
• An acid bath is required to complete the dye-bond – usually citric acid or white vinegar – the dyes are chemically bound to the fiber at a molecular level and not painted on surface
• We used a Direct Application method for our small batches

Method:

1. Pre-soak fabric in acid solution. 
2. Mix the dye colors from dye-stocks. 
3. Apply the dyes to the fabric.
4. Set the dyes. 
5. Rinse out excess dyes under running warm water.

End result are some lovely pieces for the next project.

For more information, contact Wendy Smith-Wood, wendysmithwood@gmail.com and www.wendysmithwood.com. 

An Invitation to Study with Ann Johnston

To Alaska SAQA members,

I'm seeking those interested and able to attend Ann Johnston’s workshop, "Approaches to Quilt Design with Raw-edge, Reverse Appliqué", in Lake Oswego.  The dates of the workshop would be December 7^th through 11^th (Mon-Fri).  

Information about Ann and this workshop can be found at her website.

Anyone who dyes their own fabrics for art quilts probably is familiar with some or all of Ann’s publications and works.  While her summer workshops are all about dying, the fall classes are about what to do with your lovelies!  

My ideal vision is for 3-4 of us to fill and “all Alaska” workshop (space is for four).  There are plenty of hotel options nearby and shared rooms might be a way to economize.  Ann provides lunches during the day, and coffee, fruit and bakery items for a light breakfast.  

ALSO, if anyone is interested in extending a day or two in Portland, there are some great fabric stores to visit.

Please contact me at cat.larrea@hotmail.com with Quilt Design Workshop as the subject title if you have any questions or would like to know more about logistics and costs of taking the workshop.  I’d like to have commitments no later than October 15. You can also reach me via my website.

Cheers,

Cat Larrea