Quilting by the Lake | Dispatches April 2007

Dispatches
April 2007

Hardly seems possible that QBL is only a couple of months away now! There will be some great changes for 2007, air-conditioned rooms for one. QBL is providing more opportunities to connect through the Internet all the time! If they have your e-mail address, you can register for classes, download the entry form for the Quilt show, and view the featured classes of the month.

“Spontaneity is the quality of being able to do something just because you feel like it at the moment, of trusting your instincts, of taking yourself by surprise and snatching from the clutches of your well-organized routine a bit of unscheduled pleasure.”

~ Richard Ianelli

In this Issue:

Teachers in the News
Design Exercise
Books to Consider

Teachers in the News

This month DISPATCHES features two more new QBL faculty, Anna Hergert and Bill Kerr.

Anna Hergert is coming to QBL from her home in Calgary, Alberta Canada where she is active in the “Fibre Arts Network”, a network of professional fibre artists from Western Canada. Anna writes a monthly newsletter available at www.annahergert.com. I love to read the newsletters, particularly Anna’s comments on the first page of each issue. If you would like to receive reminders when the newsletter is available each month, just send Anna your e-mail address.

Here are Anna’s answers to the questions I posed to all of the first time teachers for 2007:

Why fabric and thread?
Fabric and thread have always played an important role in my life. While growing up in Bavaria, my grandmother taught me embroidery as soon as I could hold a needle. By age four I was happy making miniature silk carpets on linen ground for my dollhouse. I never played much with dolls. I lovingly decorated their houses.

Did you grow up with quilts and or quilters?
I had no exposure to patchwork and quilting until the early 1970’s. I found a picture of an English quilt in a magazine. I was fascinated by the use of fabrics and the colorful coverlet, and without hesitation began to create a quilt. The layers were held together with wool ties in each corner of the patchwork, which was stitched by hand as I did not own a sewing machine. Ten years later, and already living in Calgary, I was pregnant with our daughter. I found a book on easy patchwork quilts in the library and went to work. The first baby quilt was created from pastel colored flannels, and when my daughter turned eighteen, it was completely threadbare. These simple patchwork quilts warmed her and the foster children we had. Each child had a quilt to call their own when they left our house.

I had worked in the fiber arts field for most of my life when I discovered the City & Guilds of London, which encompassed art design and embroidery. I enrolled in this demanding course. In 1998 I met artist/teacher Linda Kemshall and fell in love with her work. She was going to teach focus on patchwork and quilting. Without hesitation I signed up for the courses and after moving from small embroideries to large quilted pieces, I have not looked back!

What has influenced you the most? Has that changed in the last five years?
I have always had a strong interest in art history. Through in-depth art and design research I discovered the Viennese Secessionists, including Gustav Klimt. Much of my work has been a successful combination of line and pattern. His contemporary, Antoni Gaudi of Barcelona and Friedensreich Hundertwasser, also of Vienna, have also captured my attention and continue to influence my work.

Who were your most influential art and or quilting teachers?
Gail Harker (http://gailcreativestudies.com) and Linda Kemshall (http://lindakemshall.com) While initially teaching design principles and properly executed technique, they challenged me with always stretching. Sound feedback and encouragement helped me overcome those insecurities we all encounter.

What do you struggle with?
I struggle most with finding enough time to spend creating my art and transforming my sketches to fabric. I am very fortunate that I have a grown family and a very supportive husband who understands not eating on the dining room table as regularly as they used to…

How would you describe your teaching style?
My classes are designed to provide ongoing opportunities to experiment with new techniques. At the same time I aim to address the specific needs of each participant’s level of development through consultations throughout the workshop. My ultimate goal is to instill a sense of self-confidence in the participant to further independent experimentation and continued creative expression.

What would you like students to know about your class before they come to QBL?
I love to meet new people and share my knowledge. Teaching has been important to me, and I have taught adults in the fibre arts field for nearly 20 years. My classes are safe and comfortable learning environments for all participants.

Is there anything you consider absolutely essential that your students should come to class with?
Enthusiasm and a sense of adventure are essential for my students to bring to class. My workshops focus on exploring and incorporating principles of art and design with sound technique, translating them into one-of-a kind textile creations. My history-based workshops are packed with historical facts and proven ways to apply these techniques to contemporary designs and the creations they intend to explore in class.

Are there any books you suggest students read/look through before QBL, or, what books to you look to for inspiration or to help you get unstuck, assuming you ever get stuck.
I love books and publish two in every newsletter that I publish monthly. Here are three of my favorite books I like to pull off the shelf for inspiration:

Celebrate Your Creative Self by Mary Todd Beam. Northern Lights Books
World Textiles by John Gillow and Bryan Sentence. Bullfinch Press
Textiles 5000 Years edited by Jennifer Harris. Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publisher

What would you like to know about the QBL experience before you come to teach?
I have heard so many wonderful things about QBL and am anxious to become part of it. I look forward to gathering lasting impressions and forging new friendships.

What is your favorite book? (Many QBL participants are big readers)
One of my all-time favorite books is The 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women-A Portable Mentor by Gail McMeekin. MJF Books. I pick it up when I need a little nudge, which can be when I am out of my studio for any extended periods due to teaching or holiday distractions…it also helps me with not going in too many directions. For historical trivia and interesting information, I remember how much I enjoyed the Color: A Natural History of the Palette by Victoria Finlay. Random House.

Anna’s quilt entitled “Windows of Opportunity” was part of a group exhibition entitled “All About Alberta” June through September 2006 in Washington, DC as part of the Smithsonian Folk Festival. That exhibit traveled to Edmonton, Canada where it was shown January 6 through March 31, 2007.

In one of the most interesting exhibitions I have heard about recently, Anna participated in a collaboration between the Decidedly Jazz Danceworks Company and the Alberta Society of Artists (ASA). From January through June 2006, ASA members were invited to regular rehearsals, practice sessions and dress rehearsals leading to two powerful performances, “Pulse” and “Charcoal and Crimson”. Over 40 artists from the group showed an interest in the project and accepted the invitation. During the jury session at the end of March, 33 artworks were selected for the exhibition. Art ranging from fiber, sculpture to painting and photography were included. Anna submitted three pieces produced for the show, all of which were accepted. The exhibit entitled “Steppin’ Out” will be shown at the Art Point Gallery April 5 through 28, 2007 (http://www.artpoint.ca/exhibitions.htm).

Welcome to QBL Anna! I cannot wait to see more of your work!

“Art is the choreography of thought and motion.”

~ Ginia A. Davis

Bill Kerr of Fun Quilts (http://www.funquilts.com/index.html) says he is “eagerly looking forward to QBL. I have heard such good things about the group energy and of course the lovely setting. Thought I love living in Chicago, I grew up on the east coast and miss the hills and mountains.”

Why fabric and thread?
My love of sewing started at age eight when my mother, a contemporary weaver and fiber artist, moved her sewing machine into my room. It was the only good place for it and soon I found myself intrigued with its mechanics. I remember going through fabric scraps and trying to sew a kite one summer. I quickly learned that corduroy is much too heavy to fly!

Did you grow up with quilts and/or quilters?
Knowing how to sew played an important part in my later life. My wife Weeks and I met as VISTA volunteers (the domestic Peace Corps) working as designers in Appalachia. She was making quilts as a hobby and I was immediately intrigued by the potential for making contemporary quilts together. Within a short time we were discussing not only quilt designs, but also marriage. I proposed by appliquéing her a quilt square with an image of the ring I later bought.

What has influenced you the most? Has that changed in the last 5 years?
Now that I am a professional quilt maker, I still delight in the discovery of what works and what doesn’t. Learning as a child that corduroy is not nylon is not all that different from struggling as an adult with finding the right green for a project. It is the hands-on trial and error that I find so rewarding.

How would you describe your teaching style? What would you like students to know about your class before they come to QBL?
As a teacher my goal is always to listen carefully to each student and find out how to bring out her own ideas. Rather than teach people to make “our” quilts, I strive to help each figure out what “your” quilts are, and to give them form. There needs to be a lot of trial and error, so our class will be a safe environment to explore. There is no need to be afraid if your kites don’t get off the ground at first. Together we will make them soar.

Is there anything you consider absolutely essential that your students should come to class with?
Bring an open mind and an eagerness to immerse yourself in ideas. Bring things that inspire you. Magazine clippings of colors and textures that delight you, lists of books that have inspired you and memories of transformative life events are all wonderful departure points for quilt designs. They are far more useful than any new notion! When looking for inspiration, rather than turning to quilt magazines, take a look at National Geographic, Gourmet or even Tattoo, Snowboarder or some other magazine you would never pick up. Like athletes who cross-train, quilters also need to absorb outside influences.

What would you like students to know about your class before they come to QBL?
I hope my passion for fabric, quilting and design comes through in the American Patchwork and Quilting (see January’s DISPATCHES for complete information on this article) story as well as with these words. I always tell my quiltmaking students as well as my design students at the university where I teach to come to class expecting to be exhilarated and exhausted. The energy and enthusiasm of a good design class is unstoppable! I can’t wait to meet you all and help each one of you give form to your ideas.

Bill Kerr and his wife Weeks Ringle were asked by RJR fabrics to design a line of patterns to promote their line of solid fabrics. The will be making quilts with them for quilt stores nationwide. Bill says, “I’ve always viewed solids as the underdogs of the fabric world, and have enjoyed bringing new life to them.”

Bill reports that Fun Quilts has also been hired by a major manufacturer to design contemporary quilts that will be in stores nationwide next year. He will have lots more details to reveal this summer.

Read Bill’s comments closely; there is lots of wisdom there! I especially appreciate, “Like athletes who cross-train, quilters also need to absorb outside influences.” Great advice!!

Judi Blayden has four pages in Gayle Pritchard’s (http://www.gaylepritchardart.com/) book Uncommon Threads: Ohio’s Art Quilt Revolution (Ohio University Press) about the contemporary quilt movement in Ohio. Judi reports that the book is quite comprehensive and has good information on the artists.

Design Exercise

I have two simple offerings this month to get you going if you are rusty or to get you outside if your priority is to enjoy the spring.

Finding shapes:

Find a picture in a magazine of a simple subject. It could be a person, a room, a plate of food etc. Do not choose a picture with lots of tiny detail, or one that is smaller than about 4” square. It does not have to be square, just not too small.
Take a permanent pen, and transform the picture to geometric shapes only. They can overlap, intersect, whatever.
When you are done, step back and look for interesting design elements in the shapes.
If you want to take it a step further, pick out an interesting area, enlarge it and see where it takes you in fabric!

Under the surface:

Find a kitchen timer, some paper and a writing implement. I prefer a gel roller pen for its speed and fluidity!
Set the timer for one minute, 60 seconds, no more
See how many ideas you can write down in one minute. The only rule is that the ideas must be fun and/or creative in nature. This is creative in its broadest sense. You do not need to describe in full your next life’s work! The purpose is to jot down as many spontaneous thoughts as you can in the time allotted.
Step back, look over the list. Are there any similarities? Anything jump out at you? Anything look really crazy? Anything you want to start on right now? If you do not find anything special, just post the list someplace where you will see it once in a while. Look it over again periodically. If it still looks like nonsense in a week, toss it and try again.

This exercise is in the same vein as having your best ideas in the middle of the night or in the shower. Sometimes they are right under the surface.

Books to Consider

Sometimes you find the best books when browsing. These are two of my recent favorites:

Astrid and Veronika

The Secret of Lost Things