Art Quilts by Kathy York: May 2015

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Threads in the Tapestry of Austin

Threads in the Tapestry of Austin
May 27 - July 5 at the Doughtery Arts Center, Austin TX

A first for me! Feeling happy this morning as I prepare my quilts to deliver to the Dougherty Arts Center this morning. I had two quilts juried into this exhibit, and another first were the comments that I received from the juror, Miki Rodriguez, about my work. The first is The Deep End.

"The minimalist composition and the drawn perspective causes the few elements to project off of this two dimensional space. The perspective, under the water, is powerful."

And my second quilt, Out of the Box.

"Out of Box has a clever way of organizing color, shape and line. It is playful and reminds me of computer games that so many of us might be addicted to. I selected this for the exhibit because of its appearance of time and space in the present."

I also have a small piece hanging on the Austin Fiber Artists' member wall, Urban Flowers.

Hope you get a chance to stop by and see this wonderful exhibit!

Sunday, May 17, 2015

Radical Elements

Radical Elements
a SAQA exhibit...

Seeking: A White Mitten in a Blizzard

...is opening this week on Wednesday, May 20 at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC! How cool is that?!! As a previous science teacher and now artist, it sounds pretty wonderful to me. I wish I could go, as the entire exhibit looks amazing from what I have seen in the catalog! It will be up from May 20 to October 19.

My 3D interactive quilt about breast cancer detection and the element technetium will be there! If you go, flip the switch!

See more about my quilt here.

Monday, May 11, 2015

Review

Review of Sue Bleiweiss's new book: Colorful Fabric Collage: Sketch, Fuse, Quilt!

Last year, I was invited to submit a little quilt for Sue's book. I was delighted to give it a go. This is my little quilt, Welcome Home. It was fun to make. The only requirements were the size, and that it need to be made with fusible applique. Her book, Colorful Fabric Collage: Sketch, Fuse, Quilt has been published now. I love it! It is filled with a lot of techniques for fusible applique and many fun projects!

I have been doing similar work for years and thought there would be very little to learn from her book, but happily I was wrong. I like using black lines to outline my work from time to time, and the only way I have ever used is with satin stitch, like this:

Now, I have learned another way! Just to practice the new things I learned I made this new little quilt, Garden House using some of Sue's techniques. I really like it and was surprised how quickly it came together!

My favorite things about the book:

1. It has all the steps, start to finish, including design, dyeing fabric, fusing, quilting, embellishing, and finishing it. I love that it is comprehensive.

2. Lots of pictures! Well, maybe that's a given, but very important to me because I am very visual.

3. Lots of examples from other artists. I love that Sue included examples from many of her artist friends. It was interesting to see the other projects.

4. Speaking of projects, Sue's book is packed with them, and they are not all quilts. I love some of the other projects she shows how to make like the tote bag and the fabric journal. Excellent!

5. Last, and this one is important! Sue gives tips that help make your project a success. Thanks for that!

Giveaway Pack

Sue is having a blog hop. There will be a drawing for a free book, hand-dyed fabric, Mistyfuse, and Aurifil thread. Leave a comment below to enter!

May 4: Sue Bleiweiss: http://www.suebleiweiss.com/blog/

May 4: Jamie Fingal :http://www.jamiefingaldesigns.com/
May 5: Leslie Tucker Jenison: http://leslietuckerjenison.blogspot.com/
May 6: Terri Stegmiller : http://stegart.blogspot.com/
May 7: Deborah Boschert : http://deborahsjournal.blogspot.com/
May 8: Desiree Habicht : http://myclothesline.blogspot.com/
May 9: Kathy Sperino : http://finishinglinesbyksperino.blogspot.com/
May 10: Barb Forrister : http://www.barbforrister.com/blog/
May 11 Kathy York : http://www.aquamoonartquilts.blogspot.com/
May 12: Lyric Kinard : http://lyrickinard.com/lyric-kinard-blog/

Good luck!!

Saturday, May 09, 2015

Review of Thermofax 101

Review of Thermofax 101: screen printing made easy

I’m so happy to be a part of the blog hop and giveaway to celebrate the release of my dear friend Lyric's newest DVD Thermofax 101 screen printing made easy by Lyric Kinard.

Enter a comment below by next Friday and you will be eligible for a free copy of the DVD! I will randomly selected a winner for a free copy of it (international entries are also accepted)! If you don't win this one, you can get one here.

I was really excited to watch it because I have done a little screen printing and I was curious about the thermofax process. It is a great instruction DVD! I also really love getting to see Lyric's process because I have admired her work for years. I really appreciate that Lyric sells the screens too, just in case you do not want to invest in a thermofax machine, but might enjoy trying it out!

Things I like about the DVD:

1. It is well organized. The chapters are in a logical order and go into enough depth that you can easily get started screen printing.

2. I really like the way Lyric gives enough tips to help you through any trouble spots you might have.

3. It is obvious that Lyric has a lot of experience screen printing and has taken a lot of time and care to explain the process in a way that makes it easy to do. She uses a lot of visual examples and a lot of demonstrations to show how this all works.

4. I was not expecting Lyric to cover fabric design. Bonus! I like the information about design, and ways to use the screen to make fabric for use in other projects.

5. The DVD has good light and good closeups. The visuals are helpful and easy to see!

Things I like about the thermofax screens:

1. They are super easy to make (well, especially when I send my drawing to Lyric and she runs it through her machine!) ha! Whatever I draw, the screen looks just like it!

2. It is reusable, as long as I remember to not let the paint dry in it (this is not a problem, I am always super cautious about that!)

3. I do not like that the screen rolls up so easily. It seems hard to use, however once I got it taped up as shown in the DVD, it was really easy to work with, surprisingly easy.

For my little practice project I am using this little faucet. I wanted to do something about water usage and our current drought. This is a work in progress shot: