Show-outs in Calgary, Edmonton -- and Taiwan!

SAQA Western Canada members continue to do us proud in exhibits at home and overseas -- whether as part of SAQA, as soloists, or in other groups.

The Calgary POD has been busy with its own local exhibit, which has just closed at the Crowfoot Public Library in Calgary and opens again tomorrow (August 2) at the Art Gallery of the High River Public Library, 909 - 1st Street S.W. in that city -- and runs through the end of this month.

POD member Alison Dean Cowitz -- one of the artists in this exhibit -- visited it at the Crowfoot Library venue to capture these photographs:

And three Calgary-area SAQA members entered -- and took prizes -- at this year's Calgary Stampede.   "Roving Reporter", Alison Dean Cowitz, writes thus:

A big mention to Marie McEachern in entering for the first time at this years Calgary Stampede Creative Arts and Crafts Competition. A wonderful accomplishment for Marie. Her piece depicting her artistic interpretation of Calgary's downtown Bow building was turned down by the SAQA juried show for My Corner of the World [Canada]*, but was well received by the Stampede judges and awarded first prize ribbon in the Art quilt category and went on to be in the money prize for 2nd in [the entire Quilting] Section. A great shout out to art quilting too! This has shown me once again that art quilts are receiving more recognition in a typically traditional quilt judged show. Here's the link to the Western showcase Calgary Stampede :: Western Showcase.

The Bow Building
Marie McEachern, 2015

Other SAQA members also entered. Alison Dean Cowitz also received 2nd place ribbon in the Art Quilt category for "Rebirth of a Forest" which was a tribute to the recent forest fires in Fort McMurry.

Rebirth of a Forest
Alison Dean Cowitz, 2016.

Deborah Bray entered 2 pieces, one of them receiving a 3rd place ribbon in the Hand Quilted category, just beautiful!

Orange
Deborah Bray, 2015*

Deborah Bray, Calgary, 2016

 *Editor's Notes: 

1. Marie's piece, "Downtown" was successfully juried into My Corner of the World: Canada and is currently touring with that exhibit, at the Stratford-Perth Museum, Stratford, Ontario, until September 5.
2. Deborah's piece, "Orange" was featured in the March 20 e-mail newsletter produced by Janine Vangool, publisher of UPPERCASE magazine.  You can read more about that feature on the SAQA WC blog post HERE.

Meanwhile in Edmonton...

Member Mary Wilton of Camrose had her piece, "Generations of Gardeners", juried into the 2016 Biennial exhibit of the Edmonton-based Focus on Fibre Arts Association.  This year, the theme was "My Heritage"...and Mary's piece beautifully illustrates hers...

Generations of Gardeners
Mary Wilton, 2015

My Heritage  will be on exhibit at the 2nd floor Gallery, Enterprise Square, 10230 Jasper Avenue, Edmonton, through August 31.  For additional venues, please check the "Networking" page at the top of the blog.


And in Taiwan...

The Taiwan International Quilt Exhibition 2016 was held in Tainan City, Taiwan, from April 30 through May 29, the theme of which was "Save the Environment". Following the Exhibition, beautiful catalogues and tote bags were sent to the artists who participated.

By chance...yours truly was able to find out which SAQA WC members had pieces in this prestigious exhibition...and there were at least three:

Alberta member and Co-Rep, Margaret Blank, participated in two group exhibits -- with the Fifteen by Fifteen International Quilting Group and in Trunk C of the 25th Anniversary SAQA Trunk Show.

Back to the Garden - 2013
One of three pieces by Margaret
included in the 15 x 15 Group exhibit at TIQE

Saskatchewan member, Paula Jolly of Mossbank, participated in Trunk H of the 25th Anniversary SAQA Trunk Show.

Painting Rocks - 2014
Paula M. Jolly

And Alberta member Patricia Scott of Edmonton participated in a group exhibit mounted by The Canadian Group, founded by Brenda Miller of the Huron Perth Quilters Guild in Ontario, after she was inspired by a meeting with SAQA Rep Hsin-Chen Lin while on a trip to Taiwan in 2014.  Brenda tells the story of how the group came about on her blog HERE.

Here's the photo of Pat's piece, straight from the TIQE catalogue...

Waterlily - 2015
Patricia Scott

Congratulations to all these artists!  Best wishes for continued success -- and continued exhibiting of your work -- and thanks to Alison for the Road Trip and Stampede photos and the story behind them.

(Apologies to anyone we missed!  If you were excluded -- through ignorance on our part -- please contact Margaret with your story and photos so that your work can be celebrated too.)

On and Off Our Walls: Terry Aske

Recently, B.C. member Terry Aske posted on her blog the delightful news that one of her pieces has been featured on the cover of the Spring 2015 issue of The Canadian Quilter, a publication for members of the Canadian Quilters Association.  I asked Terry if she would share with her SAQA colleagues. Here's what she wrote:

When I was invited by the Canadian Quilters’ Association (CQA/ACC) to donate a 12 x 16 inch quilt for the ‘It’s Time for Colour!’* traveling quilt show, I had several ideas for colorful subject matter - tulips, fall foliage and sunsets all came to mind.   But I decided to create yet another version of one of my favorite themes – Rainy Day People.

I live in Vancouver, B.C. which is located in a spectacular scenic location between the ocean and mountains. With a temperate sea climate, we have mild but very dark, wet, dreary winters. After weeks of gray rainy weather, I’m always cheered when I see a pedestrian carrying a brightly colored umbrella. The idea of a quilt featuring people with bright umbrellas percolated in my head for a long time before I finally incorporated into my fiber art.  

In 2012, I created the first of my Rainy Day People series (the title ‘Rainy Day People’ was inspired by a wonderful song by Gordon Lightfoot, a great Canadian singer-songwriter).

To date, I have created 6 pieces with this theme, all featuring dark pedestrians carrying colorful umbrellas - including one for the SAQA 2013 online auction, and one for the SAQA 25th Anniversary Trunk Show.*   More information about the series can be found here in my blog.

For the 'It's Time for Colour!' exhibit, instead of dark adult pedestrians, my art quilt features two small girls with huge adult-sized umbrellas (based on photos I took of a little girl last year).   I dressed them in bright, cheerful colors to contrast with the rainy gray background, and added colorful reflections on the wet ground.

I was thrilled when the editor of The Canadian Quilter magazine asked if I would like to have my 'Rainy Day Girls’ on the cover of the Spring issue - now they are Cover Girls! 

Terry's "Cover Girls"

In addition to being on the cover of this Spring 2015 issue, Terry's quilt appears again in Laine Canivet's article about the "It's Time for Colour" exhibit, page 48 -- and in the same issue, an article about the Fibre Art Network's exhibit, "Abstracted", for which she partnered with her sister to create a realistic and an abstracted piece -- "Solitude I" (Terry's) and "Solitude II" (her sister, Anne de Verteuil's).

Congratulations, Terry! 

*"It's Time for Colour" has been travelling through Canada in two shows of 19 pieces each under the auspices of the Children's Wish Foundation.  Those of you who are attending Quilt Canada in Lethbridge, AB this year (June 4-6) will have an opportunity to see all 38 pieces of this exhibit at the end of it's one-year tour.

**Terry's contribution to the SAQA 25th Anniversary Trunk Show is touring as part of "Trunk Show B", currently travelling in the Alabama/Arkansas/Mississippi/Louisiana Region through the end of March and going from there to Southern Indiana (April) and from there to the Catskill Mountain Quilters Hall of Fame and the Calico Geese, Liberty, New York (May 11).

If you're part of an exhibit, if you've won an award, if you've been published, if you're having a creative adventure of any kind -- please share it with your SAQA colleagues!  To tell us what you've been up to, contact margblank@xplornet.ca -- and we'll work out the details!

A Great Summer for SAQA WC Artists!

This summer is a great one for taking in work by our Western Canadian members.

"Western Threads", the collaborative show that includes our exhibit, "Meet the Best of the West", is up for a few more weeks (till August 4) at the Royal Alberta Museum in Edmonton.

Several members have pieces in the Focus on Fibre Arts Association's Biennial Juried Show, "Prairies", on through the end of August at the upstairs gallery at Enterprise Square in Edmonton.

And "The Burgess Shale" exhibit is currently on at the Beiseker Station Museum in Beiseker, Alberta through July 30.  It will move to the Sundre Municipal Library for July 30 through August 25.

Alison Cowitz's piece, "Ozzie" has won a red ribbon at this year's Calgary Stampede!  You can see it on display there through Sunday.  Here's what she wrote me yesterday:

I entered a One Block Wonder quilt in the Stampede Western Lifestyles Creative Arts & Crafts Competition last year, and I was really surprised to get a 3rd place ribbon for my first time entering!

As a young girl I loved going to the Calgary Stampede and seeing all the creative things that people would make and enter into the Showcase. I think the competitive nature in me just wanted to enter again, so I raised my bar and pushed hard to finish Ozzie in time for the June 23rd deadline (remember I had him on my design wall over the winter?). A deadline reason to finish is more motivation for me than anything.

Let me mention that the quilting part of finishing a quilt is not my strong suit. I have a background in Graphic Design, so the design and colour part comes easier to me. I had more fun designing and building the piece, but when it came time for the quilting I was almost paralyzed with fear. Where do I start? How do I build this? What do I do in this area? How much is too much? I did take a one day free motion quilting class with Lorraine Stagness (excellent teacher!) a few months ago to warm up my skills. There came a time when I just had to let go of the practicing, put my fears aside and gather the courage to just go for it with Ozzie! So I put my “big girl panties” on and tried. It was really scary at first, then some things started to turn out well, then I became addicted to the possibilities. It was going well until my thread started breaking a lot and my usually wonderful Bernina 820 would only sew in one direction. ...my doubts came flooding in, and then I visited Michael at My Sewing Room here in Calgary, who gave me a crash course in tension, threads and needles (I owe him a 6 pack for that).

I stressed about the finishing, had my quilt done on the day of the deadline and in the end I am very happy with the results. This work represents who I am today. I heard on Friday, the opening day of this year’s Stampede, that there was a red first place ribbon beside my Ozzie! I went down for a look myself, thinking that I must have been the only entrant in this category. It was a VERY humbling experience to see my work hung amongst the many other beautiful works. In fact it's what gives me the jazz to make art quilts. It’s not about the ribbons for me, but to stand up and be counted among other talented traditional and art quilters. To be amongst such talented people is encouraging me to keep doing this with enthusiasm. I am already plotting about what to enter in next years Stampede Competition.

Now Saskatchewan member, Jaynie Himsl, has work in this show in Duncan, B.C.:

She posted about her piece recently on Facebook with this photo:

If you're in the area next month, be sure to stop by and take a closer look at what looks to be a fabulous exhibit!