Fiberlandia Highlights III: The Panels - Part C

It's only fitting that the posts about the 2015 SAQA Conference in Portland that began in May as 'summer reading' should finish on the Labour Day weekend.  This post is about the final panel that entertained and inspired us on Sunday, May 3: The Art Students' Panel, which I found one of the most inspiring indeed!

Emily Nachison at her worktable
preparing for a solo exhibit in 2014

The panel was moderated by Emily Nachison, the Interim Chair of the Fiber Departement at the Oregon College of Art and Craft in Portland and an artist in her own right.  She introduced each member of the panel; after each presented, two SAQA members from Portland were to respond, having considered these questions:

• What linkages can we find between the students' work and the traditional roots of fiber art?
• What interesting new trends are emerging?

Three of the four panelists were BFA students -- two in their graduating year and one in her second year.  The third panelist was graduating with his MFA in applied craft and design.

Melina Bishop in her studio

The first panelist was Melina Bishop, a mixed-media sculptor who uses everyday textile/fibrous objects as symbols.  She is interested in minimalism, the 'colour' white, and labour-intensive tasks.  She graduated with her BFA from OCAC in May.

Melina spoke about "Material as Metaphor": how she explores every-day objects (such as a bed) -- their roles and their meaning.  She studied one sort of fabric, presented in the context of another, mass production versus craft processes, clothing as metaphor, and the cross-pollination of various types of media (such as needle-felting with quilting).  Her textile installations explore "every-day objects as performance".  Her pieces are indeed minimal in size, shape -- smooth, clean lines -- and colour (or should I say, "non-colour", for she focuses on neutrals and white in particular.  You can see more of Melina's work in her web gallery HERE.

Molly Eno, sitting with
one of her soft sculptures.

Molly Eno was the second panelist to present her work.  Also a graduating BFA student, Molly works with soft sculptural forms to "[deal] with the psychological through human and animal totems".  She is interested in the colour red, the history of crazy quilting, the Gees Bend quilters, and politics.  

As a girl, Molly learned to sew and crochet, though she never made a quilt.  She works mainly with 'bright, shiny, powerful' colours and materials.

Alas, at this point my notes on Molly dwindle to nothing.  As she was speaking, I was inspired to make notes -- based on her words and the slide-show of her work -- for a project on which I am working...My apologies!  (If you are wondering about that project, and where I've been lead by Molly's inspiration, click HERE.)  For more of Molly's work, or to see how I was inspired, click HERE.

Kaylin Francis

Third on the panel's roster was Laylin Francis, a "mature" student finishing the second year of her BFA at OCAC.  She returned to school to pursue an art career after many years as a secretary in the business world.  She describes herself as "a fiber artist [who] experiments with combinations of colours and textures".  She too has a background in textile/needle arts: cross-stitch, needlepoint and traditional quilting.  She is particularly interested in quilting, surface design, pattern and colour.  In addition to quilting, Kaylin's work/studies include exploring wearable art and weaving.  She is a member of the Surface Design Association.

Last...but not least, panelist Tyler Peterson, a graduating MFA student.  Originally from Colorado, Tyler received his BFA (Art Education and Painting) from Metropolitan State University in Denver.  In addition, he has spent time as an Intern at the Wildcraft Studio School in White Salmon, Washington.

Tyler presented images of his current study, based on life experience: in particular, collecting memories.  His interest in memory and memories and mementoes was inspired by the death of his grandfather, with whom he was very close.  

He is interested in immigration history, his Japanese heritage, and in working with indigo.  These interests have resulted in work that "explores the in-between spaces of identity, memory and tradition."  Tyler is also a member of the Surface Design Association.

We hope you've enjoyed this "Fiberlandia Potpourri", and that it will inspire you to attend a future SAQA Conference.  Up-coming Conference venues include:

• Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - the historic heart of the city: March 31 - April 3, 2016; and
• The International Quilt Study Center and Museum, Lincoln, Nebraska: April 27 - 30, 2017.

Registration and details for each conference are posted in early October of each year, so keep your eyes open!  Space is limited, so waiting until the last minute is not advised.  :-)

Fiberlandia Highlights III: The Panels - Part B

Continuing with highlights from the Fiberlandia conference in Portland, OR in early May...

The second of three panels was the Local Artist Panel: Four Artists -- Four Distinct Styles, moderated by Jeannette DeNicolis Meyer, herself a studio artist who taught for ten years in the Studio School at the Oregon College of Art and Craft, and now leads workshops at art and quilt conferences.

The panel members:

Bonnie Bucknam started out in college as an art major but switched to anthropology, focusing on the geology of other cultures and their influences.  She described her work as 'intuitive rather than analytical'.

Bonnie begins her process with 'lots of sketching', and uses 'really close stitching' related to the shapes in and the design of each quilt -- often including hand stitching.  While she believes that everything on the quilt 'needs to have a reason' to be there, she admitted 'Often one thing leads to another'.  Alas, I didn't get any photos of the quilts Bonnie exhibited...but as I recall they were from her 'Geology' series, and featured her beautiful hand-dyed fabrics.

  Sheila Finzer specializes in landscape art quilts using what she describes as a 'collaged or dye painted process'.  She starts with "lots of photos" from nature and, like Bonnie, uses her own hand-dyed fabric in her work.  She described her quilting as "organic", often using an under-painting process, putting down a layer of colour before she begins to add the details.  She looks for high volume contrast where possible to convey the scene.

Her piece "Sunriver Marsh", now part of a private collection, was painted with Procian Dye Paints on white fabric, then free-motion quilted.  Here's a photo of it at the conference -- the hands you see on the left belong to someone trying to get a detail shot!  (Yes, we had permission...)

Sunriver Marsh - Sheila Finzer, 2014
84.75" W x 66.75" L

Jean Wells Keenan: Some of you may recognize Ms. Keenan from her appearances on The Quilt Show, from reading/owning one of her books, or from visiting the annual quilting extravaganza that she spear-headed in Sisters, Oregon.

She's been a fixture in the quilt world for almost 40 years...the last dozen or so of which she's moved from a traditional quilt focus to a studio art quilt focus.  Her 2012 book, Journey to Inspired Art Quilting, documents her shift in style.

Beneath the Earth - Jean Wells Keenan, 2011
18" W x 45" L

Jean's process includes tracing over photos, abstraction, line and shape, striving for a "felt balance".  She cuts her fabrics free-hand.  Her aim is to express what she see and feels as originally as she can.  In addition to creating her art, Jean still loves to teach, continues to manage her shop, the Stitchin' Post, as well as the annual quilt festival she started.

One of the pieces she exhibited at the conference was "Beneath the Earth", from her "Of the Earth" series.

Sidnee Snell left the world of electrical engineering and computer programming just over 20 years ago to pursue a career in art.  She began her talk at Fiberlandia by stating emphatically that she is not inspired by nature!

Like many of us, her work is photo-based.  She uses raw-edge applique -- no fusing! -- and free-motion quilting, and moves from very light to very dark somewhere in each piece.  She particularly likes diagonals -- or creating a sense of the diagonal.


Viewing her art as 'a conversation she is having with herself', in her current work she finds she is 'attracted to a sense of stillness'.  Below, one of Sidnee's "Stillness" pieces. being recorded by my friend Nancy Turbitt of Rhode Island, and Co-Rep for Massachusetts/RI.  :-)

Red Laces - Sidnee Snell, 2012
51" square

One last panel closes the Fiberlandia conference...stay tuned for Panels: Part C: The Art Students...

Fiberlandia Highlights III: The Panels - Part A

For your summer reading pleasure...

The Panels at the SAQA conferences are, for this attendee, a major highlight -- and the three presentations in Portland did not disappoint.

Rosalie Dace

The first of these was a panel of International Artists, moderated by Rosalie Dace (South Africa).











The Panel members were:

Maggie Vanderweit (Canada)

Hsin-Chen Lin (Taiwan)

Sue Dennis (Australia)

Gul Laporte (France)

Rosalie, as moderator, titled their presentation " Dancing on a Tightrope".  From my notes -- taken during her intro -- defining the 'tightrope' artists walk these days:

• In this time of changing views of art and beauty, how do we keep our balance between the buzz of the new and the security of what we already know?
• How do we know what to keep and what to dismiss as a trend?
• Looking at how the world changes...no matter how technological things become, it's still about the human hand.
• Our views of people change...as do aesthetics.

Then each panel member spoke.  First up, Maggie Vanderweit, a SAQA Central Canada member whose work took a prize in the National Juried Show at Quilt Canada this year.  Again from my notes:

• All of us are walking on the tightrope -- "hands off!" -- learning to let go. An example? Parenting...and then,,,the empty nest,
• We are on journeys.  Going from here to there, we may feel safe, but there's always a risk.
• Sometimes we are sitting still, waiting for things to come to us.  It will be safe, for there's a 'net' -- a community.
• Making takes courage, vision.
• Cited: Kandinsky - considering the spirituality in art.

Second, Gul Laporte, a SAQA Board member and textile art consultant, writer, teacher and curator.  She is fascinated by the way artists interpret so differently the same thing. Her observation: it is important to be open to others and what other artists are doing.

Third, Sue Dennis, an artist and tutor from Australia, and a SAQA Co-Rep (Oceania):

Image from The Galipoli Quilt

• For her, the tightrope is walked by artists engaging with the environment and the landscape.
• She uses strong oranges and colours drawn from the Australian Outback.
• New Zealand, on the other hand, is very green due to its landscape and vegetation.
• The relative isolation of the Oceania region means that artists there don't necessarily follow American trends.
• Cited: Down Under Quilts and Down Under Textiles - two magazines specific to Australia and environs.
• Cited: the work of Dianne Firth - torn strips, net and felt landscape art and architecture; and the Galipoli Quilt, the inspiration for which was drawn from what the artist knows.

Lastly, Hsin-Chen Lin - who, unable to speak English well, presented a video of her work which is inspired by nature and the environment.  She is the current curator for the Taiwan International Quilt Exhibition 2016.  You can see more of her work in that of the international artist groups 15 x 15 and Viewpoints 9.

Below: the YouTube video she prepared for us.  Enjoy!

Coming up on the blog: Fiberlandia Highlights III: The Panels - Part B - the Local Artist Panel.  Stay tuned!