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Recently I did a stint at the Summit County Historical Society’s booth at the Original Sewing and Quilt Expo in Akron, Ohio. Much of my time was spent explaining features of the Society’s antique and vintage quilts on display, but I carved out 10 minutes to race around the expo exhibits. I photographed only one quilt – Ben Hollingsworth’s “M. Matisse Chambres a Louer.”

Ben explains its origin story and years-long making process here. When I first laid eyes on it I didn’t know all that. All I knew was this quilt ticked several boxes for me ...

Florida has two big features going for it – sun and warmth. Interesting landscape, not so much, at least not in southwest Florida. One needs to find amusement elsewhere. After sampling a Cuban bakery and a Salvadoran restaurant, and with no luck finding any open beaches thanks to Hurricane Ian, I searched out exhibits to take in. I found the Naples Art Institute had a show of M. C. Escher’s work called Reality and Illusion so off we went.

Escher was a Dutch printmaker (woodcuts, lithographs, mezzotints) who became wildly popular among the college age set in the 1960s and ...

Go big or go home could be the motto of The Morse Museum in Winter Park, Florida. It boasts “the world’s most comprehensive collection of works by Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848–1933), including the artist and designer’s jewelry, pottery, paintings, art glass, leaded-glass lamps and windows; his chapel interior from the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago; and art and architectural objects from his Long Island country estate, Laurelton Hall.” Since my husband enjoys all aspects of Tiffany’s comprehensive output, we stopped by the museum on our way to our eventual Florida vacation destination.

There are ...

Right now the Cleveland Museum of Art is showing the Keithley collection, a promised gift to the museum of over 100 pieces of art. This eclectic collection concentrates on Impressionist and early modern artists. I found it interesting that the Keithleys collected many prints and Asian ceramic pieces in addition to paintings. The exhibit has photographs of some of the works on display in the Keithley’s traditional looking home. I enjoyed seeing the pieces in such a context.

You can see what’s in the exhibit here, but let me say that size matters when judging the impact of ...

Since I continue to be under the weather and without any artistic spark, I’d like to share a few of the glorious paintings we saw at the Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum in Madrid and at other museums. Guidebooks go on about the Prado, and the Bosch paintings aren’t to be missed, but unless you have a thing for large portraits featuring Habsburg chins or are in awe of the immense skills of Velazquez and Goya, your time is better spent elsewhere in Madrid. My recommendations are the Thyssen and the Reina Sofia.

The Thyssen is the more manageable for ...

The Artist as Quiltmaker show, held every two years at Firelands Association for the Visual Arts (FAVA) in Oberlin, Ohio, was one of many casualties of the pandemic. It was supposed to take place in 2020, but was postponed until this year. I drove over to see it with a friend just before the show closed and was glad I didn’t miss seeing it in person. You can view the entries online, but as with any visual show, you can’t get a sense of scale unless you stand in front of the pieces. And size does make a ...

I have long maintained that flowers have little to no place in my work. I love flowers in a garden or a vase, but haven’t been drawn to them as subjects for my work. So, I was surprised that I based a piece now under construction on flowers, rhododendrons specifically. Each May I see the bold magenta floral clusters of those plants in the yards of the older houses in my neighborhood. I don’t know if they’ve gone out of fashion, but I don’t see them in newer developments. Of course, that color would give one ...

Each year the National Collage Society holds a small format members’ exhibition. Since the the exhibit of eighty-six 4 by 6 inch works was held at Summit ArtSpace in Akron, I made a point of going to it. At first it seemed out of scale to walk into a large room with one horizontal line of very small works on three walls, but you forgot that once you drew closer to the pieces. I was amazed at the detail the artists packed into such small real estate.

While almost all the works merited close examination, here are the ones that ...

To go with its upscale reputation, Naples, Florida, sports an impressive art museum/performance center that houses the Naples Philharmonic and the Baker Museum. My husband chauffeured me from Fort Myers to the museum so I could soak in more southwest … Continue reading →

Infused with inspiration by applique quilts on display at the National Quilt Museum I came home and planned a little wallhanging of my own. More on that after the back story. This quilt, by Pat Holly and Sue Nickels is entitled "Two of Us". They're quilting sisters,  both from Michigan, and draw their inspiration from folk art applique quilts of the 1800's. They celebrate the spontaneity of our

Infused with inspiration by applique quilts on display at the National Quilt Museum I came home and planned a little wallhanging of my own. More on that after the back story. This quilt, by Pat Holly and Sue Nickels is entitled "Two of Us". They're quilting sisters,  both from Michigan, and draw their inspiration from folk art applique quilts of the 1800's. They celebrate the spontaneity of our

Recently I spent time with an online exhibit called Known and Unknown Quilt Stories put together by the Quilt Alliance. To quote from the website: Documentation, or the lack thereof, is at the heart of the over 30 quilts in … Continue reading →

The cancellation of art exhibits affects fiber shows as well. Here are a few you can enjoy online.   FIBER 2020 Brent Wadden: Second Life. Woven paintings: https://www.miandn.com/exhibitions/brent-wadden3?view=slider#4 Best of Ohio Crafts Show: http://ohiocraft.org/ocm-exhibitions/current/best-of-2020-exhibition/

Thank goodness so many museum collections can be enjoyed on my computer. Otherwise I’d surely go stir crazy in these times. I recently discovered that the Smithsonian Institution has made its collection available digitally. That opens up almost 3 million … Continue reading →

A just opened exhibit at the Akron Art Museum introduced me to the work of Elias Sime (pronounced SeeMay.) Sime is an Ethiopian artist whose media are colored wires, buttons, carpet tacks, and electronic and computer parts. His work is … Continue reading →

I’m happy to report that my quilt “If The Shoe Fits” is now at the Vision Gallery in Chandler, Arizona, as part of the Art Quilts XXIV show. Unfortunately, I’m not there as well, but if you’re in the Phoenix … Continue reading →

If you’ve ever attended an art quilt show or any art show, you may have wondered how the winners were chosen. You can get the perspective of one judge, Julie Fei-Fan Balzer, who summarized her experiences as a show judge … Continue reading →

My focus seems to have shifted somewhat lately. I’m very busy with gardening and have done a few quilted pieces recently. Volunteering is taking up a lot of time as well.

Yesterday I brought these two watercolors to the SouthWind Gallery in Topeka to be part of their upcoming Watercolor show. I have not been exhibiting much lately so it is nice to be getting some things out there.

My show at the SouthWind Gallery will continue until August 3, and last evening was First Friday with the opening of a new exhibit of paintings in the main gallery called “Daughters of the Prairie”. I tried to post information earlier in the week, but was having trouble with my website which seems to be cleared up now.

The show was very well attended and so many people were amazed at the art quilts, as they said they had never seen anything like it, and were curious to learn how it is done and of course “How long does it ...