 (Left to Right) Jill Kerttula, Wrenn Slocum, Mary Beth Bellah, Lorie Hancock McCown, Lotta Helleberg, Jill Jensen  The first morning I randomly opened a Mary Oliver book of poetry, and this is what I saw. I belong to a wonderful group of fiber artists known as “Fiber Transformed” . How I got involved with this group is a story in and of itself, but that post will wait for another day. Thank you Kristin La Flamme. Meeting these women has been transformative. Each of us is constantly expanded because of our different approaches to both life and art. Friendships like this are a gift. We meet monthly to talk about life and art, but once a year we pack our cars to the hilt and hit the road. We rent a house on the beach of the Outer Banks of North Carolina for a week of uninterrupted creative sisterhood. The setup is simple. After rearranging the furniture and claiming our bedrooms, we each set up a station/table for our sewing machine and supplies in the great room. There is usually some type of dyeing station set up for indigo, rust, ice, cyanotype, or other experimentation. We have our own bedrooms and we are each responsible for dinner and clean-up for one of the nights. Most days are spent together, but apart. We each maintain our own schedule of creative work, beach walks, grocery or supply runs, or other divergent activities from whatever time we arise, until dinner is served. Dinner is communal and filled with family updates, opinions, technique ideas, what we did during the day, etc., etc. After dinner we might watch some TV (one year “Project Runway”, one year the Olympics, last year and this year “Ted Lasso”). Usually there is at least one machine still humming away and many knitting needles clicking during this. I just came home last night from our 2025 retreat. The weather was as expected… cold, wind, some rain, some sun, but still, many beach walks. Our only disappointment was that this was the first year we didn’t see any dolphins. However we did find starfish shells! By the end of the week, quilts were made, sweaters were knit, cyanotypes were exposed, an animal took shape, books were stitched, a shirt was sewn, and a loom joined us for the first time. There was even some blindfold stitching! Thanks also must go to our partners who are left home with dogs and duties, while we retreat.
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 100 Memories - apx 43x43"  I have been working on this quilt for about 6 months now. It started with choosing 100 photos from about 10-15 years of my (almost) daily photos. I edited each one so that there would be a strong diagonal line, then got them printed individually so I could play with the design at full size, rather than on the computer. After about a million variations (I actually asked my statistic-minded son how many possible variations there were, and he said "way too many!!") I finally decided on the order of things. Then it was back to the computer to place them all into one file to be printed on fabric. After receiving the fabric with the custom printing, I studied it for a long time to decide which areas should be enhanced or muted with stitching. I also used tulle over some area to form a more cohesive design. It was important to me to base the design on a traditional quilt pattern, so I could bridge the technology of today (photo and printing) with the tradition of "women's work". I like how I accomplished several squares and patterns depending on how you look at the quilt. My statement about this quilt is as follows and is my feeling about aging and our lifetime of memories: Memories become abstract, sharpen, transform, are lost, or are revisited. As we age they meld into a singular lifetime. This is a Memory Quilt of 100 people, places, and things that have made me what I am today as they become the mosaic of my adult life. Some are recognizable to others, some only have meaning to me, and some are lost even to me The collage of images is taken from my archive of almost daily photos taken over many years. Chosen for strong compositional lines and a stronger memory, they have been arranged to reflect a traditional quilt block in recognition of my journey from traditional to more non-traditional quilting. The images were then enhanced or obscured by stitching and placement, much like our memories are enhanced or obscured over time.
   The grayscale photos "auditioning" for placement “A Crowd of Strangers” has just been announced as a ribbon winner in Houston. It is in the Large Pictorial category. This is the largest quilt I have ever (and probably will ever!) made; over 80” wide. RE the subject: It is a conception of how we go through our daily lives, each in our own bubble, even when surrounded by so many other humans. What a shame. The people shown here originated in 15 different photos that I took of people in my urban setting over the course of a couple years. What struck me was the lack of human interaction portrayed in each of the photos, so it was important to me that even when the people are put all together in one crowd they still remain strangers. RE: the process: The people were initially each printed separately in grayscale, so I could move them about on the background fabric until I found the composition I liked. There were many techniques used to color and finish the piece. The people are all raw-edge applique, the ground is woven stripes of fabric, There are layers of tulle or organza over areas to add shading, depth or cohesion. The entire surface is heavily stitched with both hand and machine (table top). RE: the artistry While the composition was extremely important to me, as was the depth of field of the image, the lighting was less so. Each of the original photos was taken at a different time of day, and I wanted that feeling of “not quite in the same place at the same time” to remain part of the slight uncomfortablity of the piece. I think it serves to reinforce that each person is in their own time and space even in the same environment. RE: the details (click on each to enlarge): From September 1 through the end of the month, my work will be on display in the first floor north gallery of McGuffey Art Center. Below is an overview of my work that is hanging on one of the walls. It is a continuation of my "Urban Voyeur" series, and depicts scenes captured in downtown Charlottesville, VA. The other wall of the show is a combination of my ceramics and more experimental finer work. To read about them and see an over view Click Here!  Here are some of the pieces included in the show. Click on each one to see larger image      Recently I have been playing with using the batting of my pieces to create the textures. I use various lace type fabrics under the photography that has been printed on sheer organza. The examples and details that follow show how this can be an effective way of adding layers and textures when accompanied by additional piecing, layering, and stitching. Urban Ghosts: The people we pass by every day  Pavilion Morning  Urban Pauses Details.  Just Thinking - 51 x 35, International Quilt Festival, Houston, TX, 2021 Innovative Artistry Award  6' of Chaos - Quilt National; Purchase Award by International Quilt Museum, 2021 To see a video about this Quilt National 2021 award winner CLICK HERE  Sidewalk 2 - 25 x 67, Form not Function, Carnegie Museum, 2018  Union Station - 35 x 55, International Quilt Festival, Houston Texas, purchased by IQF
 Morning Treasures - 37 x 26 Brush Art Gallery, Lowell MA: Best in Show 2017 Process & VideosTo learn more about the process of making this entry CLICK HERE  Virginia Beach, 25 x 35, Whistler Museum, Out of the Blue |
