Another Step on the Path

I just spent three days surrounded by art and artists, mostly of the fiber variety, at the joint SAQA (Studio Art Quilters Association)/SDA (Surface Design Association) conference in and around Philadelphia. I was there to connect with other people who might have interests, perspectives, goals somehow similar to mine, and at first I was getting the feeling most people were there to reconnect with people they already knew. But gradually that feeling changed and I talked with a whole range of people at various points on their artistic journeys--and came back with a list of things I want to try and more than enough energy to keep me motivated and inspired to get on with my own work.

And then there was the art. The conference was designed to coincide with the opening of Art Quilt Elements, which was also part of Fiber Philadelphia, a multitude of exhibits at various galleries throughout the city that all celebrated fiber art. I met several of the artists who had pieces in AQE and so I did get permission to post a couple of pictures. The first is one of the most memorable pieces there, a work by Susan Else, who has an wonderfully dry sense of humor and specializes in three-dimensional works. Her current series is fabric-wrapped skeletons!

This is called "Forever Yours" and required an amazing amount of delicate work.

A totally different piece was this immense flag:

It's called "Colors Unfurled aka If Betsy Ross Had My Stash" by Maria Shell.  It has 50 stars, each designed to represent a state, and thirteen stripes and celebrates the historic nature of President Obama's campaign.

On Saturday we were all bused into the city for an art orgy. Eleven exhibits!  And I could have seen six more, if the buses had actually picked people up according to plan. We saw everything from this beautiful graphic work by Adela Akers called "Gold Inside"

to a huge piece made of locks of human hair sandwiched between transparent paper with the different textures making a surprisingly interesting composition to an exhibit by members of Art Cloth Network who had produced 80-inch long pieces of fabric that had been dyed, printed, painted, stamped and otherwise manipulated to become something like this by Lisa Kerpoe called "Between the Lines." 

I will not start a rant about the quality of the bus service, which was more than a distraction to the day, but even with standing much too long on rainy, windy corners in Philadelphia, I went to sleep that night with the mysterious, ethereal images from an entire exhibit of new work by Emily Richardson cycling through my brain.

And, if you are still reading, thanks for the company!