12 Quilts...Six Locations!

Details of quilts and fabric mosaics by Pam Geisel on exhibit this summer.

Last year there was one day in June where I had several local art exhibits overlap and I had a total of eight quilts in six locations. This year it turns out I have 12 quilts in six locations that will overlap for 35 days! From Fri., July 12 through Thurs., Aug. 15 these are the six locations:

Ohio Designer Craftsmen's Best of 2013 Show 

at the Southern Ohio Museum, 825 Gallia St, Portsmouth, OH 

"Cosmic Connectivity" is in this exhibit

 

Annual Members' Juried Exhibition
at the Springfield Museum of Art, 107 Cliff Park Rd, Springfield, OH
"Early Morning Nine Patch" and "Inside of a Dog" are in this exhibit

 

Seasons of Life: the 21st Annual Art Quilt Exhibit
at Aullwood Audubon Center and Farm, 1000 Aullwood Rd, Dayton, OH
My"Seasons Fabric Mosaic" set is in this exhibit

 

Adventures in Design: Miami Valley Art Quilt Network art quilts
at South Park United Methodist Church, 140 Stonemill Rd, Dayton, OH
My "Adventures in Design" series is in this exhibit

 

Dayton Landmarks Quilts Redux: Miami Valley Art Quilt Network slices
at the Dayton Metro Library, 215 E Third St, Dayton, OH
My slice is "Industrial Dayton #3"

 

22nd Annual Open Members' Show
at the Dayton Visual Arts Center, 118 N Jefferson St, Dayton, OH
"Indigo Dreams" is in this exhibit

DVAC Annual Open Members' Show

Left: "Indigo Dreams" fabric mosaic, 8" x 20", made by Pam Geisel, 2012

The 22nd Annual Open Members' Show at the Dayton Visual Arts Center is July 12-Aug. 17, this year's theme is "Water, Water Everywhere."

DVAC is located at 118 N. Jefferson St. in Dayton, Ohio. They are open Tues.-Sat. 11 am-6 pm.

There will be an opening reception on Fri., July 12 from 5-8 pm.

Adventures in Design art quilts

Adventures in Design series, made by Pam Geisel June 2013 

My art quilt group, the Miami Valley Art Quilt Network, has been holding Study Group meetings once a month where we explore design principles while working through the book “Adventures in Design” by Joen Wolfrom.

Because my background is in graphic design and I am already familiar with most of these concepts I thought it would be fun to take the title of this book literally and make a series of quilts that explore design principles.

This series covers these design elements: Line, Color, Letters/Words, Proportion and Scale, Texture, and Shape. Over the next few days I will focus on each quilt and the concept it covers.

My quilts are on display along with quilts made by other members of the study group from July 1 through Aug. 31 in the Epiphany Gallery at South Park United Methodist Church, 140 Stonemill Road in Dayton, Ohio. The quilts can be viewed Mon.-Thurs. from 9 am-2 pm and on Sunday before and after the service.

Tomorrow...Adventures in Design: Line

More about the Adventure in Design series

 

Adventures in Design: Line

“Lines of Text,” 9” x 7.5”, made by Pam Geisel June 2013

The first design element we worked with was “Line.”

In her book “Adventures in Design,” Joen Wolfrom says that Line is “the element that provides the simplest, most effective way to make your design possible.” It can define a shape, direction, or movement.

One of the assignments in the book was to take photos of images that illustrate vertical, horizontal, and diagonal lines. We had tickets to a Cincinnati Reds game so we went down early and I took photos of downtown that I thought emphasized this concept.

I was especially interested in this photo: the vertical lines of the fountain spray and in the buildings in the background, plus the diagonal lines of the tiles in the foreground of the fountain.

I decided I wanted a literal interpretation of the design element so I played with the concept “Lines of Text” and cut fabric that had words on it to use as the diagonal lines made by the tile.

Along with raw edge appliqué, a technique I used in this quilt was couching white yarn to the background to make the water spray.

Since this was the first quilt of the series, it determined the fabrics that I’d use for the background for all the other quilts, and it turns out I had just enough of to make all six. I also decided I’d use the fabric with words on it in all of the quilts.

Tomorrow...Adventures in Design: Color 

More about this quilt and the Adventure in Design series

 

Adventures in Design: Color

“Colorful Language,” 9” x 7.5”, made by Pam Geisel June 2013

The design element for this quilt is the most visible concept: color. Color can create mood, evoke feelings, and create visual drama.

For our assignment we were given a set of color chips and told to select a color we consider to be ugly. I chose Olive Green. Then we were told to pick colors that would go with the ugly color and make a quilt with it.

When I got home and looked at my fabric, I had several olive green pieces that I really liked so to me there was a big difference between a flat color on a color chip and the rich color of a textured or batik fabric. Not to mention I have a lot of olive green clothing, especially pants and shorts so the color must not be that ugly to me.

There are a lot of phrases with the word color but not a whole lot that don’t actually have to do with color so for my literal interpretation I went with a sanitized version of “Colorful Language,” although two of my words are also verbs (“SHOOT a photo” and “DARN a sock”).

To make this quilt I printed the words in reverse, traced onto fusible web, fused to back of the fabric bubble (the darker color) and cut out the letters, much like reverse raw edge appliqué. I placed these fabric bubbles over lighter color fabric.

For font geeks: “Shoot” is AR Christy, “Darn is Showcard Gothic, and “Geez” is Matisse ITC.

Tomorrow...Adventures in Design: Letters/Words

More about this quilt and the Adventure in Design series

 

Adventures in Design: Letters/Words

“Love Letter,”  9” x 7.5”, made by Pam Geisel June 2013

The design element for this piece is the use of letters or words as graphic elements. The use of text as a graphic element is more noticeable in graphic design but has been become more popular in fiber arts.

Our assignment was to choose a letter and print it out in several different fonts, then play around with it: stretch it, rotate it, whatever. I wanted to represent the capital letter ‘E’ without actually using an ‘E’ so I played around with upside-down ‘3’s and ampersands. (Fun fact: the ampersand symbol originated as the letters ‘e’ and ‘t’ squished together.)

The literal interpretation I went with is a love letter. (See if you can find the letters ‘L’, ‘O’, and ‘V’ in the envelope; the ampersand can also be read as the letter ‘E’.)

For this quilt I made a fabric envelope and appliquéd it to the quilt top.

For font geeks: the ampersand is Adobe Caslon Pro.

Tomorrow...Adventures in Design:  Proportion and Scale(s)

More about this quilt and the Adventure in Design series

Adventures in Design: Proportion and Scale(s)

“Fishy, Fishy” 9” x 7.5”, made by Pam Geisel June 2013

Proportion and Scale are the design elements for the next piece. In her book “Adventures in Design” Joen Wolfrom defines Proportion as “how shapes interact with each other within a design” and Scale as “a composition and its total design.” It is also a good way to let the viewer know that something is nearer or farther away, and also what is most important.

Our assignment was proportion is a slightly different sense. Instead of the proportion of shapes, we were given a photo and instructed to make a quilt using the same colors in the photo in the same proportion. 

Luckily for me the colors I’ve been using all along were in the photo I was given. (OK, there's a bit more dark blue in my quilt than in the photo, but it was a place to start.)

For my literal interpretation I decided to use two fish for my subject matter. One is larger with larger scales and a larger eye, and a smaller fish with smaller scales and a smaller eye, although in this design the smaller fish could also just be a smaller fish. Of course literally scales are part of a fish.

Some techniques I used include couched thread for the seaweed and hand-attached mussel shell “coins” for the fish scales.

Tomorrow...Adventures in Design: Texture

More about this quilt and the Adventure in Design series

Adventures in Design: Texture

“Every Fiber of Her Being,” 9” x 7.5”, made by Pam Geisel June 2013

The next design element, Texture, adds “extra spice and visual richness to a design” states Joen Wolfrom in her book “Adventures in Design.”

Unlike most 2-D graphic design where texture is indicated, in fabric texture is already literal. For this piece I added some crocheted yarn for the shawl and soft, fuzzy yarn for the hair.

The other part of our assignment was to use a geometric shape placed on top of the color wheel to determine the colors to be used in this quilt, although neutral colors can also be added.

I used a triangle (a triadic color plan) and got blue-violet (the background), green (her dress), and orange (her hair).

As a fiber artist I’ve always loved the phrase “With every fiber of my being” so I decided to do a literal interpretation of that phrase.

Is this a self portrait? Well, I’m a pale woman who wears glasses. My hair is blonde (and currently shorter than here) but not only didn’t I have any yarn that was close in color to my hair, it also wouldn’t have met the color criteria for this quilt. Plus the orange/red hair goes better with the colors in the other quilts in this series.

I couched the yarn on this quilt and I also couched the crocheted doily with the same color thread, which worked better than I thought it would. The glasses and face are hand-stitched.

Tomorrow...Adventures in Design:  Shape

More about this quilt and the Adventure in Design series

 

Adventures in Design: Shape

“Bent Out of Shape,” 9” x 7.5”, made by Pam Geisel June 2013

The final design element is Shape.

Our assignment was to first doodle some organic shapes in a piece of paper. Then we divided another piece of paper into rectangles, a geometric shape. Then we drew one of the simple organic shapes inside the rectangles, expanding and stretching it to fit as needed.

I started off with a leaf shape, although once I ‘bent it out of shape’ it looks more like a tear drop to me. I emphasized the shape by making by highlighting half of the leaf with a lighter color. I really like how the four pointed ends come together creating a focal point.

More about this quilt and the Adventure in Design series