Using Perspective and 3D Art Quilt featured in Art Quilting Studio Magazine

Five of my art quilts are featured in Art Quilting Studio's Magazine's Autumn 2019 issue!

Four of the Americana Series art quilts ("Picnic at Ellis Pond," "Sunflowers at Whitehall Farm," "My Soul in a Blackberry Pie," and "Kings Yard Farmers Market") are included in an article about using perspective with foreground object.

I explain how I made the picnic basket, bicycle, pie, and baskets with apples all larger to indicate that they are in the foreground of the image.

My 3D art quilt "How Does Your Rainbow Grow" is in the "Quilting the Odd & Unusal" section.

The article gives a brief description on how I made this 3D piece and the challenges that came up when I created it.

Art Quilting Studio is published quarterly and is packed full of new quilting techniques and innovative design ideas.

This magazine is one of many publications put out by Stampington & Company. I've heard it's available at some Joann stores. You can find a store near you where it's sold or order it directly from the Stampington website.

Only On the Surface

"Only On the Surface," 16" x 14", handmade by Pam Geisel, August 2019

I belong to a Textile Art Group and for the last seven years we've had a biennial exhibit at the Winds Cafe in Yellow Springs. In 2013, 2015, and 2017 there were five of us who participated (not always the same five, but I've participated every time). This year we have nine fiber artists participating in the show which will be up through Nov. 3, 2019.

Since our last show, one of our members, Corrine, moved to Arizona. Bette was concerned that Corrine wouldn't be able to participate in this year's show so Bette selected a photo of lichen on a rock that Corrine had taken and posted on Facebook.

(Corrine did send us two pieces for the show.)

Bette was drawn to this photo because to her the lichen looked like it was made of fiber. So she challenged the rest of us to create a fiber piece inspired by the photo.

This is my piece. I immediately saw the lichen as lace (as did Bette) and I knew I wanted to use layered sheer fabric to build up the background. It wasn't until I started working on it that I realized how much purple was in the photo.

I started with piece of purple cotton fabric and I added some purple, green, and white sheer fabrics in layers to create the dark and light areas. I added the lace at the bottom then free motion quilted round shapes to hold it all down.

I added the large cream colored fabric border to act as a mat and let the lace hang over at the bottom.

I attached some gold glass beads and delicate silver leaf beads at the bottom, three brownish purple beads in the upper left corner, and one long, thin frosted glass bead on the right side.

The title is taken from the Joe Walsh song "The Confessor." I've always liked these lyrics:

   If you look at your reflection at the bottom of the well
   What you see is only on the surface
   When you try to see the meaning, hidden underneath
   The measure of the depth can be deceiving
   The bottom has a rocky reputation

More about Only On the Surface.

"Stitch by Stitch" YS Textile Art Group show at the Winds Cafe in Yellow Springs

Stitch By Stitch: A cross-cultural exploration of contemporary textile and fiber art is presented by nine members of the Yellow Springs Textile Art Group. The members, Corrine Bayraktaroglu, Carol Culbertson, Pam Geisel, Gayle Gyure, Bette Kelley, Ramona Kern, Macy Reynolds, Sue Rudolf, and Phyllis Schmidt are all local fiber and textile artists who create innovative embroidery, weaving, and art quilts.

You can view the show during the months of Sept. and Oct. at the Winds Cafe, 215 Xenia Ave. in Yellow Springs. The Winds Cafe is open Tues.-Sat. from 11:30 am-2:30 pm and 5-10 pm, and on Sun. from 10 am-3 pm, they are closed on Mondays.

There will be an opening reception on Sun., Sept. 15, from 6:30-8:30 pm.

This is our fourth biennial exhibit and this time we've added something a little different.

Since our last exhibit two years ago, Corrine and her husband moved to Arizona. Bette was concerned that Corrine wouldn't be able to participate with us this year (spoiler alert: the owl was made by Corrine) so Bette selected a photo of lichen on a rock that Corrine had taken and she challenged the rest of us to create a fiber piece inspired by it.

Interpretations by (from left to right) Ramona Kern, Bette Kelley, Pam Geisel, and three woven purses by Carol Culbertson. 

I also wrote a blog post about my piece which I call "Only On the Surface" and Bette took a video of the exhibit, which is narrated for her granddaughter (it's about 16 minutes long).