Art in the City - Downtown Dayton & Wheat Penny

 

Art in the City is happening in downtown Dayton this Saturday, August 6 from 1-7 pm. My art quilt "Lavender Diamonds" will be at the Edward A. Dixon Gallery at 222 N St Clair St, in Dayton. The gallery has recently moved into a new home so they are also having a grand reopening on Friday, August 5 from 4-8 pm. In addition to this Friday and Saturday, the gallery is open by appointment.

While the Wheat Penny is not of the official Art in the City map, it is just a few blocks away at 515 Wayne Avenue in Dayton. I have 16 art quilts on display there through October 1. The restaurant is open Tue-Thu 11a-9p, Fri-Sat 11a-10p, and closed on Sun-Mon.

For a blast from the past, this photo was taken of me an my art quilt "Cosmic Connectivity" at the Wheat Penny at the Dayton's first Art in the City in 2016. And it is a part of the show that is up at the Wheat Penny now.

Lavender Diamonds - Quilt of the Week

Lavender Diamonds, 68" x 68", made by Pam Geisel

This art quilt is a traditional "Broken Star" but made in a non-traditional way. Instead of being pieced, the 560 diamonds are made with 6-8 pieces of the same color hand-dyed fabric that have been fused to a background and then quilted down with black thread 1/4" apart.

The dark swoosh that goes across the middle was made by using darker fabrics in that area, and not covered with a sheer fabric.

During the weeks that it took to cut, place, and fuse the diamond pieces, every time I closed my eyes I would still see the diamond shapes. While I was quilting it, every time I closed my eyes I'd see lines that were 1/4" apart.

It was awarded Honorable Mention at AQS QuiltWeek, Lancaster, PA, in 2015.

Because this is the Quilt of the Week, it is 10% off the original price of $3200 through 2/28/21 if you purchase directly from me. Details can be found here.

Photos from the "Five in Fiber" Exhibit at the Troy-Hayner Center

In case you can't make it to see the exhibit in person, here are photos from the “Five in Fiber” art quilt exhibit at the Troy-Hayner Cultural Center.

There are over 60 art quilts made by A. Sue DeSantis, Ronnie Doyal, Pam Geisel, Carroll Schleppi, and Lisa Quintana.

The Troy-Hayner Cultural Center is located at 301 W. Main St. in Troy and is open Mon. evenings 7-9p, Tues.-Thurs. 9a-9p, Fri. & Sat. 9a-5p, and Sun. 1-5p.

The exhibit runs through Oct. 4. Some of the quilts are downstairs but most of them are upstairs in the gallery room and in the hallway.

There will be a presentation by four of the exhibitors on the Dayton Landmark quilts on Sun. Sept. 27 at 2 pm.

If you've never been to the Troy-Hayner, it is a beautiful building (that used to be a private house).  The photo above is the front porch.

For more information visit www.troyhayner.org or call (937) 339-0457.

The quilts I have in the show are:

Life is Like a Box of Chocolates
Sunflowers at Ellis Pond
My Soul in a Blackberry Pie
Early Morning Nine Patch
Lavender Diamonds
A Second Self
Cabin Sweet Cabin
Monkey Tail
Inside of a Dog
Take Me Out to the Ball Game (interior and exterior)

Lavender Diamonds travels to Lancaster, PA for AQS Week, wins Honorable Mention

 

Pam Geisel with her quilt Lavender Diamonds. Photo by Bill Franz

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Local Quilter Semifinalist in International Quilt Show

Paducah, Kentucky, USA – Pam Geisel from Yellow Springs is a semifinalist (and won and Honorable Mention in the Large Quilts - Home Machine Quilted category) for the 2015 AQS QuiltWeek® – Lancaster, Pennsylvania, March 11‐14, 2015, at the Lancaster County Convention Center. Pam has been chosen to display the quilt, Lavender Diamonds, along with 200 others in this AQS contest. First, Second, and Third Place prizes in seven categories will be awarded, along with six overall awards including Best of Show. Winners will be announced at the show and posted on the AQS website, QuiltWeek.com. More than $50,000 will be granted, including $10,000 for the Best of Show and $3,500 each for Best Wall Quilt, Best Use of Color, Best Original Design, Best Hand, Best Home, and Best Longarm Quilted. Regardless of how Lavender Diamonds places in the final judging, all semifinalists´ quilts will be displayed at the show, which is expected to draw more than 15,000 people.

AQS Founder and President Meredith Schroeder says, “This year’s quilts show off the artistry of quilters in traditional as well as innovative techniques. There is something for everyone to enjoy in the Lancaster quilt contest.”

Quilts were entered in this international contest from 36 US states and 9 other countries. Come see a wide range of special exhibit quilts including: Stitch Like an Egyptian; New Quilts from an Old Favorite: Carolina Lily; the Pilgrim/Roy 2015 Invitational Challenge; Red, White, and Quilted; The WICKED™ Cherrywood Challenge; and the AQS Authors’ Exhibit.

The American Quilter’s Society hosts several shows annually, each with its own quilt contest. Besides the Lancaster, Pennsylvania show, AQS hosts other prestigious shows in Paducah, Kentucky; Syracuse, New York; Grand Rapids, Michigan; Chattanooga, Tennessee; Des Moines, Iowa and Albuquerque, New Mexico.

For more information, please go to www.QuiltWeek.com.

Edited to add this quilt won "Honorable Mention" in the Large Quilts - Home Machine Quilted category. The list of winners can be seen here.

Lavender Diamonds

 

"Lavender Diamonds," 68" x 68", made by Pam Geisel in 2014

“Lavender Diamonds” is a traditional “Broken Star” (a version of a “Lone Star”) but created in a non-traditional way, and cropped differently.

Instead of being pieced, it is fused with hand-dyed fabric. Each of the 560 diamonds is made up of 6 to 8 pieces of similarly colored fabric. By the end, every time I closed my eyes I saw diamond shapes.

There’s a “swoosh” that goes across the middle where the same color family is used but the pieces are darker and is outlined by couched black thread. Where the swoosh goes through the negative space there are fused pieces of gray, black, dark green, and dark blue fabrics.

The black negative spaces have thin strips of black fabric fused in them and they are framed by the same maroon fabric that I used as the inner border.

My original idea for the quilting was to quilt in a spiral, but I wasn’t sure I’d be able to sew down enough of the pieces, since even though they were fused, they weren’t very good about staying put, especially when I had to fold and roll the quilt in order to quilt it. My second idea was some sort of fractured pattern, but I had the same concern. The night before I was going to start, just as I was falling asleep, I thought I could do quilting lines that were 1/4" apart and echo the design element in the center of the quilt (where the colors are darker). By the end of this time, every time I closed my eyes I saw quilting lines 1/4" apart.

Edited to add this quilt won "Honorable Mention" in the Large Quilts - Home Machine Quilted category at the American Quilter's Society show at the Lancaster QuiltWeek in March 2015. The list of winners can be seen here.

More about Lavender Diamonds