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Monday, March 14, 2011

Fractured Flowers

Fractured Flowers

On another blog, Quilting on the Edge, Chris was working on a piece that she was mounting on canvas.  After a nice conversation with her via e-mail, I thought you might like to see the rose that I made several years ago.  This was made as part of a group project while we lived in Alabama.  Studio 222 which meets in Auburn, AL was a big part of my life there.  Someone suggested that we make large flowers, but divide them onto 4 canvases.  We could do almost anything we wanted as long as we kept to that format.  Some of the artists in the group painted their canvases and some stretched fabric over them.  They were all very different, varied in technique and made for a wonderful group art show.  We were fortunate enough to have them hung in a number of galleries around the state and the response was great.  In the shows, the 4 parts of each artists flower were mixed up so that it made for a wonderful, colorful exhibit that we called Garden Party.

As part of the project, the 4 parts of each flower were captured in photos and applied to magnets so that those viewing the show could mix the parts of the flowers to make different configurations on a metal board.  The children especially enjoyed making their own arrangement of the parts.  Some people wanted to see what each flower looked like when the 4 parts were together, as well.  It was a fun project and a colorful exhibit.

My flower hangs like this in the foyer of our home right now.



The fabric I used for the flower was hand painted which was a lot of fun!  Then the petals were appliquéd to the background with batting only where the petals are.  The petals were quilted on the machine for dimension.  The center of the flower has beads and French knots to give it the texture found in the center of a rose.  I laid a rose from my garden on my scanner rather than taking a photo of the rose and printed it on a transparency so I could make it whatever size I wanted and divide the flower wherever I wanted for the 4 quadrants.

Here are a few photos of the group as we were working on how to exhibit the pieces.  We toyed with hanging them close together, far apart and with hanging all 4 parts of each flower together.


You can see why I loved being a part of that group.  Now I only receive the e-mails about what they are doing as it was difficult to be a member and live across the country from the rest.  I really miss our last Friday of the month meetings!  I miss the spontaneity of the group and the encouragement to push the limits of creativity to the fullest.


Are you a part of a group that encourages you to grow in your quilt making?  I hope so.  I sure miss being a part of a group that meets on a regular basis.  However, I have found encouragement from being able to read other quilt and quilt art blogs and being a part of the quilt world through the wonderful Internet as well as enjoying being with my quilting sisters in person.  Find a group whether or not you can meet in person to encourage you and for you to encourage.  It’s a lot of fun!  If we are not having fun, why bother, right?


Until next time -- keep stretching!

Lois

3 comments:

Lorinda said...

Sounds like an incredible group and to think it all started with DBQ! The mixed medium part of the challenge sounds fascinating. Right now my EQ group is the group pushing me. Our current project is to design a piece of public art i.e. cover a traffic control box. We have 2 projects raeady to submit April 1. Tomorrow 4 of us are off to the Lancaster AQS show, my first US show in 4 years. I'm hoping I can snag Bonnie for lunch one of the days.

Lois Arnold said...

It was and is a great group. A couple of new people have joined since I left. People must be approved to join by the group so that the focus stays in tact and the number stays at approximately 10. I should be in an EQ group, I've become rusty there! Just not enough time!

Have a great time in Lancaster and give Bonnie a hug for me. I'm green with envy!

Bonnie B - The Quilting Tangler said...

Lois, I too miss our small group that had such an influence on our quilting skills. It was fun to see Lorinda in Lancaster and she helped take down quilts - worked on taking down some of the "tube" quilts - that's what I do during takedown so she got to see me in action again.

Have you joined MyQuiltPlace.com? You can join the EQ group there. Always fun to pick up some new tips for using it.