Carol
  • Home
  • Gallery
    • Mixed Media >
      • Inspirational Tags
      • Art Tags
      • Vessels
      • Artist Books
    • Conversations: Years
    • Fiber Paintings
    • Portraits
    • Silk Explosions
    • Stitch & Slash
    • Slices
    • Stupendous Stitching
  • Workshops & Lectures
  • Online Classes
    • My Favorite Instructors
    • Craftsy Deals
  • Videos
  • Blog
  • Store
  • About
    • Exhibits
    • Resume
    • Contact

Artist Highlight:  Deidre Adams and Brooke Atherton

11/1/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture

Another of my favorite pieces from Pink Progression at the Arvada Art Center in Colorado.

​I've known and admired the work of both these artists and this piece reflected both their unique voices, expressed in fiber, and yet, they melded perfectly into one holistic concept.

I know you can't see the detail of this piece but while I was there, several women spent at least a half hour reading this amazing installation.  I know that because I wanted to take a photo and ended up leaving to visit other areas of the exhibit and finally was able to do so after 30 minutes!

I returned the next week with my sister and ended up spending another 30 minutes interacting with this piece.  Its complexity, layering, texts, and images made each panel of this enormous installation more intriguing than the next.  Each of the 32 panels measured 20" x 22" — approximately 14 -1/2 feet by 6 - 1/2 feet.  I just wish there was a step stool available so I could get closer to the top panels to further explore their meaning.

​Visit their websites to see more of their amazing work:  Deidre Adams and Brooke Atherton


0 Comments

Artist Highlight:  Victoria Eubanks & Jennifer Ghormley

10/27/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture

Another of my favorite pieces from Pink Progression at the Arvada Art Center in Colorado.

This piece is a collaboration between my friend Victoria Eubanks and Jennifer Ghormley, both teachers at the Art Student's League of Denver.

I was attracted to the 3 layers of transparent fabric that hung from the ceiling and created a visual pattern that changed depending on how you looked at it.  

I could look at this for hours, finding new meaning every minute.  

The exhibit will close soon, so if you can, go visit!  I went back again last Thursday and my sister and I were the only people in this huge space so totally safe!

And very inspiring!

0 Comments

Artist Highlight - Judy Anderson & Ginny Hoyle

10/17/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture

 The Arvada Center for the Arts curated an exhibit to celebrate 100 years of voting rights for woman.  The exhibit is called Pink Progressions:  Collaborations.

Given my love of fabric, paper, paint, stitch and texture, this pieces stood out among the 3 pieces I absolutely loved.  

The exhibit asked artists to work with one or two other artists to create something supporting the theme.  Collaborating during a pandemic had its challenges but the artists rose to the occasion.  This was one of the strongest art exhibits I've attended this year.

 The exhibit is up until November 8th so if you have a chance, GO!  you won't be disappointed.  It's free but you need to make a reservation.


0 Comments

We the People

10/4/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture

Nari Ward is a New York artist that staged an exhibit in Denver this month.  

A powerful statement.

I was blown away walking through his installation with all the discarded strollers.  

He uses many media to convey his thoughts and inspiration -- many links to quilts.  He also uses shoelaces to spell out words, as in the title of this exhibit.

I would like to meet him some day.
​


0 Comments

Artist Highlight: Jandel Allen-Davis

9/27/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture

I met Jandel several years ago because we were introduced by a mutual friend who was a physician in Denver and who we "scootered" with on many weekends.

She showed me her amazing vessels and I was intrigued.
Jandel worked for Kaiser at the time and when we re-connected recently, she told me she was now the CEO of Craig Hospital -- a very prestigious hospital in Denver.

So she is one of the rare artists who can work on both sides of the brain.
 
I met my other artist friends at the Botanic Gardens this week and saw this plaque dedicated to her support of this institution and wanted to share this with my blog readers.
​ 
This quote by Maya Angelou resonates with me as we navigate this difficult time.  Things WILL get better.  We need to believe in this and each other.  And its people like Jandel who can lead the way by leading our medical institutions, our cultural communities and our art communities.  I am thankful I know this amazing woman.


0 Comments

Commission - Part 5

9/20/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture

Here's the fourth and final panel for my commission.

Still lots of work to do (binding, quilting, mounting, and attaching a hanging wire) before sending it over to my photographer.  I like to have high quality photos of all my work because, eventually, I will print a portfolio of my Conversations pieces.

My art consultant moved up the delivery date for these pieces by 4 weeks (yikes!) but I'm thankful I started to work on these early and will be able to meet the new delivery date.  

Just one more thing to consider when working on a commission!
​

​

0 Comments

Commission — Part 4

9/12/2020

1 Comment

 
Picture
An artist chooses what goes into a composition and I am no different.

I am influenced by my upbringing, my environment, my friends & family, my work, my education, and my beliefs.  So when I chose to include Elizabeth Iliff in my 3rd panel, it wasn't because she married the richest man in Colorado.  And it wasn't because she started the Iliff School of Theology.  It was because she came to Denver as a Singer sewing Machine Rep!

There is always a lot of "me" in all my fiber art pieces.

I am loving creating these pieces.  I am learning so much about the history of Denver and can't wait to complete the final panel.  My goal is to do this in a couple more days and then, on to the sewing the rows together.  I'm really hoping that I can make this work into a 36" square.  It's going to be challenging, for sure.
​
1 Comment

Commission - Part 3

9/6/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
Here's the second panel.  

I found a way to speed up the process so I can now make 2-1/2 rows per day.  So now, I expect to finish the first layer of all 4 panels by the end of September.  Then, I will start the quilting, binding and mounting of each panel.

Working in fiber is always tricky since fabric is so flexible.  And, in this piece, there are so many seams that even the slightest change in the seam width can change the overall measurement.  So this is what keeps me up at night.

However, I know that making art is just problem solving creatively so that is my plan.  There are many roads to the same destination and I am determined to find them all!

​On to the third panel!
0 Comments

Commission — Part 2

8/30/2020

1 Comment

 
Picture

Here's the first panel.  I will leave all the rows unsewn until the final weeks of putting everything together since I might move rows around from one panel to another.  Also, I might find a miss-spelling that I will need to correct (yes, this happened before!) There are two words that can't be easily read (gold and Neal) so I will probably replace these and not use pink or tan fabric in any other panels going forward.  On an artistic note, I find it valuable to photograph my work so I can see the value and make any corrections I need before finishing the piece. 

So where was I in my story.  Oh, right.  I promised to tell you about my approach to telling Denver's history.

Initially, I started researching by buying books about Denver's history but soon realized didn't have time to read them all and make the commission deadline.  So, I turned to the Internet (wikipedia) to start with an outline.

But I also wanted to get some information that is not widely known so I contacted a noted historian, Tom Noel, and he graciously offered to help me.  Emboldened, I also contacted Sam Bock, a historian with History Colorado and he gave me some great tips.  I tried to contact Phil Goodstein (who hung up on me!) and that's another story.  But, this project put me in touch with local people I would have never met otherwise.

So.  One panel almost finished and on the second.  I now know how much time I will spend on this project.  I can make 2 rows per day, working 5-6 hours per day.  There is a lot of handwork and stitching in this piece.  So each panel will take a week to get to this stage.  Check in next week to see panel #2!


​

1 Comment

Sneak Preview of New Commission

8/25/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture

Thought I would take you on my journey to create a new fiber art piece for the Denver Health commission so here is where I am today.

My mission is to complete a piece measuring 3 feet high by 12 feet wide by November 1, 2020.

The first step was deciding how to do this.  I decided to make 4 mounted pieces, each measuring 36" x 36".  I thought making one piece this size in fabric would be difficult to mount (fabric is heavy!) and also difficult to quite and square up since I don't have a table that size. 
 
Once I had the size, I could figure out how many squares would fit into the square.  the easy choice was 3" squares but I though only having 12 letters in each row would hinder my ability to add a many words and phrases as possible so I settled on 2-1/2" squares and that gave me 15 letters to work with on each row.
​
Then came the researching of the history of Denver.  More on that next week but here are the first 6 rows of the first piece.  
​

0 Comments
<<Previous
Forward>>

    Carol Ann Waugh

    I am a mixed media artist and love color and texture!

    Archive

    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016

    Categories

    All

  • Home
  • Gallery
    • Mixed Media >
      • Inspirational Tags
      • Art Tags
      • Vessels
      • Artist Books
    • Conversations: Years
    • Fiber Paintings
    • Portraits
    • Silk Explosions
    • Stitch & Slash
    • Slices
    • Stupendous Stitching
  • Workshops & Lectures
  • Online Classes
    • My Favorite Instructors
    • Craftsy Deals
  • Videos
  • Blog
  • Store
  • About
    • Exhibits
    • Resume
    • Contact