Plaid Rain

The "Have a Seat III: Fabulous Fabrics" fundraiser at the Philharmonic Center for the Arts took place on Sunday, March 21, 2010.  It was a wonderful event with lots of good food, conversation, music and ART!  Artists were provided chairs, umbrellas, or fabric to enhance in any way they chose.  As each raffle ticket was drawn, the ticket holder had two minutes to claim an item.

Shown below is only a small sampling of what was on display that day.

"The Beach at Naples" chair by Ruth Dwyer

Ruth Dwyer with her husband

My friend, Betty Keigler, standing next to an umbrella she admired

I love the umbrellas shown below, but forgot to note the names of the artists!

Gail Webster Patterson, Treasurer of Friends of Art (left) chose my umbrella "Plaid Rain"

This event is a lot of fun and I hope to participate again next time!

Princess Diana's Dresses

Twenty of Princess Diana's dresses are on display at the von Liebig Center for the Arts in Naples, FL.  I had the opportunity to work with the conservator to get the dresses ready to exhibit.  My job was to cover 4 of the dress forms in white dupioni silk.    

                               

The first dress form (and the easiest!)

Here's the dress on the form

                                                                           More dresses!

Still hard at work!

                                       

I love the red and black number!

  

Form 2

                                                                             Form 3

                                                  

Form 4 - not quite finished!

The exhibit is open daily until June 27, 2010.  Go see it for yourself - you won't be disappointed.

Play Day

My good friend, Jan Weirath, joined me in the studio today.  Jan is new to dollmaking. We had a lot of fun creating our little dolls.

A very simple doll drawn on freezer paper, traced onto muslin, stitched and cut out.  After the doll was stuffed with fiber fill, it was enhanced with acrylic paint, colored pencils, beads, buttons, yarn, etc.

Jan hard at work!

Richard came home in time to take our picture.

Jan and her sweet little diva doll.  (I'm sorry I didn't get a close up of the doll.)

My doll

We managed to get these little girls done in about 3 hours.  It was a really treat for me to sew with a friend - I hardly ever do that!  It was truly a pleasure spending time with Jan.   Didn't she do a fine job?

New Kids on the Block

Making dolls out of unusual elements is lot of fun and gives me a chance to use all those little bits of junk I've found over the years.  Photographs from my recent trip to Croatia were transferred using Lazertran (turpentine method).

painted wooden blocks, image transfer using Lazertran (turpentine method); embellished with watch faces, wings made of metal shim, metal tape, twigs, dice

painted wooden blocks, image transfer using Lazertran (turpentine method); embellished with hardware, brass hands, feathers,  wire, wooden rulers

painted wooden blocks, embellished with rubber stamps, coiled wire, brass hands, wooden rulers

Form & Fiber

Jo-Ann Golenia and Pat Kumicich share the spotlight in the Form & Fiber exhibit at the Lighthouse Gallery, Tequesta, FL.  The exhibit shows our unique fiber work as well as one-of-a-kind ceramic pieces by members of the Ceramics League of the Palm Beaches.  Here is a small sampling of the exhibit.

Pat and Jo-Ann surrounded by Jo-Ann's artwork

"No News is Good News," by Pat Kumicich

"Hmmm...," by Pat Kumicich

"The Eyes Have It," by Pat Kumicich (center)

(Jo-Ann's work on left and right)

"Reaching for the Brass Ring," by Pat Kumicich

(ceramics in foreground)

These fabulous works of art will be on display until March 27, 2010.  I hope you have an opportunity to see it in person.

A Sow's Ear?

"Waste Not, Want Not" is a good motto. Once a year, I go through my closet and sort through what hasn't been worn. Decisions need to be made - keep it, toss it, reuse it?

A well worn brown jumper-type dress had seen better days. It had wonderful buttons and unusual button loops. I challenged myself to recycle the dress.

Sketch of purse

hand carved stamp

The dress was cut up to fit pattern pieces then stamped with fabric paints. Notice how the button loops were integrated into the design. Pattern pieces were seamed together. The resulting fabric was placed over felt and machine quilted. Facings were used for the shoulder straps. Buttons hand stitched into place. Side seams stitched to complete the purse and lined with a complementary fabric.

front

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I challenge you to go through your closets and make something new for yourself!