"Speaking Out" in "Threads of Resistance"

I'm totally thrilled today that my work, "Speaking Out" has been accepted into the "Threads of Resistance" exhibit that will travel the nation from July 15, 2017 through October 2018. it is "a juried exhibit of fiber Artists Circle Alliance...to protest the Trump Administrations actions and policies." Approximately 500 works were submitted in the Call for Entry so for my work to make the cut of 63 chose works, I am very honored.

The Artists Circle Alliance has posted photos of ALL the art works that were submitted. To view them, go to http://threadsofresistance.org/the_artwork.html

"Speaking Out" (36" Wide x 24" Long)

Always remember, never fear to experiment.  

Sometimes wonderful things happen.

© Linda Friedman 2017.  All rights reserved

"Textile Translations"

This work was created in response to the theme, "Put a Bird on It," for Beyond the Edge Fiber Artists, a group of which I am a member.   We were accepted, and presently have a group show, at the Rancho Buena Vista Adobe Art Gallery in Vista, California.

"Call to the Heart"

This work stems from a very deep love for my father and how much I miss him every day of my life.  My statement on the label reads:

 "I love you and I'll see you tomorrow", my father said as he kissed me goodbye. As we hugged, a crow called out from its perch atop a telephone wire. There was no tomorrow. An accident took my father's life. From that fateful day forward, when I see and hear a crow utter its call, I hear, "I love you and I'll see you tomorrow." Yes, Daddy. I'll see you tomorrow."



Having the good fortune to not only belong to Beyond the Edge Fiber Artists but to also have my work included in the Rancho Buena Vista Adobe Art Gallery is definitely the highlight of this month for me.

Next week I'll post more photos of the exhibit.

If you are in the vicinity of North County San Diego, hope you have a chance to drop into the show.

"Textile Translations"

 March 7 through April 3, 2017 at the Rancho Buena Vista Adobe Gallery (Rancho Buena Vista Adobe).  The Gallery is located at 640 Alta Vista Drive, Vista, California. Phone (760) 639-6164. The gallery is open Thursday, Friday and Saturday, from 10 am to 3 pm.

Always remember, never fear to experiment.  

Sometimes wonderful things happen.

© Linda Friedman 2017.  All rights reserved

"Crisp Autumn Morn" in Fiber

I'm totally stoked to find myself on quite a roll thee past few days.  Here is another art quilt that was stashed away in a trunk waiting many years for me to revisit it and finally complete it.

20" x 20" "Crisp Autumn Morn"

This piece was made entirely with commercial fabric remnants.  The perpendicular central panels were pieced, as were the black and orange borders.  The 'L" shaped orange elements were hand appliqued.  The leaf and rectangular and "fussy cut" leaf elements were raw edged machine appliqued.  The inner panels were closely free motion quilted with gold metallic thread.  The entire top was then quilted to batting and backing fabrics.  It is mounted on 20"x20" stretcher bars over which I nailed a gesso finished, thin plywood sheet to prevent any possible migration of wood elements through to the quilt.

Thanks for dropping in.  Hope springs eternal that I will adhere to my 2017 New Year's resolution to finish many quilt tops that have been "sleeping" in trunks for years on end.   Perhaps I'll have more to show you soon.

Always remember, never fear to experiment.  

Sometimes wonderful things happen.

© Linda Friedman 2017.  All rights reserved

 

"It's Not a Black and White World"

I created this work a long time ago, but somehow it seems relevant today.

We are all of the human race and it is high time we respect others as we respect ourselves.

Always remember, never fear to experiment.  

Sometimes wonderful things happen.

© Linda Friedman 2016.  All rights reserved

"A Forever Changed World" in Palm Springs, CA

 

I'm thrilled to announce that my quilt, "A Forever Changed World" will be on exhibit with the Beyond the Edge Fiber Artists exhibit at Mancuso's Quiltfest Oasis from October 6 - October 8, 2016.

Our group of invited fiber artists has created an exhibit of works based upon a theme of "Infinite Connections".  It reflects each artist's translation of that theme with fabric and a variety of techniques.  My 30" x 50" quilt reflects the infinite connections that became possible with the advent of radio waves. We often take communication for granted but without it, societies would stand still.  May our information portals never be hacked and closed.

Hope you can set aside a day between October 6th and 8th to visit Quiltfest Oasis which promises to be an outstanding show.

Quiltfest Oasis – October 6 – 8, 2016

Palm Springs Convention Center

277 North Avenida Caballeros

Palm Springs, CA

Always remember, never fear to experiment.  

Sometimes wonderful things happen.

© Linda Friedman 2016.  All rights reserved

Flight Feathers #1 - Mounted Fiber Art

Flight Feathers #1 - 8"x8" - Mounted Art Quilt

Recently I completed a 40" x 40" work that featured a crow on a telephone wire.*  The theme had emotional significance for me because the call of crow on a wire was in the background as my father and I hugged and said for the last time, "I love you", before an accident took his life the next day.  Every time I see or hear a crow, I am reminded of my father and that he loved me very much.

Because many of my works have implicit undertones, I wanted to have a white feather in the bird's beak that would, to me, signify my father leaving this plane of existence.  This led to my experimenting with thread to create the perfect feather.  Unfortunately, white was "lost" on a silver lame field.  Still, I liked the feathers and knew that if I put them away for future use, they would surely become one with a growing drawer of "someday to use" items.

Thus, I set about making a sandwich of black fabric and batting and free motion quilted a background for the thread feathers.  I then stitched the leaves onto the mini quilt.  In my stash was an 8"x8" stretched canvas.  It was perfect for mounting this mini art quilt.

Close-up of First Feather

Close-up of Second Feather

Close-up of Third Feather

Once the quilt was mounted to the stretched canvas, I used a stenciling brush to lightly apply acrylic paint mixed with fabric medium to the four corners.

Last I backed the work with black mat board and attached D-rings to make the piece ready for hanging.

Back of Mounted Mini Quilt

*Once the large, 40"x40" quilt begins to travel, I will provide a picture and write-up of that, but I will post a "teaser" here.  The crow is constructed with dark blue and black satin and is heavily thread painted on the head and the breast.

Beginning of the Crow

Always remember, never fear to experiment.  

Sometimes wonderful things happen.

© Linda Friedman 2016.  All rights reserved

"Speaking Out" in Fuller Lodge Art Center, "Pulse" exhibit

"Speaking Out" © Linda Friedman 2016

I'm tickled pink to report that my quilted art work, "Speaking Out," has been juried into the Los Alamos, New Mexico, Fuller Lodge Art Center exhibit, "Pulse".    Here is an invitation to the opening reception that is scheduled for this evening.

Invitation to Opening Receiption

If any followers happen to be in New Mexico during the remainder of June through July 30th, I hope you will visit the Fuller Lodge Art Center to take in the exhibit.  The address of the center is:

2131 Central Avenue

Los Alamos, NM  37544

The call for art outlined what the jurors were looking for, as follows:

"Examine the concept of rhythm and take time 

to tune into the cadence of the world around you..."

My work, "Speaking Out" was inspired by Pharrell Williams' song, "Freedom" that was released in 2015.  This quilted work was composed upon white and red cotton and cotton blend fabrics, screen printed and stenciled using my original designs with acrylic paints mixed with fabric medium, and free motion quilted.

Sure wish that my schedule would allow traveling to the reception.  The variety of art promises to be stimulating.

Always remember, never fear to experiment.  

Sometimes wonderful things happen.

© Linda Friedman 2016.  All rights reserved

Dimenional Art Expressed in Fiber #1

 So many aspects of fiber captivate my interest that between quilted art , I enjoy creating dimensional fiber works.  Here are just a few that have come from my sewing machine.

Offering

 Two soft sculptured forms, thread stitched bowl and felted fruit forms.

Open Box Form

 Threads stitched onto water soluble stabilizer and formed into a box shape.

Opening Night

Thread stitched fluted open vessel, thread painted mask, and 

manipulable felt stitched over wire leaf forms 

Always remember, never fear to experiment.  

Sometimes wonderful things happen.

© Linda Friedman 2016.  All rights reserved

Birds on a Tin Tile Print

Through a Garden Fence

After attending a fantastic plein aire class on tin tile printing given by Teresa Shippy, I came right home and used a tin tile to make four prints using Setacolor fabric paint.  At another time I will post the process for this printing.  I then sashed each printed square with hand dyed purple fabric, backed each of the four center squares with batting so that I could make them dimensional, and then applied batting to the back of the entire top.  On the center stashing pieces I machine appliqued free form leaf shapes and auditioned petals for a middle medallion shape.

Life and other quilting deadlines intervened and almost 3 years passed before I revisited this creation.

While straightening up my studio in anticipation of a friend who will be visiting to quilt with me for a week, I came upon the Through a Garden Fence that I had started a few years back.  I had always envisioned putting birds on this quilt, so I dug out some white cotton fabric and painted birds on it.  After the painting was complete I pulled out tear away stabilizer and embroidery hoop and set about free motion machine "painting" a few birds.  I'm not certain exactly where they will be placed yet, but I may place one at each of the points where the four leaf shapes converge upon the center of the quilt.  Here are the birds...

There are a few deadlines that I need to meet in the next few months so I don't know when I will have the time to return to this work to actually quilt the work and to applique the birds, but I'm hoping to have it completed this year.  

Always remember, never fear to experiment.  

Sometimes wonderful things happen.

© Linda Friedman 2016.  All rights reserved

The Venerable Dot as Life's Teacher

Surface Design and Treatment of White Fabric

 

This began as a red strip that I painted onto white fabric as I was creating a mini tutorial on how to make a straight edge guide for use with a free motion foot.  The swath of white fabric on either side of the red strip begged to be filled.  After a few days of adding to the fabric with stamped dots and words, this is what emerged.  How the white fabric will be further transformed is yet to be determined.

Lessons that a dot can teach

Individual Sections

(Starting at the top left, going down the left side, then over and down the right side)

Top Left Section

Middle Left Section

Bottom Left Section

Top Right Section

Middle Right Section

Bottom Right Section

Morse Code Message to My Children in Red Stripe

Always remember, never fear to experiment.  

Sometimes wonderful things happen.

© Linda Friedman 2016.  All rights reserved

Shaped by Fiber II

It has been a great honor to have several of my dimensional fiber art works on exhibit with the Beyond the Edge Fiber Artists at the Mission Viejo Library in Southern California for the month of February, 2016.   My excitement overflowed when I saw that three of my included works were shown first in a tremendous video that Laura and Luke Bisagna created. 

To view the video click on this LINK.

If you happen to be in the Orange County area, you might want to stop in at the Mission Viejo Library at 100 Civic Center, Mission Viejo, CA 92691.  The exhibit will be shown until February 2016.

Always remember, never fear to experiment.  

Sometimes wonderful things happen.

© Linda Friedman 2016.  All rights reserved

3-D Transformation of Felt with Wire

I have long been fascinated with the seeming random quality of how leaves curl as they dry on the limb and then fall to the ground in an artful manner.  What follows is an experiment in trying to capture the feeling that I have when seeing dried leaves on the ground in the Fall.  Nature will always trump my efforts but that doesn't stop me trying.  Perhaps the following will act as a tutorial for you to make your own 3-D fiber art forms.

1.  Tools:     - 20 lb. picture hanging wire
                    - straight pins
                    - wire clipper
                    - beading foot
                    - free motion foot

 2.  Pin wire to felt.
 Note:  A pattern is not necessary.  Instead, merely started pinning the wire to the felt in wavy       lines that are meant to suggest the undulant lines of many leaf shapes.

Starting to Pin Felt to Fabric

3.  Set zigzag stitch width and length on sewing machine to 3.5 zigzag width and 1.5 length.  If you try this, you may need to set the machine width to a different number.  Just make sure that it will be wide enough to let the needle pierce the felt on either side of the wire. You don't want to dull your needle by it splitting the woven wire.

4.  Stitch wire to felt using beading foot.

Close-up of wire stitched onto felt.

How one completed leaf side and center stem evolved

5.  Pin wire to second side of middle stem and stitch, as described in #4.

6.  Sandwich a second length of felt over the wire stitched felt with the wire in the middle of the two pieces.

Layering Felt

7.  Pin the two layers together.  Insert pins so they capture the wire under them.  Use stitching line from the top layer as a guide.

8.  Stitch the layers together.

9.  After stitching around the entire leaf form, change from the beading foot to a free motion foot and reset your machine's stitch length and width to zero.

10.  Free motion quilt the leaf form in whatever pattern you choose.

11.  After completing a free-motion quilting design, use a stiff paint brush to paint the veins of the leaf form with green acrylic paint.

12.  After completely painting the leaf veins on both sides of the form, blend orange and brown      Setacolor fabric paints (or even acrylic paints, if desired) around the edges and into areas of green paint.

13.  Once the paint dries, cut around the edges of the form to "release" the leaf.

14.  Here is my resulting flat, elongated leaf form.

15.  Below are three of many ways the form can be manipulated.  Because it has a picture hanging wire skeleton the form can be flattened and reconfigured over and over again and each time it will hold its form.

Always remember, never fear to experiment.  

Sometimes wonderful things happen.

© Linda Friedman 2016.  All rights reserved