Minutes from May 12, 2012

Hi All. Yes, I'm tardy in posting the minutes from the last meeting - my apologies. Here's what happened:

Welcome, Intros

1. Business & Announcements: 

• We're wrapping up the entry process for our MQ show offering, "Best Foot Forward." Jennifer Conrad will deliver the works to be shown to the MQ office by the June 7 deadline. 
• There is a possibility that "Best Foot Forward" will be shown at the American Craft Council offices in Northeast Minneapolis this year. Jennifer Conrad will arrange. 
• Summer schedule meeting poll: The group elected to continue meetings over the summer, switching to the Tuesday night schedule as has been done in the past. Our next meeting will be on July 24, at 6:30pm, at The Lyric.*Note that this will probably be our last meeting at The Lyric (sadly), because Jennifer C. is moving to a new residence and will no longer have free use of The Lyric's community room. Jennifer S. can offer free meeting space at her workplace in Northeast Minneapolis, though it won't be as pleasantly appointed as The Lyric! More info at the next meeting. Anyone else willing to host a meeting should contact the Jennifers.   

     2.  Presentation by photographer Jeff Conrad: Guidelines for preparing and shooting your work, available 

          through SAQA-U, were distributed to those present. Let us know if you need copies, and we'll email     

          them to you. Jeff took us through a quick overview that included color correction, backdrops, camera 

          types, saving and transmitting files for jurying etc, and other useful info. 

(Break - 15 mins) 

After the break, artists who brought work to be photographed by Jeff assembled in an adjacent room. The rest of us, and some of those waiting their turn with Jeff, continued with discussion. 

1. "13 Blackbirds" - An exhibit of works by the Fiber Artists Coalition, inspired by the poem (previously published on this blog), Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird by Wallace Stevens. This show was recently exhibited at the American Craft Council offices. Jennifer Conrad is presently in possession of the artwork and shared those pieces with us, displaying them around the meeting room. We looked at the work and briefly discussed. 
2. The floor opened for discussion of future themed shows that SAQA-MN might undertake as a group.  Everyone agrees it's great to have our work out there for viewing, and our group is better represented with organized exhibits of unified work. Some suggestions for theme shows included: Maps - look at work by Valerie Goodwin as an example of how we might explore this theme. Change - Life changes, the dichotomy of constancy versus change, etc. Voice - inspired by this quote by Georgia O'Keeffe: “I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way - things I had no words for.”  The group agreed that it would be important to continue implementing size restrictions as a way to unify a body of work. We also agree it's nice to have at least six months to plan and work towards a show deadline. 

Other announcements:

• Fiber Artists Coalition has a show coming up that is themed around recycling, called "Salvage to Selvedge." Stay tuned for more info. 
• Melissa Nellis is putting together a show of MN fiber artists of Finnish heritage. Contact her for more info. 
• "The Complete Photo Guide to Art Quilting" by Susan Stein is finally available at a book store near you! Congratulations Susan! 
• We need suggestions for good local photographers to document our work. If you have had a good experience with a local photographer, please let Jennifer S. know, and we will post the photographer's contact info online in an evolving list, for referrals. 

Conclusion - Thanks everyone for another wonderful gathering, and thanks Jeff Conrad for helping artists preserve and document their artwork! 

Jean M. Judd, show at the Peninsula Fine Arts Center in Newport News, Virginia

The Biennial 2012 Fine Art Exhibition has accepted textile artist Jean M. Judd of Cushing, Wisconsin into a show at the Peninsula Fine Arts Center in Newport News, Virginia. Her artwork, Twirling Leaves #2, is one of the artworks selected for the exhibit. The exhibition will feature 87 artworks selected from 681 submissions.

             Twirling Leaves #2

The juror for this exhibition was David Mickenberg, Executive Director and senior curator at the Taubman Museum of Art in Roanoke, Virginia. Mr. Mickenberg is an active scholar with expertise in the areas of modern painting and printmaking and in 12^th century French architecture.

The exhibition opens to the public on July 21, 2012. An artists' reception, juror's talk, and awards presentation will occur on Friday, July 20, 2012 from 5:30 to 7:30 pm.  The exhibition closes on October 7, 2012. The address of the facility is Peninsula Fine Arts Center (Pfac), 101 Museum Drive, Newport News, Virginia 23606. Visit the Peninsula Fine Arts Center’s website at http://www.pfac-va.org for more information about the exhibition or call Michael Preble, Curator/Program Director, at 757-596-8175.

13 Blackbirds

The Fiber Artists Coalition is made up of Professional Artist Members of Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) from the upper Midwest. FAC curates traveling exhibits of its members' works.  Members employ a variety of innovative materials and techniques in the creation of fiber art with a contemporary edge. Some members have published books about their artistic processes and are in demand as teachers and presenters. Many exhibit their work in juried group and solo exhibitions within and beyond the U.S. The eleven members whose works are included in this show are Frieda Anderson, Astrid Hilger Bennett, Kathie Briggs, Shelley Brucar, Clairan Ferrono, Peg Keeney, Pat Kroth, Casey Puetz, Joan Potter Thomas, Laura Wasilowski, and Trish Williams.

As an example, Clairan Ferrono’s Eye of the Blackbird interprets the opening stanza:

Among twenty snowy mountains,

The only moving thing

Was the eye of the blackbird.

In The Beauty of Innuendo, local artist Astrid Hilger Bennett chose to interpret Stanza V:

I do not know which to prefer,

The beauty of inflections

Or the beauty of innuendoes,

The blackbird whistling

Or just after.

List of Blackbirds participating artists plus state of residence:

Astrid Hilger Bennett, Iowa City, IA

Kathie Briggs, Charlevoix, MI

Shelley Brucar, Buffalo Grove, IL

Cheryl Dineen Ferrin, Mattawan, MI

Clairan Ferrono, Chicago, IL

Peg Keeney, Harbor Springs, MI

Pat Kroth, Verona, WI

Casey Puetz, Waukesha, WI

Joan Potter Thomas, Northville, MI

Laura Wasilowski, Elgin, IL

Trish Williams, Chicago, IL

Source Material:

Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird, by Wallace Stevens

Among twenty snowy mountains,

The only moving thing

Was the eye of the blackbird.

II

I was of three minds,

Like a tree

In which there are three blackbirds.

III

The blackbird whirled in the autumn winds.

It was a small part of the pantomime.

IV

A man and a woman

Are one.

A man and a woman and a blackbird

Are one.

V

I do not know which to prefer,

The beauty of inflections

Or the beauty of innuendoes,

The blackbird whistling

Or just after.

VI

Icicles filled the long window

With barbaric glass.

The shadow of the blackbird

Crossed it, to and fro.

The mood

Traced in the shadow

An indecipherable cause.

VII

O thin men of Haddam,

Why do you imagine golden birds?

Do you not see how the blackbird

Walks around the feet

Of the women about you?

VIII

I know noble accents

And lucid, inescapable rhythms;

But I know, too,

That the blackbird is involved

In what I know.

IX

When the blackbird flew out of sight,

It marked the edge

Of one of many circles.

X

At the sight of blackbirds

Flying in a green light,

Even the bawds of euphony

Would cry out sharply.

XI

He rode over Connecticut

In a glass coach.

Once, a fear pierced him,

In that he mistook

The shadow of his equipage

For blackbirds.

XII

The river is moving.

The blackbird must be flying.

XIII

It was evening all afternoon.

It was snowing

And it was going to snow.

The blackbird sat

In the cedar-limbs.

Meeting reminder: THIS SATURDAY

Greetings All! 

A few reminders to get us off to a good start this Saturday: Our meeting starts at 10:00am in our regular location, The Lyric community room, 765 Hampden Ave, St. Paul 55114. 

- PLEASE RSVP as soon as possible (if you have not already) for the PHOTOGRAPHY portion of our meeting this Saturday. Let us know HOW MANY PIECES you are bringing to be photo'd. Please respond to both Jennifers:alivealiveo42@gmail.com and jconrad@designsbyjconrad.com

- BRING YOUR WORK WITH YOU on Saturday! 

Our Agenda for Saturday: 

Welcome

30 min presentation by photographer Jeff Conrad

15 min Q&A 

BREAK 

Photography session begins concurrent with remaining Agenda. 

Poll: What to do this summer? 

MQ "Best Foot Forward" recap/sharing/planning (Final deadline for work is June 7!)

BONUS (time permitting) - Presentation on the American Craft Council show "13 Blackbirds"

Remember: if you are bringing work to photograph, please RSVP ASAP with the number of works you will bring! 

Also - Refreshments are always welcome, if you'd like to bring something to share. 

Thank You!  

Jean M. Judd's work featured on an electronic bulletin board in Utica, Michigan

Textile artist Jean M. Judd of Cushing, Wisconsin will have six of her textile artworks featured on an electronic bulletin board in Utica, Michigan, which is a suburb of Detroit. The Billboard Art Project is a special project started in 2010 to feature artists’ work on electronic billboards in select cities across the USA.

Artworks by Ms. Judd to be featured on the billboard from May 28 to June 24, 2012 on the Detroit billboard include: Contaminated Water #1, Contaminated Water #2: Pond Scum, Contaminated Water #3: Sludge, Scribble #1: Dream Weaver, Sound Waves #1 and Sound Waves #2: White Noise.

Scribble #1: Dream Weaver

The billboard is west facing and traffic traveling east bound on Hall Rd (M-59)can seen it. Viewers can sit and watch the show from the parking lot shared by Muldoon's Restaurant at 7636 Auburn Road and the Utica Fire and Police Department. The images will change on the billboard every 6 to 10 seconds depending on the local regulations of department of motor vehicles.

A few days before the exhibition starts on the electronic billboard, the names of the featured artists and their web sites will be available on line at this web site: http://billboardartproject.org/cities/detroit.html

The Billboard Art Project is a nonprofit organization that acquires digital billboards normally used for advertising and repurposes them as roadside galleries. cities all over the country feature the projects, which are open to all individuals and groups who are interested in participating.

It was in 2005 that David Morrison came up with the idea of displaying artwork on electronic bulletin boards. Lamar Advertising tested the first LED billboard in Richmond, Virginia. Mr. Morrison’s first Billboard Art Project came to fruition in early October of 2010 with a 24-hour art display.

“The original idea was a bit of a lark. I was going to have them run several hundred random images and phrases having nothing to do with advertising as a sort of gift to all the drivers weary of the white noise that is advertising. The idea also had the added benefit of being a sort of social experiment. How would people respond? What would they think? The project became a great internal conversation piece that I would mull over to help me escape the mundane everyday tasks life sometimes requires,” Morrison explains.

“When it was all said and done, the Richmond, Virginia Billboard Art Project had over thirty participants who submitted images covering a diverse range of things. Some were serious, and some were outright comical. There were sketches, illustrations, photographs, and clipart. The sequential submissions engaged viewers like flash cards. One of the artists even put up the sayings and lucky numbers from fortune cookies she had collected over the years,” relates Morrison of that first billboard art project.

Types of work that may be displayed include images created specifically for the billboard as well as images of previously made art adapted to the format. No two Billboard Art Project shows are alike; each city features new work. The featured artwork comes from national and international artists, so it is really a showing of artwork from across the globe.

The slate of cities so far for 2012 include: Richmond, VA; Salem, OR; Detroit Metro; Albany, NY; Quincy, IL; and Atlanta, GA. The first full year of the Billboard Art Project (2011) was in the following cities: Nashville, TN; Savannah, GA; Duluth, MN; Reading, PA; Chicago, IL; Baton Rouge, LA; New Orleans, LA; and San Bernardino, CA. These displays of art ranged from 24 hours to almost a month in duration.