Monday, January 30, 2012

Exhibit Opportunities - Not for Members Only!

Bonifas Fine Arts Center, Escanaba, Michigan

Bonnie Peterson, a SAQA member from Houghton MI, sent us information about Fabrications III, a juried show for Upper Peninsula fiber artists, to be held at the Bonifas Fine Arts Center in Escanaba. Here's the link (scroll down a little to find this particular exhibit). Exhibition dates are March 29 through April 26. 2012.

The entry deadline is 3 pm on February 28, 2012.

Bonnie is the juror for this exhibit and will also be presenting a workshop "Into the Mix: Machine Embroidery & Heat Transfer" on Friday, April13. Information is included on the pdf of the application form. Here's the link to Bonnie's website.

Although SAQA's Michigan region has only two members in the Upper Peninsula, many of our other members may know fiber artists living in the UP, so I encourage you to pass this information along to your friends and to other groups you belong to or know of.


Mary McLeod Bethune Performing Arts Center & Visual Arts Gallery, Daytona Beach, FL

Von Biggs, a SAQA member in Indiana and a friend from the Fabrications Retreat in Michigan, sent us a link to the website of Juanita Yaeger, a fiber artist and SAQA member in Florida who is coordinating four exhibits for the Mary McLeod Bethune Performing Arts Center & Visual Arts Gallery in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Two of the exhibits are for traditional 2-D media - oils, acrylics, watercolor, etc. However, there is also one, Glued Down, for assemblage and collage; click here for information.

And one for art quilts: Stitched Through. Click here for information.

Good luck, everyone.

And be sure to send information on exhibits and competitions, both on entries and on your successes. The SAQA website has an excellent list of calls for entries - open shows as well as SAQA member shows - but often there are other competitions and exhibits that are not posted there. Let's keep each other informed.


Thursday, January 26, 2012

Happy New Year - Happy New Prize


We're starting a new year but continuing an old tradition -- well, not that old: Mary Andrews and Robbie Payne started these give-away contests in 2010. Laurie and I intend to continue them in 2012, but with a twist.

First, here's the gift: the catalog of "Beyond Comfort", a SAQA exhibit from 2010.

This exhibit is best described in the words of the curator, Eileen Doughty: "SAQA encouraged its members to create radical art - art which departed from their own body of work. The theme called for fresh, adventurous work, work that may have been rejected from other exhibitions because it was so radical it could not have fit into a cohesive exhibition. In 'Beyond Comfort', radicalism provides its own cohesion."

The exhibit catalog contains 64 pages, softcover. A color photo of each artwork is accompanied by the artist's statement about the piece. The curator's statement by Eileen Doughty and the juror's statement by Marci Rae McDade are also included.

To add this catalog to your library, leave a comment (on this post only) and you will be entered in a drawing to win a copy of "Beyond Comfort".

BUT (here's the twist) not just any comment. Since it's a new year, tell us your new year's resolution relating to fiber art. You can keep it simple: "Work in a larger format"; "enter a SAQA exhibit"; "take a drawing class"; "master free-motion quilting"; or (my personal resolution) "finish something!"

You can enter more than once but be sure to leave your email address (in addition to your name) if you don't have a blog or website that provides your email. You have until Sunday, February 12, at midnight. The winner will be announced on February 14. This could be your Valentine's Day present to yourself.

Good luck!