Earlier this month I participated in our regional SAQA (Studio Art Quilts Associates) Conference. I had he job of designing and laying out the printed program, so I've been anticipating the event for several months. The focus was on 3-dimensional fiber art, something that is a bit unusual for our medium, but promised to be interesting. In the beginning I contacted the keynote speaker, Kay Khan, a fiber artist from Santa Fe to see if I could use an image of one of her works for the cover. She directed me to her web site and that's when I started to get very excited! I chose a stunning armor-like piece called "voice" for our program.
The conference was held in the large "spinning room" at the Willamette Heritage Center, in Salem, Oregon. Fittingly the Center is housed in the buildings of the historic Thomas Kay woolen mill, once a major textile manufacturing factory. A beautiful place for such a gathering.
Kay Khan gave a wonderful presentation, describing her process, her inspirations and the stages in her development of her distinctive work. It was both inspiring and daunting to hear about how she has tackled the challenges of creating, displaying and managing this kind of work— lots of problem-solving just in terms of fabricating, protecting, shipping and storage. She was available after her talk to answer lots of questions as we had a chance to get some closeup views of some of the work she had brought along.
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| Helmet |
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| Vessel |
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| Vessel closeup |
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| Neck pieces |
Our members attending were challenged to create, or share a previously made, 3-D piece, which were displayed on tables across the back of the room. This turned out to be a wonderful exhibit! I regret that I am unable to identify the artists for each piece. (Help me out—let me know whose work I haven't credited...)
The clever ship was made by Leoti Richardson
I wish I knew whose "Donald" this was—it was great!
Quite a variety of house and building forms.
I believe this enchanting figure was by Marion Shimoda
Moth, Cheryl le Blanc
Wendy Hill
Tall indigo house by Gerrie Congdon, grouping of houses by Nancy Bryant, black and white vessel by Marie Murphy Wolfe
The fungi piece (wow!) by Diane Born and triangle vessel, I think is by Betty Daggett
Gorgeous bowl by Pat Fifer
Cube by Mary Ruzich, tea pot by Karen Miller and crow by me!
One of my favorites, Spirit house with light inside by Sara Miller
I kept going back to look again and again ...
It was a terrific conference. There were more presentations and demonstrations, making for an entirely enjoyable and inspiring day, but the ideas about dimensional work have been working on me. I am itching to try more. I've dabbled with houses and birds and dolls and such before, so the seed was already planted.
I'm thinking, and thinking. Watch this space...
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I've always loved your birds. This one is no exception........beautiful!
ReplyDeleteKay Kahn was our juror for the Oklahoma Fiber Artists show this year, it was really great to see her work and hear her speak. Looks like you guys had a great 3-D exhibit! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThought that crow was yours! What a wonderful display of art. Wish I could have seen it in person but thanks for the remote view.
ReplyDeleteI've never really taken three dimensional fibre work seriously before, which, seeing this little collection, is truly a mistake on my part. Thank you for opening my eyes.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun show! Thanks so much for posting so many pictures. Wish I'd gone.
ReplyDeleteThanks for showing all of these. I would love to see more of this type of work happening in our world.
ReplyDeleteSandy in the UK