About 18 months ago, Cathy Mayhugh, the Director of Exhibitions, at the Fitton Center for Creative Arts in Hamilton, Ohio invited me to be part of a four person show. Her goal, in curating the show, is to show a colorful eclectic look at fiber.

Of course, I said yes to this opportunity. Knowing that the show was slated for the fall of 2014, I had plenty of time to prepare….

When I went outside last fall, I stopped by the Fitton for a visit. It’s a beautiful space with four galleries. For the show fiber, instead of having each gallery showcase an individual artist, Mayhugh plans to have the four artist’s work mingle with each other across the galleries.

This means that not only am I preparing to leave my home for 2 1/2 months for a residency at the McColl Center and other adventures, I am also putting the finishing touches on a dozen new pieces. Yikes. I’ve been logging about six hours a day on my long arm quilting machine followed by two hours of icing my right arm every night.

Basically, I am spending hour,

after hour,

after hour looking at 54 inches of pieced fabric.

But believe it or not. It makes me happy.

My contribution to the exhibit is a collection of Color Girds–new and old, small and large. This is the one currently on the long arm. I think it is my new favorite. It’s called Wall of Sound at this point.

Here are a few favorites that will be in the show.

I will write more about the new Color Grids later (when I have professional photos). But I will say now, if you look at Wall of Sound you just might find the other quilts making guest appearances. Today, I’d like to introduce the other three artists and their work.

Christine Sauer is a New Orleans mixed media artist whose work is wildly colorful and lavishly textured. Sauer works with paint, beads, buttons, canvas–you name it. I find her compositions kind of mind blowing.

And I am pleased to say I own one of her early works. It is one of the very first SAQA auction quilts I purchased.

Artist Dorothy McGuiness, a contemporary basketmaker, who takes painted water color papers and weaves them into new dimensions. McGuiness lives in Everett, Washington. We previously exhibited together at the Bellevue Arts Museum’s BAM Biennail 2012 High Fiber Diet. I wrote about that exhibit here. Aren’t these pieces just wild?

Cincinnati, Ohio artist Jonpaul Smith takes found paper–often related to consumer products like cereal boxes and candy wrappers–and weaves them into wacky tapestry-like work. He does this work by using very little glue. I am so curious to see this work in person.

fiber will be on view from October 18 through December 5 at the Fitton Center for Creative Arts in Hamilton, Ohio. The reception for this show is Saturday, November 8, 2014. I will be there. I hope you’ll join me. Bring your sunglasses because this is going to be one bright and colorful show!

19 Aug This entry was published on August 19, 2014 at 9:30 AM. It’s filed under News And Events and tagged Christin Sauer, Dorothy McGuiness, Fitton Center for Creative Arts, JonPaul Smith. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.