Yesterday, I forced myself to rally and take on the first events of Fiberart International 2016. I had several missteps including having two contacts in the same eye. (What? I could not understand why my vision was so crazy.)My iPhone charger broke and that needed to be taken care of immediately if I was going to take pictures, document the event, write blog post–you know, be me.

So I set out to find an Apple Store. I did not make it very far before  it became apparent that I was going to be caught in a huge down pour. Dang those thunderstorms that I love and miss. I have a raincoat, rain boots, and an umbrella, but my sleepless self had left all of it at the hotel.

I retraced my steps, but by then it was apparent that I did not have enough time to walk to the Apple Store and the Welcome Reception.

I regrouped and geared myself up for the four mile trek in the rain down Penn Ave towards the artist Atticus Adams home and studio. Heading out, I had no idea what a great walk this was going to be.

By myself I could take it all in, stop and take photos when I wanted, AND watch for uneven side walk. When I walk with others there is only talking side walk, and I miss the looking.

There were great houses.

And old churches.

As I was walking, I overhead a young mom arguing with her partner. She was telling him that what he wanted was not going to work—she had to go the Graveyard with her mom. I thought to myself, now that is a first line for a short story. I kept thinking about it. What could they doing meeting at the Graveyard? Until I got here, and it all made sense.

The Bride of Penn Ave by Judith Penzer is a local landmark. According to a web article, the nearby homes caught fire in 2013. The mural and homes looked like this before the fire.

There had been a proposed project to restore and preserve these facades and porches. Unfortunately, it looks like the fire put an end to that idea. At least for the time being. It is a shame really.

Further down the street, I saw this. And of course it made me feel like I was going in the right direction about EVERYTHING.

Fabric of the Community by Jackie Kresak is about building community. And we all know the quilt—something that is all stitched together out of disparate parts— is a perfect metaphor for that. According to the short web article about this mural, “the area, known as the Penn Main Corridor, has struggled to distinguish itself as a unique community amidst a constant change coming from every direction.” 

Shortly after that, I took right turn and landed at the reception. Here is the host Atticus Adams.

And here are his amazing fiber/wire sculptures. I love them.

As you can see there was an excellent turn out.

Time flew and we headed to dinner. A group of us settled on Park Bruges. Some observant readers may notice a little pants picking going on here.

New Jersey artist and Rutgers Professor Margery Amdur, Dutch artist Pauline MM Nijenhuis and her friend Marion, and Hungarian artist Eszter Bornemisza . The show is called Fiberart International 2016 ,and our table lived up to that name. What happens when you fill a room with Fiber Artists? They listen intently to each other–we find ourselves incredibly interesting. 

I am headed to the opening reception here shortly. Can’t wait to see all the amazing art that is going to be there.

06 May This entry was published on May 6, 2016 at 12:42 PM. It’s filed under Art in Place, News And Events, Quilt Stories, Thoughts and Opinions and tagged Fiberart International 2016, Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, Society for Contempoary Craft Fiberarts Guild of Pittsburgh. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.