Attached is a photo of my newest and of course - my favorite piece of art.  It seems my newest is always my favorite.   This piece incorporates silk lap which is essentially a discard from looms.  It comes as a blanket like piece.  Like all silk, it's tough.  A bit like a spider web when you pull it apart.  And--- who doesn't love poppies!!   I really must use this technique again.     

Also need to let you know that I will be at the Third Ward Art Festival in Milwaukee on the 4th and 5th of September.  I have been tentative about entering into large crowds again so this is only my second art fair of the year.  My first went very well.  It seems that all of you are missing the opportunity to view local artist's work.  

 Continuing to create and apply techniques that I learned in Moy Mackay's workshop.   These new pieces will all be framed to 14 x 18.    Have the mats and the frames.   I am now adding glass to my work.  It's been a long time coming but I finally have decided that although it detracts a bit from the textural element the glass will also protect my work so that buyers can have it for the future.    I learned to go a little bolder with my skies.  Liking it but don't want to go overboard either.   The first is from Devil's Lake Park and the second from a photo along the Snake River.  

 Another of my favorites from the class.   All totaled I created 4 pieces of art over a 3 month period.  I have many hours invested in each one.   The birches have quite a bit of machine stitching to add small branches.   I am finally moving toward framing under glass.   I know that many of you like the textural element of seeing the felt without glass but the glass will keep the art clean, protected from insects and UV.    I have resisted this move for a long time but as my art progresses and prices increase it seems to be a wise move.  Hoping that you all agree.  

 I have been taking a course from Moy Mackay, a Scottish felt landscaper whose work I have admired forever.   She allowed us develop our own projects with very little input from her.   She really taught me to be more intentional about my art, take more time planning before I start creating, follow a process and finally to consider using some machine stitching to accentuate some aspects of my art.   This is one my favorites 

Blue Bar Quilt Show-Madison Area Felter's Guild

The Madison Felter's Guild put up a display at Blue Bar Quilts 6333 University Ave, Madison today. There is a wide variety of techniques and styles on display.  I was really impressed with how the display turned out.  It's a great blend of wearables, art, 3 D creatures and displays, vases, and items that are simply fun.   There will be a reception on March 8th from 2-4.     The display is up until April 2nd.   I also entered two pieces in the WRAP exhibit at the Pyle center.  This is a show with artists from many different mediums.  That show will also be up until April 4th.  

I finished this piece yesterday.   The top photo is the piece wet but not felted.  I struggled a bit with design as I started without an end in mind.  In

the middle I almost gave up and started over but I find that if you persevere the messiest pieces can turn out to be your most creative.    I purchased some really unusual fiber at the Jefferson Sheep and Wool Show this year.   It is a 2-3 inch thick mat of fibers similar to silk hankies.  It is really shiny and stretches like a silk hankie.   I decided to stretch it across the fields in the foreground and hoped that it wouldn't be excessively glossy.   It was variegated from dark greens to bright yellows.   I crossed my fingers and hoped that it would felt in as some fibers just lay on the surface.  As you can see from the before felting photos it was pretty bright and glossy.  The after felting is much more muted.   It's perfect.  I wish I had it in other colors but then again a landscape artist will probably use mostly green and yellow greens anyway.   This piece finished to 13 x 18.   Next step is finding the perfect fame.

Art Fair Application Season

It's time..  probably my least favorite time of the year.  I pick through various art fairs, listen to recommendations from my friends, look at my family calendar and other commitments and select several art fairs.  I always apply for more than my inventory will support because I know the inevitable rejections are only a month or two down the road.  My goal.. Be admitted to at least three solid fine art shows with good attendance.  I am trying to branch out because the Madison area audience is becoming familiar-- perhaps too familiar-- with my work.  You begin to get comments similar to --oh it's you again.   Traveling means added expenses and requires that I have good sales so I am shooting for the moon and trying for some really great art fairs in the Midwest.  Keep your fingers crossed for me!    I will be making many new pieces and will have many on exhibit in the mean time,  

The official announcement! 

These are photos of my newest work.  The lower photo gives you a close up of the work.  The upper photo shows the art after it has been mounted on suede mat board and framed with a birchwood veneer framed.  I really love the total affect.   This piece will have it's grand debut at the fiber art exhibit in Sturgeon Bay on January 18th along with 8 other pieces of framed 2 D felt art.   

I have been selected to participate in this fiber art exhibition at the Miller Museum in Sturgeon Bay.   The artists reception is January 18th from 3 - 4:30    I will have eight pieces of 2 D framed felt art included in the exhibition.  

miller art museum announces 

44^th Juried Annual Exhibition 

—Miller Art Museum presents Textile Tableau: An Exploration of Painting with Fibers

Opening January 18-February 24, 2020

Opening reception is Saturday, January 18^th from 3:00pm -4:30pm, and is free and open to the public.  

Textile Tableau: An Exploration of Painting with Fibers present artists who are usurping the use of paint by incorporating the methodologies and canons of painting as starting points for their greater exploration into fiber-based work.   Painting with needle and thread, these artists create textile tableaus that explore established genres like portraiture, abstraction and landscapes.  Using a variety of mediums, works display techniques in quilting, weaving, embroidery, felting and wearable art.

This exhibition features works by eight participating artists including: Susan Hoffmann, Sister Bay; Wendy Carpenter, Fish Creek; Sandra Martinez, Jacksonport; Heidi Parkes, Milwaukee; Sandra Wysock, Madison; Pam Collins, Staples, MN; Peter Horjus and Laura Shrewsbury, New Orleans, LA.

Also debuting in the Gerhard C.F Miller Gallery on the museum’s upper level is a permanent installation recreating Gerhard C.F. Miller’s painting studio featuring Miller’s studio furniture, personal library of art books, painting equipment, unfinished works and more on loan from Miller’s Grandson, David Utzinger

The Mezzanine Gallery highlights works from the permanent collection and new acquisitions.  On view are works by Curt Frankenstein, Austin Frasier, Doris White, William Pribble and spotlighting the art and life of Ruth Grotenrath. 

The museum is located within the Door County Library, 107 South 4th Avenue, Sturgeon Bay. Hours are Monday 10-8, Tuesday through Saturday 10-5. Closed Sunday. Admission is free; an elevator is available 

to access galleries on the Ruth Morton Miller Mezzanine. For more information about the exhibit or the museum, call (920) 746-0707 or visit www.millerartmuseum.org.

Update for Fall of 2019

Art Fair season is drawing to a close.... at least for me.   I won't be participating in holiday fairs this year.   If you are interested in particular pieces I can open my studio by appointment.

Agora Art Fair in Fitchburg was a great art fair and to make it even better, I was awarded the Award for Excellence.   I also have a request to provide art to a textile exhibition in Sturgeon Bay and a commission that will keep me busy in the coming weeks.   I am actually receiving invitations for next year's art fairs already so time to think ahead to 2020.

Thank you for all of your encouragement and support throughout the past year.  

New art 2019

Art Fair Season is coming and I am working on new art.  This year I am working on integrating new fibers, textures and techniques with an emphasis creativity over productivity.    As a result, I am taking a bit of a breather.   My work will be displayed in various locations but I will participate in fewer art fairs.   My first art fair this year is Art Fair Off the Square.   Attached are examples of new work.  The birch trees incorporate a new shading technique that relies on the different types of sheep's wool felting at different rates.  I also used many silk fibers to add a shine.    The second piece is wool completely covered in china silk.  The silk traps various fibers and silk worm cocoons between the wool and silk.  The result is a wonderfully textured surface.   I am looking forward to creating some larger pieces using this technique.  

Art Fairs coming up and I realize that I have neglected this site.  I have kept up my Facebook Page.
I will be in Spring Green Wisconsin.  I seem a bit stuck on yellow field but I absolutely love them.  The wheat fields of the Palouse roll and roll.  They are mixed with chick peas and lentils.  The patterns are amazing.  I also love the canola.  It is brilliant yellow and when it blooms next to the fresh green spring grass it is stunning.   I have been making more cranes this year as well .. they sell as soon as I complete them so I will keep making a few cranes.  I would love to complete a larger scenery picture with whooping cranes before Art Fair off the Square.

It has been a crazy winter.  I always take a break to recharge my batteries after art fair season but this year, my duties as President of the local Friendship Force and my ailing parents have taken most of my energy.  I find it very difficult to create when I am my mind is occupied but if I can get into my art there is also a release.   This week I finally tackled one of my best selling themes.  The photo of the Whooping Crane was taken at the International Crane Foundations.  We were fortunate to see them faeeding near the viewing area.  They are America's tallest bird.  At one time there were only 21 left but with effort their populations have been slowly coming back.  Even today they are still at risk.  I don't have a name for this piece yet.  Whooping Crane seems mundane.  Perhaps, Stillness?    

I have been accepted for:
Art in the Wright Place
November 18 & 19
Hours 10-6 on Saturday and 9-4 on Sunday.

I will be in the historic Frank Lloyd Wright Meeting House at 900 University Bay Drive for this pre-holiday art fair.   Looking forward to seeing you there.   I PROMISE, I will have new work completed.  

I am also going to participate in Threaded Streams Fiber Art Trail the last weekend of March.  I will be in Portage again.

Agora is tomorrow!    I have been working on some new purses using a process called Nuno Felt.  Unfortunately I do not have new landscapes complete.  They are complete in my mind!    Hopefully they will be completed before Art in the Wright Place.    In between I will have new inspiration.  We will spend some time in Tuscany in a farm house villa.  I am sure the landscape in Tuscany will offer new inspiration.  

Summer Schedule and New Work

The final art fair acceptance for the summer has arrived.  Agora in Fitchburg August 19th is a fabulous one day event.    The one surprise for the year was my acceptance into the Madison Art Fair Off the Square.  I have not been accepted when I applied in the past so I was pleasantly surprised.   It does mean that I will have to maintain a steady working schedule.  I have been working on adding nuno felt to my purses inventory.  

New Art for 2017

I am busy applying for 2017 Art Fairs.  March 23, 24, 25 is the Threaded Streams Fiber Art Trail.  I will be hosted in the Roberta Condon Gallery in Portage.  This is the inaugural event.  Wonderful class, displays of Vintage Fiber at the historical societies in Portage and Prairie du Sac, an Opening Reception at the Ringling House in Baraboo with an artist talk by Karen Ann Hoffman.  I am excited to be part of this event
  http://midwestfiberartstrails.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/2017-Workshop-Flyer-update.pdf