Serendipity Studio Newsletter
Issue No 14: December 2013
It's 30 years since I was an exchange student in Washington state. I have fond memories of walking through a snow-engulfed forest in search of the "perfect" Christmas tree. This year, I will be back in the US to celebrate the holidays with my husband's family. We won't have a tree but I am looking forward to taking in the
Workt by Hand quilt exhibition at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington DC and exploring more in the Amish Lancaster County of Pennsylvania.
In the meantime, I am finishing up some handmade gifts in the studio and am thrilled that my latest work
Forest (see above) is travelling to Japan and elsewhere for the "Eco" challenge organised by Brother International.
Wherever you are, I wish you a happy and creative 2014.
Festively
Art Quilt Australia 2013: People, Place & Nation
I have two works on exhibition in
Art Quilt Australia 2013: People, Place & Nation that runs until 14 December 2013. In the
Canberra Times, visual arts reviewer Kerry-Anne Cousins remarks:
“The standard...is uniformly high and impressive...Brenda Gael Smith’s work Desert tracks: not terra nullius is an outstanding work. Smith uses subtly paired colour combinations of rich earth colours and repetitious zigzag shapes to suggest the gentle rhythm of walking across the land. I thought this made a political point subtly and with sophistication.”
I shared a preview of a detail of my second piece,
Canberra: Meeting Place in my last newsletter along with a tutorial for
Karamatsu–Japanese Larch Stitch Resist (
660KB). Now here is an image of the overall work. All twenty works from the
Art Quilt Australia 2013 exhibition feature in a quality, 18 page catalogue. The catalogue is for sale for A$15 (including postage) from the
Ozquilt Network website.
Living Colour! Entries close on 31 January
The
December 2013/January 2014 of
Quilting Arts magazine contains a seven page gallery of textile works from
Beneath the Southern Sky featuring works by Sandy Corry, Dianne Firth, Helen Godden, Stephanie Knudsen, Sue Dennis, Mel Forrest and Cat Larrea.
The
Beneath the Southern Sky exhibition tour is now over but I am curating another travelling textile art exhibition in 2014/2015 that will premiere at the Australasian Quilt Convention 2014. The works will be the same size (100x40cm -HxW) and the theme is
Living Colour! The closing date for entries is
31 January 2014 via the
Online Entry Form. No entry fee is payable unless your work is selected. International entries are welcome.
Living Colour! is generously sponsored by
Brother International Australia.
Twelve by Twelve
Currently
Twelve by Twelve: The International Art Quilt Challenge (affiliate link) is for sale on Amazon for US$10.88. This is amazing value! Don't just take my word for it, here's a review by Jane Wilkin:
I saw the Colorplay Challenge by these same twelve quilt artists at the American Quilters' Society show this summer. I was excited to discover that there was a book about previous challenges by these same twelve people. Whether you are an artist or a quilter or a combination (art quilter), you will get a lot of pleasure and inspiration out of this book. Each of the twelve has their own style and way of working. It's educational to read in depth about each challenge and how they determined their individual approaches to it. The book is beautifully printed and illustrated too.
By the way, the
Twelve by Twelve Colourplay Series continues on tour to Europe next year to
Carrefour Européen du Patchwork, Alsace, France:18-21 September 2014 and
Association Belge du Patchwork, Enghien, Belgium: 2-5 October 2014.
New Websites
It’s more than 10 years since my brother helped me set up my first website so that I could share my latest quilting creations. These days it is easier than ever to establish an online presence with blogging and social media tools. It gives me great pleasure to provide web design services to others
Recently I have set up websites for textile artists
Rasa Mauragis,
Beth Miller and
Monica Johnstone. My latest web design assignment was for Helen Campbell of
The Quilting Room in South Australia. Helen is an award winning long arm quilter.
The Quilting Room also provides fully-catered quilting retreats at Victor Harbor, South Australia and has an exciting line up of workshops in 2014 with Katrina Hadjimichael, Lisa Walton, Deborah Louie and Pam Furniss. Stop by
The Quilting Room for more information and say hello on Helen's
blog while you are there.
Serendipity Workshops
Speaking of workshops, I start my teaching year in 2014 with these classes:
Contact the event organisers if you would like to join me. My
schedule is filling up but I am open for bookings for 2014 and beyond. Download my
Serendipity Patchwork & Quilting Workshops Brochure for more information.
Modern Quilts DVD - Special Delivery to the USA
Due to exorbitant shipping costs, I usually only sell my DVD to Australian residents. However, as I will be in the United States for the holidays and have extra room in my suitcase, I am offering this special deal to US readers if you place your order by 5 December 2013 (my time).
MODERN QUILTS: Improvising with Stacks of Solids with Brenda Smith
Magazine & DVD: $12.95 + $3.00 postage
Australian residents only or US residents if ordered by 5 December 2013 (Australia time)
