2015 Benefit Quilts

Hi All,
Its that time of year again, time to make a 12" x 12" benefit quilt for the SAQA Benefit Auction. This is my third year and I have really enjoyed the process. I hope you all will consider trying it this year; you really do get more out of it than you put into it. Here is the quilt I did for 2013:

 Its called "The Story of the Mustard Seed."

      This one from 2014 is "Life In Our Family."

                      And for 2015 I have "Beach Conversations - Newport."


You can read more about the process on my blog sharonbuckart.weebly.com  I would like to put up art quilts from all over the KY-TN region so send me your pictures and your news and lets liven up our blog!

Happy Valentine's Day

Hope this great red and pink themed day is inspiring your creativity. Here is a cute heart from member Kathy Loomis. She says,  "I make abstract art -- usually with a needle but sometimes with a pen, brush or camera, scissors and glue, pliers and wire cutters, whatever is there. I have a husband, two sons, seven sewing machines, a big messy studio and lots of other people's art. Life is good!" She has more information about making these hearts and a tutorial on her blog at artwithaneedle.blogspot.com

I will be gone for a week to a hubby themed event involving tractors and fly wheel engines and no internet or cell phone service so if you email me, it will be after the 22nd before I will answer back.

Here are some inrpirational reds to celebrate Valentine's from the garden.

 This Lobster Claw Heliconia usually blooms in the summer; its a thrill to see it in February for Valentine's.

 Silk Tree Blossom is so beautiful!

Berries on one of the Butterfly Bushes

Happy New Year! by now you know how its going to go with those New Year's Resolutions or revelations or wishful thoughts or maybe you have already lost 10 pounds!! I mean who doesn't resolve to eat healthy, work out, lose weight, oh blah blah blah!!
Well I am excited because I just finished my entry for Southern Accents and its signed, sealed and delivered. If you are anything like me, you have a tizzy fit when it comes time to get that artist's statement ready to go and have mercy on me, getting that perfect photo... so its done now! for good or evil! Oh, maybe I am not supposed to admit this!
Seriously, there are a lot of great shows coming up. Southern Accents is open to TN and to all of us in the southeastern region and the deadline is coming up fast, its Thursday, January 15. The only reason I am not my usual 11th hour self is because I am going to a Flywheeler event and will be without technology for a week. More shows include Wild Fabrications with a deadline at the end of this month, PAQA South on February 20, Balancing Act on February 28 (this is a big SAQA show open to all) and Sacred Threads due March 9. And here is a tip on a show that is not listed on SAQA, if you are a member of DAR they have a big show coming up with textiles having a deadline of February 1 and other arts and crafts deadlining on February 15. You can read all about it on their website, DAR.org and if you cannot find it email me and I will help.
Let's have another great artist review like the one on Jane Burch Cochran. Please send me your info or pictures of some of your current work and we can all inspire each other.
Blessings on 2015 and all of you!
Sharon Buck

Jane Burch Cochran - Art Quilter

Hi KY and TN SAQA! In case you don't know her and her work, let me introduce you to one of our artists, Jane Burch Cochran. Jane lives in Rabbit Hash, KY. That is in the north of KY on the Ohio River and if you look across it you are looking at Rising Sun, Indiana. She was trained as a painter and started making small bead and fabric collages in 1978. She made her first large quilt in 1985 and says she has been “completely obsessed with making art quilts since then –quilts both large and small but always for the wall." Cochran's distinctive, heavily embellished quilts are represented in the collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Renwick Gallery, the University of Kentucky Art Museum, the Kentucky History Center, and the National Quilt Museum as well as in numerous corporate and private collections. She completed her largest quilt to date, Crossing to Freedom—a 7 foot high x 10 foot wide commission for the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati—in June 2004.

Crossing To Freedom    7'x10'

As with many of her quilts, Jane incorporated a personal item in this quilt: a button she wore when she marched along with 10,000 other people and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Frankfurt, KY in 1964. She worked almost daily for ninth months to complete this quilt.

Jane says,"Once I had more time to spend on my work, instead of making more quilts, I made quilts that took more time. I love doing labor-intensive artwork –it is an odyssey. In my art quilts, I try to combine my art training in painting, my love of fabric, and the tradition of American quilting. I unconsciously combine the loose, free feeling of abstract painting with the time consuming and controlled techniques of sewing and beading."

Jane may work for months on a quilt and if she feels it is not working, she does not give up on it. Rather than taking it apart, she "fixes it." Her patience and vision keep her going and also lots of embellishments and paint. Her work owes a lot to the style of Victorian crazy quilts and Native American beadwork. She also uses cast off gloves in her quilts. This trend began when people started giving her gloves and she could not resist incorporating them into her work.

One of her very moving and intriguing quilts is entitled, "Last Suppers." 

She says, "In most prisons in the United States, a prisoner who is about to be executed is allowed to make a final meal request. The meal is usually served the night before the execution. This is a strange and haunting ritual but perhaps these people are the only ones who know what their last meal will be. I have selected twelve meals that were requested."

Last Suppers  66"x 69"

                  
                                             

Last Suppers Detail

                                                        

Last Suppers Detail

                                                      

On her process, Jane says, "I use strip piecing to make my patchwork. I do not measure but just start cutting and sewing strips usually in combinations of three strips. I then cut these apart into smaller pieces and just keep sewing and adding until it grows into large enough patches to use. I love to create the patchwork. It's like making lots of small paintings. I then appliqué the patchwork and other pieces to a background using bugle beads or seed beads." Jane summers in Montana and due to limited space there, she has started making smaller works too. Her new series, "Faces" can be seen on Bob Shaw's website www.artofthequilt.com

Jane is currently putting together a one woman show and she also has a quilt in a show in Oulu, Finland next summer.  You can see more of her work at her website www.janeburchcochran.com.

And in case you missed the SAQA Journal for Winter 2013, go to saqa.com and check out the great featured artist section they had on Jane in there.

21st Annual Rose Center Quilt Show

The Rose Center Quilt Show is still going until the end of this week in Morristown, TN and it is a great show. This is a show that is open to all and it has cash prizes. So put it on your calendar for next year. You can read about the Rose Center Quilt Guild at rosecenter.org
I really enjoyed this quilt entitled "Midnight" by Susie Hunter.She has incorporated some interesting decorative machine stitches.

Another interesting quilt was Barbara Wood's "American Pride." The colors are bright and slightly different in that its a clear departure from the traditional red, white and blue but you feel no less patriotic.

The next quilt from Barbara Webster is a real departure from her usual large "photo print" quilts with their ultra realism and she says it took quite a while for her to finish it. Sorry the picture is not the best, that's my fault.

Rose-Breasted Grosbeak

I love the color combinations in Carol Snapp's "Snappy Squares."

The next quilt was hard to photograph too, as it was deep in the interior of the "quilt forest" and it is sunshine and shade also. In fact, this quilt by Donna Japp is called "Sunshine and Shadows," and I love the subtle watercolor effects.

"Garden Stepping Stones," also caught my eye with its bright, clean colors. It is by Fay Andrews.

Hope you enjoy this quick tour of the show. I would love to hear from you about what you are working on and any events happening in your area.

September Happenings

If you are near Dandridge, TN, don't miss the Taste of Nations event in downtown Dandridge on Friday September 12 from 5 - 9 pm. Its a crazy annual event and I will be at the Steamer Trunk at 103 West Meeting Street talking about SAQA and showing some art quilts from 5 - 7. There will be beverages, cuisine and music, at least some of which will represent countries around the globe. 

Foothills Quilters Guild is having their 13th annual quilt show on September 19 from 10 - 5 and September 20 from 10 - 4 at the New Providence Presbyterian Church in Maryville, TN located at 703 W. Broadway. They have a gift boutique, door prizes, demonstrations, antique quilts and admission is just $5. For more information visit them at www.foothillsquiltersguildsite.com

The Rose Center Quilt Guild has its annual show starting today September 7 through Friday October 17 at 442 West 2nd North Street in Morristown, TN. The Rose Center itself is a beautiful old building, a historical treasure. They are open M-F, 9-5 and Sat. 10-2. The show is great and you will enjoy seeing the Rose Center also. 

And of course there is the fabulous AQS show in Chattanooga this month! Don't miss it!

I hope to hear from you concerning events, shows, happenings or whatever in your area of KY or TN and I want to see what you are working on so we can post it on the blogsite. I am working on a couple of quilts right now and doing some practice doodles on squares of fabrics and so I'll share one with you here.  Have a great week!

2014 Benefit Auction

SAQA’s signature fundraising event starts Sept 15!

This is your chance to own beautiful, unique art quilts by some of the world’s finest artists. Plus, your purchases help increase the recognition for art quilts and the artists who make them while supporting SAQA’s exhibitions, publications, and education outreach. Thanks to our donors and bidders in 2013, the Benefit Auction raised over $65,000.
See the Benefit Quilts

SAQA members were invited to select 6 of their favorite benefit quilts an curate them as "dream collections." The selections are really beautiful.
See The Dream Collections

Look at your own benefit quilt or quilts sent in by friends at this link:
Artist List and Quilt Details

Let us share our KY and TN quilts in the Benefit Auction. Let me know about your benefit quilt and I will post it here on our blog so we can all enjoy it and see our region's work.

 "Life in Our Family" by Sharon Buck