 High Peaks Camp, Estes Park, CO During this past weekend, I got to attend an Art workshop at the High Peaks Camp in Estes Park. 15 other textile artists and I spent 3 days learning from Leslie Gabrielse, a fabulous fiber artist from The Netherlands.
I have admired Leslie’s work from the first time I saw it, so I was thrilled to get the opportunity to take this workshop. Leslie creates his fabric art quilts 100% by hand, constructing each work by layering pieces of fabric on top of a backing/batting foundation, stenciling in places with acrylic paint, and then hand stitching the fabric pieces in place using perle cotton and large doll needles.
 Leslie holding up one of the many demo pieces he created during our workshop. Leslie’s work is so refreshing – really original and wonderful. His amazing drawing skills are evident in every piece. Each one is so inviting and fun, in part because of the strong compositions and colors he uses, and because of his imagery and technique – the use of chunks of interesting fabrics combined with stenciling, the hand stitching techniques, and juxtaposition of collaged imagery.
Leslie describes why he prefers working with fiber rather than paint, “Fabric has history, while paint does not.” He often re-uses his own, or friends’ clothing in his pieces, so each piece has a very personal history to it. And it seems that every piece of fabric he works with has a story unto itself, again bringing such a personal edge to each work.
A weekend workshop is just enough time to get a small sampling of an artist’s oeuvre, and we did our best to glean as much as possible. Leslie shared so much, giving us demos throughout the days and presentations in the evenings as well.
 My paper stencil composition from the workshop. The primary goal was to learn about Leslie’s way of making a fabric piece and then get a start on 1 or 2 small pieces of our own. We began by playing with stenciling on paper, with a goal of creating an interesting composition. Above is my paper stenciled piece.
I was able to get just 1 small fabric piece started in the workshop – these hand processes do take a bit of effort to pick up (especially for me since I’ve never really done any hand embroidery before). Below is a photo of my small fabric piece:
 "Wall Drawing#3" (in progress) ©2010 Ayn Hanna, 18"x18", Textile Painting (fabric, cotton batting, acrylic paint, cotton thread) Notice the many many pins that are holding all the small fabric pieces in place. Right now they are the only thing holding this all together. There is quite a bit of stenciling with acrylic paint included in this piece as well.
The next step is to add the hand embroidery with perle cotton, to both hold the fabric pieces in place and also add some more definition and line variation in the piece. Here’s another photo I took as I was selecting various thread colors that I’m going to add to the piece:
 "Wall Drawing #3" with perle cotton threads that will be added to it I’ll post another photo of this piece once I finish it. I am very excited to incorporate these new techniques I learned from Leslie this weekend into other future pieces I make as I really enjoy the hand techniques and the “human” presence these bring to the work. I have also started a larger piece (another one in my Triathlon series) using these techniques and will post images of that as it progresses as well.
Navy Quilt Update
No new progress on the 2 Navy Quilt pieces this past week, since I was attending the workshop. I now have 8 days left until the due date for those so I’ll be busy at night and this weekend working to finish those up and will post pictures of those over the next week.
Big Printmaking Show at Art Lab Fort Collins
Reminder for those in the Fort Collins area, my prints are on display until 9/25 at the Art Lab on Linden St. in old town. The gallery will be open Friday 9/24 from 6-9pm and Saturday, 9/25 from 1-8pm. There will also be live printmaking demos and workshops at the gallery on Saturday.
 Tunnel ©1990 Ayn Hanna, 9"x7", linocut Some of my etchings and woodcuts will be on view at “Proof No. 1: The Art Lab Printmaking Experience BIG SHOW” at ART Lab in downtown Fort Collins, opening this Friday, Sept 17. The show of local contemporary printmakers’ work will be open Sept 17/18 and 24/25 and will include prints such as etchings, woodcuts, and letterpress prints – the kind of prints made by hand on big clunky presses. There will be some presses and artists on hand at the gallery and visitors will get the chance to learn about printmaking and even have an opportunity to make a print of their own to take with them as a souvenir from the show. See Art Lab Fort Collins’ home page for full schedule of demos and workshops associated with this show.
Although I’ve been focusing my work on textiles most recently, my first love has always been printmaking, and my etching press (a Takach 3460 floor model) was the first piece of equipment I installed in my home studio. With this print show coming up, it got me thinking about the reasons why I love printmaking so much.
Coincidentally, I was on the Moo.com website, to re-order some of my moo minicard business cards (I love these cards because you can upload up to 100 different images/set of 100 cards to their site and they’ll print them out and send them to you for a very reasonable cost – what a great way to carry around your portfolio with you and be able to hand it out to people with your contact info printed on the back!), and while I was on their site, I ran across an article which helped me identify in part, why I love printmaking. Quite simply, I love the whole process of producing something printed by hand!
 Some of my Moo mini-card business cards in the cute little box they arrive in.  A sampling of my artwork, printed on my Moo mini-card business cards. – I love the physical-ness of printmaking techniques done by hand: painting, drawing, scratching, scraping, incising, gouging, sanding, polishing, rolling and wiping ink on the plates and then cranking them through a press.
– I love textures and surfaces and the rich variety of mark making that is possible only within the fine print medium.
– I love process; preparing the plates with grounds, drawing/painting/cutting the surface, etching the plates, inking and printing the proofs, and then editioning the final image.
– I love the graphic print quality and the ability to make multiples of a single image; printmaking helps to make collecting original art more accessible to all.
– At the same time, I like that the physical plates do wear out over time (or in the case of a reduction woodcut, the plate is gone once you print your last color), so editions are very limited and usually quite small (like less than 100 prints and often more in the range of 20 – 50).
And there is something very magical about pulling a first proof of an image that you’ve created by hand – drawing, scraping, scratching, etching, inking, wiping and wiping and wiping and then cranking it through the press – and seeing that image realized so graphically on the beautiful 100% rag paper as you peel it off the plate after running it through the press.
 Upright Monster © Ayn Hanna, 32"x16", Collograph And then, to print an edition, you have to go back to the inking slab and re-ink that plate and re-wipe it, each time to print another proof of it. And try as you might to wipe the plate the same each time, each proof that you pull is going to have some little variation in it (makes it special and a little different from the others, showing the “human-ness” of hand-printing, and qualifies it as an “original” print), but still will be close enough to the others being printed to be a part of an edition of original prints. I start getting excited about printmaking while even just talking about it!
If you would like to learn more about fine art printmaking, be sure to stop into Art Lab during the show over the next two weekends in Sept. And, if you can’t stop by the gallery during the show, you can also check out this very cool interactive demo from the Museum of Modern Art for everything you ever wanted to know about printmaking – What is a print?
Simply irRESISTible show opens today at Some Things Looming Gallery in Reading, PA.
My Tangled Webs #1 and #4 are included in this show. If you’re in the Philadelphia, PA area, please check it out. There is an opening reception 4-6pm today and the show will be up through Nov14.
Click on the link above for more information and to see some of the work that’s in the show. I’m hoping they will post more images of the show after the opening and I will add a link here on my blog to more images if they become available.
Navy Quilts Update
I’ve made more progress this week on my two textile paintings for the Navy Quilt Show. See my previous post for an overview of this project.
 Navy Quilt #1 (in progress) ©2010 Ayn Hanna, ~40"x40", Textile painting (dye painted whole cloth cotton) Quilt #1
Quilt #1 (above) is a dye-painted collage of Naval Aviation images from Captain Bill’s career. Clockwise from middle left:
– The tail of a Navy A-7E Corsair II aircraft from the VA-87 Golden Warriors “War Party” Squadron which he commanded.
– A Navy A-3 (twin engine jet) Sky Warrior aka “‘whale”, one of the many aircraft he flew.
– Nose of a Navy F-8U Crusader, one of the primary aircraft he flew.
– An F-9F Panther, another of the aircraft he flew.
– A LSO (Landing Signal Officer). As Captain Bill says, he spent too many hours “waving”, controlling aircraft landings.
– A Navy A-7E Corsair II aircraft, one of the primary aircraft he flew.
– Aircraft Carrier USS America (CVA-66): Captain Bill was the first pilot to get 600 aircraft carrier landings aboard USS America.
– Background – Middle East Map. One of the world’s regions in which Captain Bill flew missions.
Using dye thickened with print paste, I painted these elements on a piece of soda ash soaked cotton fabric. I also painted on resist in some areas (flight deck, water in lower right), to retain some white areas before painting over it with dye. I’ve now washed out the dye and the next step with this one is that I’ll throw it on my long arm quilting machine and start stitching.
 Navy Quilt #2 (in progress) ©2010 Ayn Hanna, ~40"x40", Textile Painting (dye painted on cotton fabric) Quilt #2
This piece has started as another dye-painted whole cloth. For this one, I made a bunch of stencils of the many different aircraft Captain Bill flew in the Navy, and started out by stenciling some of them all over the fabric with resist, so that when I painted dye over it, some areas would remain as white. Next, I spray-painted (burnt orange) dye over the whole cloth, let it soak in and eventually dry, and then I stenciled some more planes with resist over the first color, and sprayed more dye (olive green) over the first color. This dye mixed with the orange dye in some areas.
 Spray-painting olive green dye over cloth with resist-stenciled planes and 1 layer of burnt orange dye already on it. I let the green dye dry and stenciled some more planes and some cockpit dials with resist and then spray-painted one more layer (a dark blue/black) over the entire piece. When washed out all of this dye and resist, I got the somewhat muddled mess below:
 Navy quilt #2 (in progress) before discharging, ©2010 Ayn Hanna, 40"x40", Textile Painting Just as in doing a painting or a print, it’s a process of addition and subtraction to reach the final image. When I got to this point, I decided the next step was to pull back some of the lights into the piece, so I stenciled some of the planes that are barely visible in the cloth, back into it, using discharge paste. The discharge paste worked to remove some of the dye paint, and that’s how I got the first image of this Quilt #2 above – it has more of the white/light planes back in it.
My next steps with this piece will be to bring more light back into it, with both discharge and possibly some reverse applique, and work to create more definition of shape and more interesting line quality (with stitch) and bring another color or two into it.
Stay tuned: I’ll post more images as these progress.
 Nose of an F-8U Crusader plane, dye painted on fabric Since “Captain Bill” (the subject of my textile painting entry for the Navy Quilt Show) was a Naval Aviator and Test Pilot, he flew all manner of aircraft. I have a list of at least 13 different planes he’s flown, and that’s only a partial list he put together from quick memory. Armed with the info he’s shared with me about his Navy career and having no real prior knowledge at all about planes or the Navy, I hit the web to do some online research to start gathering design ideas for my piece.
It’s really interesting to take a fresh look at something you’ve never really looked at closely before. I discovered that while many of the aircraft are similar, there are some fun variety of shapes, markings, and names for several of the planes he flew and after all my research, I can now confidently tell the difference between an A-3 Sky Warrior “Whale”, a F-9F Panther, and an F-11 Tiger.
Brain freshly loaded with all my new airplane knowledge, I spent the holiday weekend in the garage “studio” playing with dye painting and getting a good start on a couple of textile painting design ideas for the Navy quilt show.
 Dye painting an image on fabric for my Navy Quilt Show entry Overachiever that I am, I had to start 2 different pieces for this project. The first design is a collage of various Naval Aviation imagery, all specific to Captain Bill’s Naval career. I drew out a rough sketch of the overall composition and then started dye-painting each element of the design. While I don’t quite completely know what the final piece will look like yet, the major design elements are in place, so this piece is more pre-planned out.
The second design is much more spontaneous, and is going to be fun to watch how it develops and see what the end result will be. For this one, I made a bunch of airplane stencils (all planes that Captain Bill has flown) and started the piece by stenciling several planes on the fabric with resist. Then I sprayed a layer of burnt orange dye over the resist-painted stencils.
 Resist-stenciled airplanes with burnt orange dye painted on top.  Stencils of airplanes that Captain Bill flew while in the Navy. My plan is to alternate resist stenciling with painting more colors of dye, to achieve an overall interesting abstract design, made from images that are all representative of elements of Captain Bill’s Naval Aviator career.
I’ll continue to post images as the work progresses over the next few weeks. Deadline is Oct. 1st, so they’ll be done before then!
 "Mixed Salad" (c) 2007 Ayn Hanna, 11.5"x11.5" Textile painting (cotton fabric, cotton batting, cotton threads) September. Fall. One of my favorite times of the year.
The smell of hatch’s green chilis roasting at the farmers’ markets, crisp morning air, Baseball playoffs just around the corner, FOOTBALL season starting, and lots of ART going on!
Thread Tails and Vapor Trails: An Art Quilt Show
2011 Marks the 100th Anniversary of Naval Aviation and there will be many Naval celebratory events around the country throughout the year. Thread Tails and Vapor Trails is a Navy art quilt challenge which has been put together to help commemorate this event. Award winning and traveling art quilts included in this challenge will travel and be displayed at many of the Navel events throughout 2010-2011, starting with the Blue Angels homecoming in Pensacola, FL in Nov 2010.
After learning of this challenge, and having a good friend who’s Dad was a top Navy pilot, I decided that I’m going to make a piece honoring him for the show. It’s a bit different than my usual approach to making a work of art, as I am starting by doing some “interviewing”, web research, and gathering background data. Boy have I learned a lot in a very short time about things like aircraft carriers, fresnel lenses, tail hooks, LSOs (landing signal officers), numerous airplanes, and navy pilot lingo.
I’m just in the beginning stages of sketching out a design, so check back here on the blog during the month of Sept to see how it all comes together (entry due date is Oct. 1). I’ll post some photos of the piece as it progresses.
simply irRESISTible
24 Artists from 10 States Exhibiting Nearly 40 Contemporary Works Showcasing Old and New Methods and Techniques
Two of my Tangled Web Pieces are included in this show which opens Sept 12 and is on display until Nov 14 at the Some Things Looming Gallery in Reading, PA. There are several events associated with this show. Click the “simply irRESISTible” link above for full details. Summary Press release is below:
Reading, Pa—Two-dozen artists from Pennsylvania and nine other states will exhibit 37 contemporary fiber artworks at “Simply irRESISTible,” a major, national salon-style exhibition at the some things looming Fiber Arts Gallery and Studio, 526 Washington St., Reading, that opens Sunday, Sept. 12, 2010 and runs through Sunday, Nov. 14, 2010. It also will include a public workshop, seminar and other special programs.
“Simply irRESISTible” covering “all things textile” incorporates resist-related art—wax, paste, mechanical and/or chemical. Individual artworks will encompass numerous methods and techniques—new and old—used by today’s fiber and textile artists. Other states represented include California, Colorado, Florida, Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Texas and Vermont.
According to gallery Co-Director Melanie Mitchell, artists use many methods to “resist” or prevent dye from reaching specific areas of their cloth—creating patterns and ground color. “They can use a wax or paste resist, a mechanical resist such as tying or stitching, or a resist technique incorporating chemical agents that repel.”
Rebekah Ritter, gallery founder and co-director, said, “We wanted a significant show that was inviting, appealing, wonderful, fabulous, enticing, alluring, beguiling, tempting, tantalizing and ‘Simply IrRESISTible,’ and we believe that we have created that excitement.”
 "Reaching In" (c) Ayn Hanna, 7"x10", Etching
Proof No. 1: The Art Lab Printmaking Experience Big Show
Sept 17/18 and 24/25 at Art Lab Fort Collins. Several of my etchings and woodcut prints will be on display in this group show of contemporary prints made by local printmakers. The show will include prints made by hand on big old clunky equipment (etchings, woodcuts, letterpress, etc.)
Leslie Gabrielse Workshop
I’m very excited that I get to attend Leslie’s workshop in Estes in mid Sept. I’ve admired his work and his process of making art quilts completely by hand (no machines involved) ever since I was first introduced to his art, so it is going to be great to get to learn from him directly. I’m busy gathering my supplies and selecting my fabrics and subject matter possibilities, so I’ll be able to hit the ground running at the workshop. I’ll post images from the workshop here on the blog.
September is a full plate of artful activities (and there’s lots more coming in Oct too), so stay tuned for updates on all of these events and more over the coming month.
Happy Football (and chili roasting) Season to All!
 "Dream #1 - Alchemy" (c)2010 Ayn Hanna, 18"x24", Textile Painting (cotton fabric, cotton thread, cotton batting) I completed this textile painting back in Jan this year. It is for an invitational quilt challenge sponsored by Machine Quilting Unlimited Magazine which I participated in along with 11 other artists. I had to wait to show this piece until the whole group of 12 art quilts were published together in an article in the Sept issue of MQU magazine.
The challenge was titled “Pass it On” and was a fabric art version of the children’s game, “Telephone”. In the game, one person whispers a sentence into the ear of another, who in turn then whispers what she heard to another, and so on until the final person repeats the sentence out loud (and it rarely resembles the original sentence).
Our fabric challenge consisted of 2 groups of six artists. The first artist in each group started with the same photograph (“Ironton” by Aaron Angert posted below) as initial inspiration and each made an art quilt based on this photo.
 "Ironton" (c) Aaron Angert (original color photograph) Then each of them sent their quilts to the 2nd person in their respective groups but did not show them the original photograph. The 2nd quilters then created their own original designs based only on seeing the 1st person’s quilt. When finished they each “passed on” their quilts to the 3rd person in their group, who made a quilt inspired only by seeing the 2nd person’s quilt. This process was followed through 6 artists in each group.
We each made a quilt which was inspired purely by seeing the quilt of the person before us and none of us saw any other person’s quilt, nor the original photo used for inspiration until the end of the challenge, when we got together as a group to see all 12 quilts and the original photo.
I was 4th in line in my group, and the quilt I was inspired by was “Nostalgic Moon” by Nora Jones:
 "Nostalgic Moon" (c) Nora Jones, 18"x24", Art Quilt When I first saw Nora’s quilt, it triggered a flashback to a very vivid dream I’d had and I knew right away what I was going to do for my quilt. I sat down and sketched out a drawing, based on a powerful scene from my dream:
 "Dream #1 - Alchemy" (c)2010 Ayn Hanna, 18"x24", Ink drawing Here is my statement about “Dream #1 – Alchemy”:
Dream #1: Alchemy (Jan 2010) – MQU Pass it On Challenge Quilt
(Cotton fabrics, fusing, machine appliqué, cotton threads, machine quilting and embroidery, hand embroidery, paint sticks.)
When I received Nora’s quilt, I was struck with a vivid reminder of a very powerful dream I had about a year ago, and I knew immediately the image I was going to make for my quilt. In Nora’s quilt, the black birds, mountainous landscape, and the dreamlike atmosphere all brought my dream right back to me.
In my dream I was on a journey, hiking through the mountains and valleys on a sad desperate search. As I came over the top of a hill, I saw what I had been looking for – the scene of the “crash site”. Under a huge golden vibrant tree, there it was – a big black bird that had crashed and died, a pile of feathers – my wreckage. I had come to repair my bird. I knelt down and started putting the pieces back together again, reconstructing my bird (myself). While I worked, I felt a resurgent sense of energy within – not only was I rebuilding my bird, but this time, I was giving it rocket boosters!
As I watched my bird take flight, thrust so powerfully and confidently up into the air and headed for distant adventures, I felt the same rush of energy within me, my spirit healed and flying again.
Something I love about the finished quilt is that because of the size, shape, and color, the dead bird/pile of feathers can be read not only as intended (dead bird), but also on another level as an energized shadow of the living vibrant tree above. And read on this level, the “tree of life” ultimately aids in alchemically transforming this pile of feathers into a living flying bird again. This quilt carries messages on multiple levels for me personally, metaphorically, and pictorially.
The 12 artists who participated in the challenge are: Vicki Anderson, Kay Jones, Stephanie Patterson, Janet Pugh, Denise Labadie, Claudia Martin, Kit Robinson, Julie Hallquist, Nora Jones, Maxine Carlstedt, Vicki Carlson, and myself.
The full group of 12 quilts is displayed in the Sept issue of Machine Quilting Unlimited magazine. The group of quilts is also traveling throughout summer of 2011 and can be seen at the following venues:
Milwaukee Machine Quilting Show, Milwaukee, WI (Aug 3-7); Rocky Mountain Quilt Festival, Loveland, CO (Aug 20-22); Quilting With Machines in Ohio (Sept); The Firehouse Gallery in Longmont, CO (Jan 14 – Feb 19, 2011); Denver National Quilt Festival (April, 2011); and HMQS in Salt Lake City (May, 2011).
 Street Fair in downtown Golden, CO One of the perks of having my brother Paul, a professional photographer, in town for the opening of the Evolutions show at RMQM in Golden, CO last friday night is that I get some fun photographs to post to my blog.
 Yep, that’s me in front of my “Wall Drawing #1” textile painting at the show.
The opening was well attended, in part because of the beautiful weather and raucous Street Fair that was in full swing right outside the front entrance to the museum. Who knew what a happening place Golden is? It was lively last Friday night!
And the show was pretty impressive. After seeing the full show, I felt good about my work being included along with that of the 15 other artists involved and also happy that my piece was very different from the others – I think it stood out effectively. (The museum doesn’t allow photographing of the work, so that’s why all the photos pretty much only show my piece, but you can see some of the museum’s permanent collection of quilts on display along the wall facing my piece.)
It was my first visit to RMQM. The gallery space is really nice and about 2/3 of it was devoted to the Evolutions show and then some nice quilts from the museum’s permanent collection filled the rest of the space.
Here’s a few more photos from the show. It was really fun to have my family and friends there to support me at the opening! Thanks everyone!
 Tangled Web #1 (c) 2010 Ayn Hanna (24"x24") Textile Painting (cotton canvas, cotton fabric hand-dyed by the artist, paint, paint sticks, cotton and wool threads) Simply irRESISTible
Today I received notice that my “Tangled Web #1” and “Tangled Web #4” textile paintings have both been juried into the Simply irRESISTible textile show in Reading, PA, Sept 12 – Nov 14, 2010.
 Tangled Web #4 (c) 2010 Ayn Hanna (24"x24") Textile Painting (cotton canvas, cotton fabric hand-dyed by the artist, paint, paint sticks, metallic thread) This show will include 37 contemporary fiber artworks created by 24 artists from 10 states. Each of the works incorporates some form of the wide variety of chemical and/or physical resist techniques.
The show will be located at some things looming gallery, studios, and boutique, a very cool mother/daughter owned operation in Reading, PA. There will be an opening reception on Sept. 12th, 4-6pm and a closing reception on Nov. 14th, 4-6pm.
Evolutions
Tonight is the opening of the Evolutions 2010 Show at the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum, Golden, CO. I’m looking forward to attending with my family and friends, meeting the other artists in the show, and seeing the Museum as this will be my first visit to the RMQM and to Golden. If you’re in the area and can join us, please come on down. The opening is from 4-7pm with awards being announced at 6pm.
I’m pissed. My fierce-ness is flying freely right now and it’s a good time for everyone to give me a wide, wide birth. I’m responsible for my own happiness, and yep, my own anger too. Truth is, I’m actually really deep down very, very sad, and mad at myself for creating this situation I’m in.
The past week has been emotional and exhausting. During this time I have:
– Spent countless hours packing, moving, re-arranging, clearing space and purging things from my home (with wonderful help from my Mom, and my nieces who are visiting from Spain) to get the place ready for the 8/2 arrival of my life partner and her worldly belongings as she and I are taking the leap to live together.
– Worked 50+ hours to complete a new textile painting.
– and done my regular full-time day job.
So many great things are going on right now:
– I’m so appreciative of my wonderful relationship and I’m happy that we’re now living together (well, the place is a mess right now with boxes everywhere and I’ve been used to living alone for a long time, so it’s going to take some getting used to, but I love it and I’m all in on it!)
– I’m very appreciative of my loving family. This is my favorite “family” time of year with my nieces and brother all visiting from Spain and the one time of the year that we have all our family together in one spot. It’s especially special this year with my new life partner moving in as we begin our new family together.
– I’ve been getting lots of new art completed and I’m appreciative that I’ve had work accepted into several shows this year. My Wall Drawing textile painting (below) will be at the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum “Evolutions 2010” Show, opening this Friday, 8/6, from 4-7pm in Golden, CO.
 Wall Drawing (36" x 44") cotton fabric, cotton thread, c 2010 Ayn Hanna So, why am I sad? And what’s the bridge I’m crossing?
A few months ago I entered this Wall Drawing textile painting in both the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum Show, and a juried Drawing Show happening this fall here in Fort Collins at CSU. Because of the timing of the entry due dates and notifications of juror’s selections, there was a slight overlap, such that I had to send in an entry for one show before finding out about acceptance to the other show. At first, I paused and considered not entering the second show, but then decided, well, if it gets accepted at both shows, I’ll cross that bridge when I get there. Besides, what a great problem that would be to have, right?
Well, I’m there. And it’s really not such a great problem to have. The textile painting is already hanging at the RMQM through Oct 30th. The CSU Show opens Oct 6th.
After receiving the acceptance notice from the CSU show, I went back to the organizer of the show and explained my situation and offered an alternative piece to the one accepted (a very similar work in size, look and feel, from the same Wall Drawing series of textile paintings). But the organizer has declined to even make this offer known to the jurors, since they already completed their jurying last month. This is where my fierceness begins to flare, because I’m a possibility person, and I tend to see rules not as rigid boundaries, but instead as general guidelines.
And that’s why I’m sad – not so much because I now won’t have a piece in this local show (there are lots of other shows), but more so because this show is all about “Drawing in the Expanded Field” and drawing is such an integral part of my work and my piece was going to be the only textile piece in the show. So now there will be no representation of the textile medium in this show at all. That, and my partner who is also an artist, also has had her work accepted in this show, so I was excited for us both to be in a local national juried show together – what a great way to start our new life together!
But, alas, it is not to be. I’ve taken my best shot at resolving the situation, done all I can do at this point. I’ve marched across the bridge and offered a creative solution. But I’ve been met on the other side with a brick wall. So, I’m sad, but I’m moving on. Just through the course of writing this blog post, my sadness has dissipated and my fierce-ness is energizing me to get up and get going again!
 (c) 1990 Ayn Hanna, Self Portrait, Mixed Media drawing w/cloth apron, 60"x48" It’s hot, hot, hot here in CO. The summer heat is upon us and the year half gone. So many wonderful things are happening with my life and art career and time is racing by. I was doing a quick check-in recently on my big picture plan and the goals I set at the beginning of the year, and really thrilled with how many things I’ve already accomplished from my list.
In this moment of reflection, I was also reminded of the word(s) I chose for this year – Fierce Joy. The idea of choosing a word to focus on for the year came from Christine Kane’s Resolution Revolution – the idea being that you choose 1 word as your touchstone, a word that helps you focus your energies at “the BE” level (rather than the DO or HAVE levels), because when we achieve the “BE”ing, the DO and the Have are easy followers.
This concept also relates to the idea of finding the feeling place in Law of Attraction principles, which Christina Merkley (aka the Shift-It Coach) explains so well in her article, “Finding the Feeling Place of Success”. (Having had first hand experience with the Shift-It process, I highly recommend this program for anyone who has anything in their life they are ready to “Shift”. All this great stuff I’ve got going on right now in my life has come in part as a result of completing my own Shift-It process, including my Big Picture and Take Action Plans.)
I have been living my Fierce Joy this year, especially with development of my art career. A few accomplishments to date:
- My website, blog and flickr sites are all “live”. (This accomplishment is so much bigger than that short sentence can convey. Wow, I really had no idea how big this was when I started. Somehow that sentence almost needs it own page and really BIG font!)
- I’ve made new art work which I feel are good high quality pieces and have furthered my development as an artist.
- I’ve developed more of a network of artist friends, colleagues, and new organizations I’m a part of.
- I’ve entered several juried shows and am showing my work in several locations.
Current and Upcoming Shows
Here are a list of shows where you can see my work, now and through the rest of the year:
- “Proof No.1 Preview Show, Art Lab Fort Collins, 239 Linden St, Now through end of July – See several of my etchings, woodcut, and collograph prints as part of this group show.
- “Evolutions 2010”, Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum, 1213 Washington St, Golden, CO, Aug 2 – Oct 30 with opening reception Aug 6, 4-7pm – My Wall Drawing I textile painting is in this show.
- “MQU Pass It On – Quilt Challenge”, Traveling Group Show will be at “Milwaukee Machine Quilting Show” (Aug 3-7), “Rocky Mountain Quilt Festival” in Loveland, CO (Aug 20-22), “Old Firehouse Art Center Gallery” in Longmont, CO (Jan 14 – Feb 19, 2011 with opening reception on Jan 14, 6-9pm). It will travel to some additional locations in 2011 as well.
- “Proof No.1 Official Show“, Art Lab Fort Collins, 239 Linden St, Sept 17/18, 23/24 – See more of my etchings and get a chance to make your own letterpress print to take with you as a souvenir when you visit the show.
- “Drawing in the Expanded Field”, National Juried Exhibition at CSU Hatton Gallery , (Oct 6 – Nov 12 with opening on Oct 6, 6pm) – One of my Wall Drawing textile paintings will be in this show.
There may be others as the year marches on, but this is what I know of at this point. Please stop by if you can to any of these shows. I plan to be at all of the opening receptions of all the CO shows and hope to see lots of you there!
Have you selected one word for 2010? If not, maybe you’d like to pick your word now, it’s not too late. And if (like me) you can’t decide on just one, maybe 2 will do. If you have one (or 2) selected and would like to share, I’d love to hear about your word in the comments below.
Stay cool out there!
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