52 Ways to Look at the River - Acceptance for Art of the State

52 Ways to Look at the River

 I am thrilled to share that 52 Ways to Look at the River has been accepted for the Art of the State: Pennsylvania 2018 Exhibit. It will be at the State Museum of PA from June 24 - September 9, 2018.

52 Ways to Look at the River, detail 1

 This is a very competitive show, with entries in five categories - craft, painting, photography and digital media, sculpture, and work on paper. This year there were 104 works chosen from a field of nearly 1,800. Once again I feel as though I have hit the lottery!

52 Ways to Look at the River, detail 2

 This work was a self-directed project. Beginning on the 2015 summer solstice and continuing uninterrupted for a year, each week I visited the Susquehanna River somewhere along its course and took pictures. Back in the studio, I chose an image and interpreted it in a 6” x 12” fiber art panel. The panels are on a wool/rayon felt base and are primarily needlefelted with wool and silk fiber, with some added applique, and were machine and hand stitched. 
At the end of the 52 weeks, I began assembly of the panels.  I handpainted fabric and quilted it to form a background. Each panel was appliqued onto black felt and then stitched on the quilt. I added hand beadwork with glass beads and semi-precious stones.The finished piece is 72"h x 82" w. The gallery in the Museum has the scale, the room, and the lighting to display it to its full potential.

52 Ways to Look at the River, detail 3

 As I was working, I documented the process extensively here on my blog. To review it in reverse chronological order, click the "52 Ways" header at the top, or go here.

52 Ways to Look at the River, detail 4

 This work was a true labor of love, for the Susquehanna River and the landscape I call home, and I'm so lucky I have this opportunity to share it. The opening reception is on Sunday, June 24, and I hope I will see some of you there.

52 Ways to Look at the River, detail 5

As always, thanks for reading and commenting.

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Experiments in wet cyanotype - part 18

 I've been impatient. I could say it's because winter has been long, but winter is always long, at least perceptually, by April. More to the point it's been relentlessly cold and wet and dreary, and all the joys of spring seem delayed.

 So I jumped on the first few outlier daffodils to bloom and attempted wet cyanotype prints with them; there was not enough sun or warmth and the results were unexciting.

 A few days later, thankfully, there was a brief window of sunshine and temperatures hovering around 60F. In a sheltered spot by a wall the chionodoxa, glory of the snow, had started to bloom, and I picked some for printmaking.

 I also found a few fat Dutch crocuses.

 I used my standard treatment of a spritz of diluted pink textile paint, a spritz of diluted washing soda, and then some plain water to bring it up to a guesstimate of the right amount of moisture. I covered the arrangements with panes of glass and set them out to process.

 The sun held all afternoon, and I had some good breakdown and movement of the chemicals. The flowers are delicate, they wither and break down fairly quickly, so a 5 hour exposure seemed about right. Also, more cold and rain was on the the way, so I pulled them all back inside. Here are the un-rinsed prints:

 Those gold sparkly bits make me so happy.

 Here are the finished prints:

 The flowers are small and don't have a lot of presence in these photos, but in person they are lovely. They will look really good with the addition of stitching to delineate the forms.

 I'm particularly happy with the crocuses:

Chiondoxa and crocuses are classified as ephemeral flowers, they go through the above-ground portion of their life cycle quickly, when there's less competition for sunlight, then go dormant. I feel like "ephemeral" is a good descriptor for these images.

So, I have successfully scratched the wet cyan printing itch for the moment. More cold and wet weather is in the forecast, but at some point it will break loose and things will be bursting forth all at once. I will spend my time treating more fabric in anticipation.

If you are new here, welcome! I've been detailing and documenting my experiments with wet cyanotype in great detail; you can read it in reverse chronological order by clicking the Wet Cyanotype tab in the top header, or click here.

And a reminder that I also post on social media:
Facebook page:http://www.facebook.com/suerenostudio
Twitter feed: http://twitter.com/suereno
Tumblr: http://suerenostudio.tumblr.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sue_reno_studio/

Halcyon Days for SAQA Benefit Auction

Halcyon Days

 Here's Halcyon Days, a 12" x 12" art quilt I made specifically for the SAQA Benefit Auction that begins in September. It features one of the wet cyanotype prints I made last summer, and have blogged about extensively. The print has been heavily stitched, and I added borders made from my hand-painted fabrics. It's signed and finished on the back with a hanging sleeve.

 Above is the hosta leaf as a print in progress on a piece of treated cotton sateen; below is the print after about 24 hours exposure, before it was rinsed.

 Below is the finished and rinsed print. It's lovely as is, but one of the reasons I love what I do is how much the stitching enhances the print, adding line and texture.

I've been a SAQA member for many years, and have benefited from membership in numerous ways, most recently from my acceptance into the Metamorphosis exhibit. So I am happy to be able to make a contribution. I'll update in September once I have the auction dates for Halcyon Days.

As always, thanks for reading and commenting.