“Juried Status” with the PA Guild of Craftsmen

Watt & Shand #4

 I am very pleased to share that I have been awarded “Juried Status” with the Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen.

Groundhog and Green Bean

 From the website:  "Juried Status is recognition for a body of work that is exceptional and meets or exceeds these three benchmarks:

• excellence in craftsmanship
• resolved design
• unique voice or style"

Deer and Mayapple

“Excellence in craftsmanship is reserved for work that shows the highest standards of quality. The work demonstrates a mastery of the medium, far beyond basic and intermediate proficiency skills. Attention to details and a thorough knowledge of the medium is demonstrated.”

Big Root Geranium

“In work awarded juried status, the design is resolved and individual to the craftsman. Good composition is expected. The use of tension and space enhance overall design. Choice of materials and methods show innovation and mastery with all elements working together.”

Watt & Shand #9

 “Style represents the true creative nature of the Designer Craftsman. A unique voice is an innate part of all juried craftsmen’s expression. The conceptual richness evidenced in the work shows the nature, complexity and execution that marks each individual’s work as distinctive and unique. It sets it apart from the work of others, not only qualitatively, but in achieving an individual identity, readily recognizable as belonging to that maker.”

It's meeting this guideline that I am proudest of, I think.  I have been sewing and stitching and creating literally almost my entire life, so a lot of the technical skills are second nature to me at this point.  But I have worked hard at developing my personal, recognizable style, and am honored at having my "voice" recognized.

Fireball

I consider this an excellent set of criteria, and am very happy that my work met the guidelines.  Jurying is a two part process, where images, bio and resume are submitted digitally, and then the craftsperson brings in the work for a hands-on examination and review by a panel of experts.  The works shown above are the ones I submitted.  I am a good fit with this organization and plan on becoming more involved.

Fiber Show at "Weavings, Ink." Gallery

 I am delighted to have four works in a group fiber show at the Weavings, Ink. Gallery in Wrightsville, PA that opens this Friday, April 1.  Above is Deer and Mayapple, and below is The Old Bridge, which is just back from being exhibited at the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, KY.

 Here's the details:
“200 Years in the Making”, a group fiber art exhibit  will be shown at the “Weavings, Ink.” art gallery at 208 Hellam Street (a.k.a. Rt.462), Wrightsville, York County, PA from April 1 – April 30, 2011.
This exhibit will include the work of these 3 York and 3 Lancaster County artists:
Ann Booth, tapestry weaver, York
Phyllis Koster, weaver; wall hangings, Hellam Township
Sylvia Lehman, contemporary basket maker, Elizabethtown
Vivian Narehood, contemporary weaver; wall hangings, Mt. Gretna
Deb Roberson, knotted miniature basket maker, Hallam
Sue Reno, contemporary quilt maker, Columbia

An opening reception is scheduled for Friday, April 1 from 5-8 p.m.
A closing reception is on Saturday, April 30 from 1-5 pm. The reception is free and open to the public and many of the artists will be on hand to talk about their work. Refreshments will be served.

This group of artists represents over 200 years of experience in the medium of fiber. All of them are masters of their chosen craft and this is a great opportunity to see some of the amazing fiber work being done in Pennsylvania.

Also included are Watt & Shand #3, above, and Watt & Shand #10, below:

Here are the bios of the other artists.  I feel privileged to be in the company of such talent!

Ann Booth, Tapestries http://www.annboothtapestries.com/
Ever since I can remember I have worked with yarn. As an art student in the early 70’s I would come home from painting all day to knit. When I discovered tapestry in 1977, It was such a joy to realize I could combine my 2 loves painting and fiber. Although I stopped weaving for about 15 years to work in glass. Tapestry was always in the back of my mind. In 2004 I just stopped doing my sandblasted glasswork and returned to tapestry. Since than I have been enjoying the creative, and meditative process of tapestry. I love color and value change. I dye most of my own yarn in order to get just the colors I want, and to achieve value change you. Recently I have been using images of nature, to illustrate my own spiritual journey.

Sylvia Eisenbise Lehman, Contemporary baskets http://www.sylvialehman.com/
I love textures, forms, possibilities and hardware stores. A complexity of contrasts and unexpected connections please me. I look for appearance rather than referencing function. With this attitude, the whole world becomes an art supply store. My favorite hiking paths in the woods and fields around my studio provide a wealth of potential. Some of my gleanings become handmade paper, allowing me to explore the correlation between pressed fiber and woven fiber. A traditional weave structure with unexpected and nontraditional resolution invites us to look at and consider everyday objects in a new way and perhaps helps us be present and alive to what’s around us.A friend who knows me well stepped into my studio one day and said,“You’re weaving your life.” I feel fortunate to “tell” myself in this way, but the main event is visual; a complexity of textural forms, contrasts and unexpected connections. I am a juried member of the Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen and a participating artist in the PA Arts Experience. View the craft fairs and events I will be exhibiting and selling my baskets and paperwork by clicking my show schedule.

Phyllis Koster, Woven hangings http://www.weavingsink.blogspot.com/
The craft of weavings has intrigued Phyllis Koster since the age of 12, when she was allowed to sit on the loom bench and weave at the Landis Valley Farm Museum in Lancaster, PA. While studying at Millersville University, she attended Penland School of crafts, near Asheville, NC, where she received most of her formal weaving training. In 1976, after graduating from Millersville University with a BA in Art, Phyllis started her own hand weaving business, The Flying Shuttle, now located in a renovated garage on their farm property. She has received awards from the Philadelphia Hand Weavers Guild, the Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen and the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts. Recent shows include an invitational show at YorkArts in 2007 and “Fiber Celebrated 2007” at the Durango (CO) Arts Center where she won the Juror’s Choice Award. She and her husband, artist, Robert Oughton recently opened a gallery in Wrightsville, PA called “Weavings, Ink.”.

Deb Roberson, Miniature baskets
Deb Roberson has been a baskets maker for over 30 years. Her focus of interest recently has been miniature knotted baskets in the Native American tradition. These exquisite baskets are measured in inches and are intricately woven.

Vivian Narehood,  Contemporary weaver
Vivian came to her love of weaving in the early 1970's when she won a raffle for a public radio station to take a weaving class at Fiberworks, a wonderful weaving studio in Oakland, California. She fell in love with the way fibers absorb and reflect light and color depending upon how they meet, encounter and interlace. She has been weaving ever since, despite numerous life changes. Increasingly, she dyes and spins her own fibers to accomplish the result she is looking for which is, in part, planned and, in part, incorporates some of the random unpredictability of nature. Her themes are always nature based, some-times pure inspiration from nature rhythms, sometimes an effort to evoke a particular scene of water, clouds, rocks, etc. She uses fibers of different textures and widths to create the effect she hopes to achieve.

Flora and Fauna Opening Reception

 It was a very good opening night for my Flora and Fauna exhibit earlier this month at the PA Arts Experience Gallery in Lancaster.  There I am just before the reception started, with Deer and Mayapple and Prickly Sow Thistle on the left, and Fox and Hackberry on the right.  Below is a shot from later in the evening, when the First Friday crowds were in full swing.  Groundhog and Green Bean is on the left.

 Here's a slightly arty shot, with Wood Poppy underneath the staircase, and Skunk Cabbage and Possum in the back.  It's a lovely gallery, and I'm so delighted to have my work displayed there.  The exhibit is up until the end of the month, so stop by if you are in town.

 And now perhaps my favorite shot of the evening....just before closing time a Power Ranger showed up with an entourage.  I'm not sure what their purpose was, assuming they had one, but at one point the Red Ranger seemed mesmerized by my work!

New Work -- Deer and Mayapple

Today I'm featuring another just-completed work, "Deer and Mayapple".  It's part of my new series, Flora and Fauna, which is also the name of my exhibit running through the month of October at the PA Arts Experience Gallery, 114 N. Prince St., Lancaster, PA.  I'll be at the gallery from 5 -9 tomorrow night for the First Friday opening reception, and again on Saturday for Lancaster Artwalk.  I'm excited about the opportunity to share my new work in such a great venue.

"Deer and Mayapple"  is 42"h x 50" w, and features cyanotype prints of skull and jaw bones that I photographed.  The prints came out very well; you can even see the squiggly lines bisecting the skull on top, which I'm assuming is where the growth plates fused.  It's a smallish skull, with short stubs of antlers, and part of the nose was either worn or nibbled away.  The patchwork is made from high-end silks, and cotton and bamboo fabrics I painted and printed.

It's also got this absolutely fabulous vintage embroidered piece, with a fawn nibbling some possibly forbidden fruit in a fantasy garden. 

Can you tell I am having a lot of fun with this series?