Of Land and Sea Opening Event

 My favourite month is January, the busy festivities of Christmas are over and there are no commitments or meetings to go to. I feel so free to do what ever I want which is mainly sewing and catching up with family.

February started with a bang with the opening of my Of Land and Sea exhibition last Saturday. The exhibition is in conjunction with Michael Hammer, who does nature based art that ventures into the surreal.

Here we are before the visitors started arriving. You can see an example of Michael's work in the background.

Michael Hammer and I at the opening

I had my Coral Reef series on display.

Me at the opening

The afternoon went really well and we had between 35 and 40 people come to the event. I asked my son to take photos of the visitors but the photos were mainly action shots that weren't very flattering to people.

My friend Clare, who I met in Morocco in 2022 and went to Europe with last year came and we took a photo together.

Clare and I

I had made a new work for the exhibition and here is my grandson looking at it.

Jack liked the idea of an exhibition so much, he has decided to have an exhibition of his Lego at home later this year and he is planning an entrance fee! At first he thought $40 but I said that maybe $5 would be a better price.

My new work is called Snapshots of the Reef.

Snapshots of the Reef

It is double sided but I only took a photo of the front when I was planning the hanging arrangement.

Planning Snapshots of the Reef

When I get them back, I'll have to take a photo of the second side.

I love this photo of some visitors getting close and personal with my work.

Visitors

We served Sparkling wine and orange juice, sandwiches, cheese platters and scones. There was a lot of food left over as usual, but it's is hard to know how much to serve.

Here is a photo of us with some friends after everyone had gone home.

After the Event

The opening went really well, it was a lovely, warm afternoon and everyone made the effort to come. We had some short speeches that went well. I got a bit emotional when I thanked my husband for his continued support! Silly me.

The exhibition is being held at the Warburton Arts Centre, 3409 Warburton Hwy, Warburton. Victoria. Australia.

It is open Wednesday to Sunday from 12 midday until March 25th 2024. Entrance is free!

Lions Club Donation

 The Lions Club of Quilters, Victoria is trying to raise money to buy and protect Australian Quilts for the future. 

They are having an International Challenge as a way of raising some money and spreading the word. Another thing I did before I went to Europe was to make a challenge quilt for them.

I made a Coral Reef quilt, it was relatively small, 40cm x 40 cm which is just under 16 inches square.

The Coral Reef

The Exhibition of the quilts will be travelling around the world in 2024 and 2025. The exhibition will be called Our World-Coming Together.

Here are a couple of detail photos of my little quilt.

The people involved have been working hard on the project, hopefully they will receive the support that they need.

I thought I was finished making my coral reef quilts because I am really enjoying making my improv contemporary pieced quilts but the challenge for the European Patchwork Meeting in France next year is called Ocean.

The size is quite large, 80cm wide and 120 cm long ( 31" wide x 47" high) . I have a few projects on my list do to as well as having an exhibition of my work early next year, so I will have to see if I can get one done. I suppose I could try making all the components on a bigger scale! That might be quicker and will be different too!

Bye for now,

Linda

Victorian Quilters Showcase 2021

 The awards for the Victorian Quilters Showcase were announced via Zoom this morning.  After three date changes from July this year and many emails, meetings and phone calls we had a virtual show instead of an in-person show. I was lucky enough to win four prizes.

I won Highly Commended in Pictorial and Excellence in Embroidery and Embellishment for The Great Barrier Reef.

The Great Barrier Reef 

This quilt was a little different to my other Coral Reef quilts, because I used all my own hand-dyed and hand painted fabrics, lots of machine thread-painting too.

Here are some detail photos.

I also won two prizes for my Connections quilt. I received first place in Contemporary/Innovative quilts and Best use of Colour.

Connections

The quilts were of a particularly high standard this year, so I was absolutely thrilled to receive some prizes. All the quilts and the prize winners will be up on the Victorian Quilters Website in the next couple of days.

Hopefully, we will be back to an in-person show next year, but there are no guarantees!

I am also relieved because I was contacted to say that I was a close contact with Covid and I had to have a Covid test yesterday, today I received a negative result, such a relief! I can relax now.

Bye for now,

Linda

Hanging by Threads

 Last year I made a Coral Reef quilt for the Victorian Quilters Inc. biennial art quilt prize, One Step Further. It is open to everyone in Australia and New Zealand. I don't need to remind anyone what 2020 was like, so of course the exhibition could not go ahead.

Fast forward twelve months later and we are still in lockdown. Luckily, the exhibition is on Kyabram which is in the regional area and their gallery is open and the exhibition is on at last.

Hanging by Threads©2020 Linda Steele

My quilt is called Hanging by Threads and it is mostly made of wool, with just the upper blue area in fabric.

I enjoyed the challenge of trying to make a coral reef out of wool. I made most of the coral using hand embroidery and then hand needle-felted some wool around the edges to attach it to the wool background.

Preparing the coral.

I also experimented with making coral a bit differently and did some big knots and straight stitches in wool and ribbon and then needle-felted it down to embed it into the fabric.

Making coral

Here is a couple of photos of the top section of the quilt, a healthy Coral Reef.

Then there is the middle panel, where the coral is just starting to deteriorate.

Finally, the bottom panel where the coral has bleached and there is no home for the fish.

Making a Coral Reef out of wool was a challenge, but I really enjoyed making it. I can't even remember why I thought of the idea now!

The exhibition opened last Friday and unfortunately, I missed out on a prize, but I hope to go and see the exhibition and prize winners before the exhibition closes on November 30th. 

Restrictions are supposed to start to ease on October 26th when the shops and hairdressers can open and from November 5th, we are allowed to see 10 family members at home if we are all vaccinated.   Melbourne has the unenviable reputation as the most locked down city in the world! 

Bye for now,

Linda

Exhibition news

 There is not much happening exhibition wise in Australia, here in Melbourne we are currently in our 6th lockdown, where there are only 4 reasons to leave within 5k of your home. Everyone is getting pretty sick of it.

However, exhibitions overseas are starting to open up.

There is a travelling exhibition curated by Brenda Gael Smith called Open Borders, they are travel inspired quilts from Australian artists. We cannot travel but our quilts can!

There was a lovely advertisement featuring my quilt, Magical Coral Reef.

The exhibition will travel with the Mancuso shows this year.

The World Quilt Show is currently an on-line exhibition and that is on at the moment.

The quilts will be on show in person at

The Pennsylvania National Quilt Exhibition 16th - 19th September

Pacific International Quilt Festival 14th -17th October

Quilt and Sewing Festival of New Jersey 17th - 20th November

There is also going to be a Portrait exhibition at the same shows and my quilt was selected to be in that too. This exhibition was curated by Phyllis Cullen, I did a on-line portrait class with Phyllis and we continue to meet monthly via zoom for a critique session, which really helps to keep everyone motivated. 

My quilt of my grandson Jack climbing a tree will be in that exhibition.

Jack 

Another exhibition called the Wonder of Eyes was supposed to be on show all over Australia in 2020, then all shows got postponed to 2021. Unfortunately, now most of the shows have been cancelled this year as well. The little quilts are going to be returned to us. I did a peacock and there was a lovely post on Instagram showing some of the postcards and my peacock was in the front.

We are still wondering if the Australasian Quilt Convention will go ahead in December and our Victorian Quilt Show in November, but it is starting to seem unlikely.

Bye for now,

Linda

Digital Cloth Magazine

 I am one of the artists featured in the on-line magazine called The Digital Cloth issue 8. It is a great art textile magazine produced by Australian textile artist Caroline Sharkey. 

The Digital Cloth issue 8

I was very honoured to be included because there are always so many wonderful artists featured. I speak mostly about my Coral Reef series of quilts. The magazines are jammed packed with lots of photos and articles by various artists from countries around the world and not very expensive either.  A great value e-magazine.

I have done a couple of other articles for different groups lately. One is coming out this month for my local quilting group, Waverley Patchworkers monthly newsletter. I also did an article for our Oceania SAQA group about my studio. It's not really a studio, I took over the rumpus room when my children grew up. I really love being in that room though. 

Before I took over the rumpus room, I used to use my larger than normal laundry, now I use that area for dyeing and  preparations for sun printing.

Wet studio

The funny thing is, I took some photos and was disappointed at how messy my room looks when I am in the middle of creating a quilt. So I had to tidy up and take the photos again!

Here is where I do my designing at one end of our old table tennis table. I use the table tennis table for basting my quilts.

Design area

I have two sewing machines set up all the time and I work from one to the other.

Sewing machine area

I have one wall of cupboards for all my fabrics. Here is a photo of one of the double cupboards.

I sort my fabrics by type and colour.

That's a sneak peak into where I spend my days. I am really busy trying to get a quilt done for AQIPP (Australian Quilts in Public Places). It is a juried exhibition that is on every 2 years and entries are due next month! The theme this time is Where in the World. I didn't have an idea of what to do for ages and in the end I thought of two ideas. I only have time to make one though.

Bye for now,

Linda

Thread Painting

I have been busy making some coral and fish using the free machine thread painting technique.

I've been making a series of Coral Reef quilts for a few years now and often make coral with hand embroidery because that is what I did for years with my crazy quilts. But I don't want to make things the same way all the time, I want to change and improve all the time. I can't help it, it's just the way I am.

I am loving using the sewing machine to make coral, it is still time consuming but it allows me to make my motifs in a larger size.

I have also made some fish, it really is good fun.

I have finished the quilt now and entered it in an exhibition, so I cannot show the quilt yet. I think that it might be too pictorial to be accepted though. It won't be the end of the world if it isn't accepted, I can enter it in something else.

We have been put into lockdown again! This is our second week but I am using the time wisely. I am powering through my to-do list and having a big tidy up. In fact, I am going to be ruthless and get rid of things that I haven't used or not going to use, especially if its traditional flowery fabric. I am quite sure that I won't be making traditional quilts anymore, art quilts are too much fun.

Bye for now,

Linda

Visiting Adelaide

 I spent last week interstate in my hometown, beautiful Adelaide because I had been invited to judge the South Australian state quilt show. Adelaide was having a burst of extra warm autumn weather which was perfect for wandering around when I first arrived.

I took some photos of the pig statues in Rundle Mall.

That red spot behind them is a Covid sign warning everyone to keep 1.5m away from everybody and to keep washing your hands. That sign is not usually there, but I noticed that Adelaide had many more warning signs than we do over here in Melbourne. The differences in our airports were quite staggering. When I arrived in Adelaide there was a police presence, places to check in and sanitising stations. When I came back to Melbourne there was nothing, you wouldn't have known that there was such a thing! Amazing, when you think that we had the highest number of deaths and the longest lockdown of all the states!!

I had a little walk down memory lane and visited the magnificent Adelaide Arcade. Look at that beautiful blue sky.

Adelaide Arcade

I walked through the arcade to see where I used to do ballet many years ago.

Adelaide Arcade interior

My ballet school was upstairs and when I walked up there was no sign of the old studio.

Upstairs in Adelaide Arcade.

Now I must admit that I did ballet there over 50 years ago and it has definitely been renovated since then, but I did have a warm nostalgic feeling as I was wandering around.

I had a day off after Judging and met with my old ballet friend for lunch. Then I wandered around the South Australian Art Gallery.

I saw a Yayoi Kasuma pumpkin with her trade-mark spots.

Pumpkin by Yayoi Kasuma.

I obviously haven't got over my attraction to circles.

As I was walking through, I passed a group having a guided tour and he was speaking about a work that I probably would have ignored or thought was strange.

Twin Subjecter by Thomas Hirschhorn 2011.

It is of two women with nails all over them. The guide explained that it is about how women are constantly bombarded with advertising and opinions that they are not good enough and have to change to be perfect. Why do we do this to young girls and women? Maybe men have the same issue?

Here is a close-up detail.

Twin Subjecter by Thomas Hirschhorn detail

 Suddenly the artwork felt very important and made me promise to book into tours more often.

The Judges all had a quilt on display at the show and today my quilt arrived home. I took a smallish quilt for ease of packing and posting.

6 pack Shame by Linda Steele

Bye for now,

Linda

SAQA Convention 2021

 The SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) Conference is on at the moment. This year it is a virtual conference because no international travel is allowed. It is being hosted by the Oceania region which is Australia and New Zealand. There have been lots of guest speakers and presentations from Australia and New Zealand and it has been wonderful. It's only day 4 and I feel as if I have my money's worth already. It is very inspiring and it is obvious that a lot of work has gone into producing such a great conference.

I did a lightening talk on day 2; it is where you present 20 photos and talk for 20 seconds about each one.

My talk was about Working in a Series and how one thing leads to another.

I showed a photo of a couple of my crazy quilts explaining that it was how I started doing my own designs.

Then I showed many of my Coral Reef quilts and spoke about them.

Next, I spoke about my contemporary series of quilts that explores emotions.

Then I talked about my circle series from 2020, anyone who reads my blog has followed on with that saga!

I pre-recorded my talk a week beforehand, so I could watch with everyone else. My husband walked by and said that my voice sounded much deeper and I realised that my cold was coming on before I realised that I had it. I didn't notice a sore throat until that night!

I have lots of lovely compliments from people saying that they enjoyed my talk, which is really nice, they didn't have to say anything.

There was a juried challenge for artists from Australia and New Zealand with the theme Distance and Diversity. I was thrilled to be accepted with my quilt Reef Revelations. We weren't allowed to show it until after it was shown at the conference and the slide show of the exhibition was on this morning, so I can show the quilt now.

Reef Revelations ©2021Linda Steele

The conference is on every day until next Sunday and it begins with an artist studio tour and then onto different talks on various topics. The great thing is that it is all recorded and we can watch as much as we want for 3 months.

Bye for now,

Linda