Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Poetry: Fine Feathers

Fine Feathers
a poem written by Lois Heger
in response to the lovely jacket,
Fine Feathered Friends,
created by artist Jill Becker.

How outrageous that art could hug a woman
Patterns that dance around her shoulders
Embrace her torso with pulsing vibes
Guinea feathers that flirt with her cleavage

As if Icarus' feathers
Fallen from their
Man made wings
Floated down
To land in a silken shrug
Around the shoulders of a lovely girl


Fine Feathered Friends, modeled by Annalisa Jose
with artist and creator Jill Becker at right.


photo courtesy of Alfredo Rego


Sunday, April 22, 2012

Poetry: The Hunt



Hunting Owl
Poetry by Lou Taylor,
responding to the The Hunt,
a beautifully dyed, hand-painted, and quilted piece
by artist Leslie Rego

Fierce raptor
Intense focus
Created for the hunt

Eyes shining
In the night
Skimming the trees

Stalking prey
Wild beauty
Lovely and dangerous

photo courtesy of Paul Riccardi









Saturday, April 21, 2012

Poetry: Bastrop Burning


Bastrop Burning
by Lois Heger
inspired by the three riveting works of artist 
Allison Brown-Cestero:
Bastrop Burning: Epicenter 
Bastrop Burning: Rift
Bastrop Burning: Lost Pines

I still smell it, smoke's
Invasive smell intrudes, resides
Concentric circles pulse from a
Golden orange emptiness
Dark as the dizzy boundaries a hole in the center

Brackets of green fading out
Fall away from the hot colors
Torn away as rented fabric
Holes and chars reveal under-layers
All the way to the core

Pines down and dark and gone
And the spiral of
Released seed falling
They say it comes back better after a burn
In earth time, not long
In girl time it's forever
Lost Pines




Thursday, April 19, 2012

Poetry: Letters Home


A Love Story
by Edna Kitchen
Inspired by the art of Judy Carpenter
"Letters Home"




Our souls dangling by a single red thread
Of a chain that once held us together
Like a ghost struggling to find
Its way back home
Bursting forth through the sweet golden
Memories of your touch
Ceasing to exist in the thick blue torment
Of our lonely separateness
Your letters home are all I have
A whisper of a promise
That one day soon
You will return to me
To weave the threads of our lives once more
Into a greater destiny
Unraveling nevermore.




Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Poetry: The Dance of Life

The Dance of Life
written by Alice Zimmermann
in response to the vibrant and beautiful artwork of
Shirley Metcalf,
created on silk noil.



Red, vibrant, orange, yellow joy
Light and whispy
Edgy and twisty
In twirls and swirls

I move
This way and that
Arms flowing, eyes closing
Hips shaking, shoulders rolling
Head bobs, toes tap
Hair flies, fingers snap
Hands waving, feet shifting
Knees bouncing, skin glistening

I move
This way and that
My Spirit soars in kaleidoscope reds
I dance myself out of my head
Until I see my self as all
In all

...and I move
This way and that




Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Poetry: Golden Mean

Golden Mean,
inspired by the incredible artwork of Jean Dahlgren
and written by Lois Heger
1.6180339887...*


A golden
A wondrous
(void)
Yet two disparate
Opinions converge
Pliable.

*this poem is based on the numeric value for the golden mean with each word having the number of letters in it as the corresponding number in the formula.  Liberties were taken with the numeral "0" whose place is held by the word "void".


Monday, April 16, 2012

Poetry: A Time for a Change

A Time for a Change
A poem written by Patricia Osoria
in response to the beautifully dyed, pieced, and quilted
artwork of Laurie Brainerd.




Nothing seems to fit together anymore
Flow has stopped
Start.  Stop.  Start.  Stop.  Start.  Stop.
Hemmed in.
Bound.
Restless.
Time for a change.


Friday, April 13, 2012

Poetry: A New Equilibrium

Today's poetry selection, A New Equilibrium by Lois Heger, was inspired by three fabulous pieces based on the square, all by artist Ann Graham.  
Enjoy!

A New Equilibrium
by Lois Heger



These squares of life which I inhabit
A series of nesting blocks
All is orderly, color knows its place
With neat stitches I keep all my facets where they belong
My yellow brilliance pushed toward the outside

From craft to art, comfort to chaos
My square peg is edgy not smooth
In a wordless explosion of self
White bits of me are
Waiting for the meaning to settle
Scattered square fragments
Honoring the past
Knowing there's more

Bold colors and action and energy
Just held in check by other dabs of energy, my energy
Now the filed is serious, hard edges, sometimes troubling
yet owning a new centeredness
Yellow brilliance front and center
A new equilibrium












Thursday, April 12, 2012

Poetry: Wade In


A lovely poem, written by Lois Heger,
inspired by the beautiful art work of Karen Turckes.




Wade In
By Lois Heger

Wade in the water
Spoken in a language of feelings that words can't touch
Numbers can't calculate or define
This is women's work
A swath of color
A splash of silk
A float of organza
Transparent to barely being
Yet strong enough to cast a shadow

Soothing salty fluid hits air and becomes foam
Light bends through a canal of blue
And casts patterns deeper than we could imagine
Beauty is in the troubled water
But also power in the
Water that whispers in colors
Don't think
Wade in
Do your work

photographs courtesy of Paul Riccardi

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Poetry: Attraction and Simple Gifts

Two pieces of beautiful and thought-provoking artwork by
Diane Sandlin,
accompanied by poems written by Gioconda Costello.


Attraction
a poem by Gioconda Costello

Round
Spherical
Gravitates
To angular
Black and white
Embraced by
Blue and red
Opposites
Enveloped into
One





Simple Gifts
Gioconda Costello

Mountain
Valley
Space
Simply
Viewed
Yet
With
Layers
Of Depth



photography courtesy of Alfredo Rego

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Sacred Turtle Petroglyph

Below is the first in the series of poems inspired by one of the Twelve Voices From One exhibition pieces.
   
Honu, about which Sacred Turtle Petroglyph was written, was created by artist Angela Maroun.  It is a lovely piece of art which draws you in so that you can fully appreciate the layers and layers of fiber techniques involved: dyeing, embroidery, needle felting, etc.  


Sacred Turtle Petroglyph
by Lou Taylor

Trinity of ancient turtles
Sacred trinity
Etched in stone

Created in felt
For our enlightenment

Reminder of mortality
We were not
The first ones here




Honu is pictured in the lower right.



Artist Angela Maroun (l), Poet Lou Taylor (r)


These photos are courtesy of Paul Riccardi,  Maroun's brother.
Riccardi is also an artist, and you can see more of his work here.

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Twelve Voices From One Exhibition Opens!


The Twelve Voices From One exhibition opened at 
the Radius Gallery in San Antonio, TX
on Thursday evening, March 29th.
Pictured above are the participants in 
the Art Cloth Mastery 2010 Program,
whose works were featured in this exhibit.
seated l to r: Judy Carpenter, Leslie Rego, Laurie Brainerd, Jill Becker,
 Allison Brown-Cestero;
standing: Karen Turckes, Shirley Metcalf, Jean Dahlgren, Ann Graham, 
Jane Dunnewold, Angela Maroun, Annalisa Jose, Diane Sandlin.

We would like to share photos taken during the opening, 
followed by resumes and bios of the individual artists.
All images will enlarge when clicked upon.
(please click on the individual artist's names in the sidebar to visit their page)
Enjoy!


l to r: "Isometric Square"
"Birth of a Square"
"City Square"


Ann Graham


Ann Graham, Laurie Brainerd, Judy Carpenter



top to bottom:
"Meditation"
"Breathe"
"Open. Allow. Receive. Accept."
all measure 21 x 21 x 2"

Laurie Brainerd



"Time for a Change"
15 x 15 x 2"

Laurie Brainerd


"Outside"
17 x 17 x 2"


Laurie Brainerd


l to r: "Circles Interrupted"
"Letters Home"
"Killin' the Blues"


Judy Carpenter



"Plum Blossom"

Judy Carpenter


Judy Carpenter, Shirley Metcalf


l to r: "Our Synergy" 70 x 42"
"Our Dance" 70 x 40"
"We Do, We Cope, We Are" 70 x 42"


Shirley Metcalf


l to r: "Horizon Beneath the Sea"
"Illumination"
"Ocean Wave"


Karen Turckes


Karen Turckes


Shirley Metcalf, Karen Turckes


Karen Turckes, Leslie Rego


"Four Seasons"
41 x 90"


Leslie Rego


"The Hunt"
40 x 36"

Leslie Rego


Angela Maroun


top piece on left: "Bastrop Burning: Epicenter" 20 x 48"
bottom piece on left: "Bastrop Burning: Rift" 25 x 23"
at right: "Bastrop Burning: Lost Pines" 55 x 43"

Allison Brown-Cestero


l to r: "Sanctuary"
"Points of Light"
"Golden Mean"

Jean Dahlgren


Diane Sandlin


"Attraction" - Diane Sandlin


"Equilibrium" - Diane Sandlin


"Simple Gifts" - Diane Sandlin


l to r: "Chakra Spin"
"Joy is Within Me"
"The Path has Many Layers"
"Hearts with Strings"
"Sacred Heart Chakra"
"Energy"
"Walking Gently on the Path"

Annalisa Jose


l to r: "The Path has Many Layers"
"Hearts with Strings"

Annalisa Jose


Jacket at right by Jill Becker (l),
 modeled by Zenna Jane James


Jacket at left by Jill Becker (r),
modeled by Annalisa Jose


Jacket by Jill Becker


Four Seasons by Leslie Rego


Leslie Rego with "Four Seasons"







Jane Dunnewold, Annalisa Jose, Jill Becker, Zenna Jane James


We wish to extend our thanks to Alfredo Rego, who photographed the evening,
the folks at the Radius Gallery,
and Jane Dunnewold, without whose knowledge, inspiration and love,
none of this would have been possible.

More photographs will follow, so please return periodically!
Poems written about individual pieces of art will also follow later this week.