Andi Shannon - Fiber Artist - Blog

2012-01-30T11:42:00.000-08:00

This is from a new crop of evening bags, using a type of feather stitch. The satin is such fun to work with in jewel tones. These are Night on the Town - Martinique, Dubrovnik and Antiqua.

The last couple of months have had a couple of events and the next is in March. In the meantime, I've offered a couple of classes in my studio and I'm planning more, again for March probably.

Stitched scarves

2011-11-29T16:43:00.001-08:00

Recently, I shared a booth at the Best of the Northwest juried art show in Seattle. It was quite an event with 250 artists of all types of media. Lots of people coming through to explore and shop. Above are some of the scarves I've been making with strips of strips of silk, yarn and lots and lots of thread to create one of a kind fabrics, some solid and some lacy. My last order of thread had enough miles to stretch to about 130 miles. Yes, I did the math.

One of the great things about doing these shows is meeting other artists. And making trades. The woman I shared a booth with makes wonderful felted wool hats. (www.waterscolors.com) I now have a snazzy charcoal hat, a bit upscaled from my myriad baseball caps. I also traded for an original painting from Karen Watson ( www.karenpwatson.blogspot.com )

Sweater Renewal

2011-11-14T19:47:00.000-08:00

A new batch of bags! I've been exploring upcycling sweaters. Cutting the sweaters to get the largest useable fabric, I layer the top with yarn and stitch roundy roundy round. The green one is made using only the sleeves and measures 13 x 12 x 4 1/2. The straps are made by trimming the waist ribbing, then folding and stitching it so that it doesn't stretch.

Schacktoberfest

2011-10-13T21:23:00.000-07:00

Schacktoberfest is next weekend! (www.schack.org) This is the Schack Art Center's fall festival. The hot shop is making 300 glass pumpkins for the Urban Pumpkin Patch. You can go see them for free and, for $45, you can design, make and take home your very own pumpkin.

There is also a 3 day exhibit of fall themed art work. Six of my pieces will be hanging in the gallery. This is an image of

Northside. Three layers of free motion lace, separated by cotton and batting spacers, with lace leaves drifting on each layer. The background is cotton quilted with curved lines and more leaves.

The leaves are falling and the apples are ready!

New outlets

2011-10-04T09:38:00.000-07:00

In the last couple of months, I've joined two more stores, and, a couple of weeks ago, juried into an online wholesale company.

The Schack Art Center, in Everett, WA, has a beautiful new space, including hot shop (for blowing glass), gallery space and retail gift store. Coming up is "Schack-toberfest", an evening with art, music, beer & brats, with an urban pumpkin patch of glass pumpkins to purchase. I'm hoping to have some pieces on display. http://www.schack.org

I met the Kellys of Riverclay in Mount Vernon, during the Skagit Artist Together Studio tour this summer. They have created a welcoming gallery in downton MV, mostly pottery - and now, some of my work.

http://www.wholesalecrafts.com is a wholesale company, meaning artists sell the work directly to the retailer. I'm brand new to the process, but I'm hopeful that this will expand my base.

Back to sewing!

LQTM Quilt Festival

2011-09-26T20:31:00.000-07:00

This coming weekend is the Quilt Festival at La Conner Quilt & Textile Museum. (www.laconnerquilts.com) There will be 180 quilts on display in Maple Hall, as well as many quilts throughout town on the Quilt Walk. The museum itself has three exhibits, including "Spirit of the West", with work from the Association of Pacific West Quilters. I will be there helping with admissions and answering questions at the Board booth. This is the first year the show will be juried and judged. I have two pieces, shown here. A detail of Leaves on the Dawn and Abundance (messenger bag).

glass collaboration - quilt like

2011-09-18T21:18:00.000-07:00

The Museum of Northwest Art in La Conner, WA, has an annual auction of work from invited artists. Lin McJunkin, an artist who works in glass, was asked to put together a glass collaboration of artists who work in anything but glass. Several of us gathered at Lin's to do our pieces and others met at the auction preview to create their pieces "live". We actually each did two squares so Lin had a bit to choose from in composing the final piece. It was such a hit at the auction, that she was asked to combine the 2nd squares into another piece for sale. Lin created the back piece to the platter, about 12", I think.

Mine is the center square.

Anacortes Art Festival and Art at the Port

2011-09-12T20:36:00.000-07:00

A few months ago, a committee with the Anacortes Arts Festival (Washington state) asked several textile artists in the Skagit Valley community to each create a piece of art that would be displayed together as a banner. The banner welcomes people to the Art at the Port fine art exhibition of the three day festival, one of the largest in the Pacific Northwest. Each year more pieces will be added. My piece is on the far left banner, in the middle. I have a close up picture...hiding somewhere in my virtual file folder.

beautiful weekend

2011-08-23T12:15:00.000-07:00

The Fresh Paint Festival in Everett was terrific! We had an actual summer weekend here in the Pacific Northwest. Monday was a downpour, but the weekend was perfect.

Lots of people came into the booth and said "You're the bag lady!" Several people said that my work was the reason they came to the festival and I didn't have five minutes without someone visiting me, for the entire weekend. I'll be riding this ego boost for awhile.

The image is a detail of "Leaves on a Creek", one of the wall pieces I sold. A larger image is on my website - www.andishannon.com

My first interview

2011-08-18T23:34:00.000-07:00

A new experience for me - I was interviewed last week for the Everett Herald in connection with the Fresh Paint Festival. What a weird - and fun - feeling. If you click on the arrows under the picture, it will lead to a couple more pictures. My son took the photo of me holding the spools of thread.

http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20110818/ENT/708199973

Fresh Paint Festival 2011

2011-08-15T19:37:00.000-07:00

This coming weekend is Everett's annual Fresh Paint Festival. 90 artists will be demonstrating their what they do and selling the results fresh off the easel - or the sewing machine, in my case. The event runs right along the marina. Last year was such fun! I brought my little Singer and heard people on the boardwalk saying, "I hear a sewing machine!" People don't quite believe I do all of the stitching freehand - no computer program - unless I use the Singer. It was made in Scotland in 1956. I have another of the same era that my grandmother where my grandmother stitched clothes, linens, even canvas tents! I still use that, too. Especially a couple of years ago when my modern machines were both in the shop and I had deadlines!

I will have new work for the walls, handbags, journals, scarves and more. I'm trying out a couple of new things that I'll blog about in the next few days. If you'll be in the area, come find me in Booth #45.

“Unveiling Climate Change ~ Artful Messages”

2011-05-17T09:54:00.000-07:00

This show has just opened at WA State's Department of Ecology. I was invited to participate in the juried selection and two of my pieces are now hanging in the lobby. Above is "Floating in a Kelp Forest" and Leafless. The reception for work from the twenty seven artists is June 3 and the show continues through Aug. 12.

Renewal & Nebula

2011-05-07T19:13:00.000-07:00

I submitted two art quilts for the next juried CQA show. http://www.contemporaryquiltart.com Both were accepted! The show will be this summer at the Lynnwood, WA library. One is Renewal, shown in the last post. The other is Nebula, a detail shown here.

Last week, I took a two day workshop on art and business. With a wide spectrum of presenters and attendees, I have lots to review.

The tulips in the Skagit Valley are done for the year. The fields glow with thousands and thousands of tulips, then the farmers chop the tops to let the bulbs develop. For few days, the rows between plants looks as if they've been sprinkled with confetti. Another sign of spring. And I have a spring crop of handbags to send off to Confluence Gallery in Twisp, WA. http://www.confluencegallery.com

2011-03-16T14:04:00.000-07:00

This is a series I'm playing with involving free standing lace and free motion quilting. I draw the leaves with stitching over whole cloth. The one in the image is hand dyed fabric from another artist. http://www.marbled-arts.com/shopping.htm For the lace leaves, I do the same drawing stitch over a heavy stabilizer instead of fabric. I cut the leaves out

and add them to the quilt. The stabilizer washes out and the leaves add texture and dimension to the piece.

MoNA style coming up

2011-02-21T20:08:00.000-08:00

This show is a one day event - 27th year running - at the Museum of Northwest Art in La Conner, WA. The whole museum is transformed into 35 booths for hand picked artists. The evening bag on the publicity card is one of mine - Night on the Town - Budapest. This is the second year I'll be doing this show. The staff and volunteers are terrific. They actually help schlep stuff in, provide lunch, etc. This, from what I've heard and seen, is highly unusual in the world of art festivals. Last time I did this one, the director of the museum was on a stepladder adjusting lights to better show my display. Models will stroll through town and have informal shows in four of La Conner's restaurants. Two of them are among my favorites in the Skagit Valley. http://nellthorn.com/ and http://www.insidelaconner.com/LaBrew.html. Both conveniently just steps from the museum. For more information on the show, including the artists involved, see http://www.museumofnwart.org.

Electric Coral at the Blue Heron

2011-01-28T15:37:00.000-08:00

This is my next show! It's with Contemporary QuiltArt Association, which has 120 members throughout Washington state. This is a joint show with Vashon Allied Arts at the Blue Heron Gallery on Vashon Island. The image is a detail of my piece, Electric Coral, used in publicity. An image of the whole piece, along with a nice write up about the quilts to be displayed is on http://www.vashonalliedarts.org/gallery/gallery.htm

Hot Cocoa

2011-01-03T13:53:00.000-08:00

Considering the snow outside, this image seemed appropriate. This handbag is called "Hot Cocoa".

A lot has been happening since I last posted ages ago. The Best of the Northwest show was fantastic. 250 artists. I didn't get a chance to talk to many of them, though I did come extra early one day and at least saw most of the booths. I had terrific neighbors who shared their experience and advice doing shows. And, thanks to swaps, came home with a luscious pashmina cashmere shawl and a landscape view of Cannon Beach.

One of my great excuses for not blogging during Dec. is that I was swamped - what a great problem - with getting work completed. I had work at two holiday shows. One at Gallery Cygnus in La Conner, WA and the other at Gallery by the Bay in Stanwood, WA. http://www.gallerycygnus.com/, http://www.gallerybythebay.com/

A small group of artists and I did a co-op show for several days in Dec. I also did an open studio in mid December. Visitors were slow, but it was a great reason to clean house a bit and sort through the studio. There is a fine line between creative chaos and just plain chaos and I had jumped over that line some time ago.

Coming Fall

2010-11-09T09:56:00.000-08:00

This piece, Coming Fall, is small, ten inches square. The limbs are thread lace. Freehand maching stitching on a stabilizer that dissolves in hot water. Then, I pin the limbs, let dry and stitch in layers onto the background of handpainted silk. I sew just enough of each branch so that other twigs are left 3d.

This weekend is the Best of the Northwest Art show. 230 artists, wine tasting, music, seminars, all kinds of great stuff. I've checked into my neighbors a bit and can't wait to see the work in person. For ticket info and directions, take the link http://www.nwartalliance.com/events/Fall_2010_Best_of_the_Northwest/

This is the biggest show I've done and I'm hoping for a busy weekend.

Everett Home & Gift show

2010-11-02T09:18:00.001-07:00

Hi all,

A week ago, I spent three days at the Everett Home & Gift show at the Comcast arena. My first three day show. I'm not sure of the numbers, but I heard 400 vendors, about 20 were artists grouped together. Lots of people, but I still had time to meet with my neighbors a bit.

http://www.lachausseeglass.com/ and http://www.vonschroeder.com/ both had beautiful glass. http://www.fourcornersdesign.net/ has eclectic and fun work.

Now, I'm gearing up for Best of the Northwest. http://www.nwartalliance.com/events/Fall_2010_Best_of_the_Northwest/ I haven't attended this event, but I've heard only good things about it. At Gal-aPalooza, I talked with another artist who has done BNW before. I asked her for any advice. She looked at my work, smiled and said, "Bring lots of inventory!" Great encouragement! So, back to making stuff! The satin bag here is "Night on the Town - Aruba"

Gal-aPalooza

2010-10-04T13:51:00.000-07:00

This is the next event! The 13th annual wearable arts show presented by the Arts Council of Snohomish County. The link http://artscouncilofsnoco.org/events/gno/galapalooza.html will take you to more information on participating artists and businesses.

Fresh Paint Festival

2010-09-07T12:05:00.000-07:00

Fresh Paint is held at the Everett Marina. Great event! The staff and volunteers were all enthusiastic, even in the bit of rain one morning. It was so busy that it took me three hours to eat my sandwich on both days. I brought my sewing machine to do demos and that was a great draw and talking point. Some people said they were inspired to dig out their own machines and sew again and several that asked me to start classes. Great ego boosting couple of days of people enjoying art. Now, back to earth, back to work planning for the next big thing. In the next two months, I have four shows!

La Conner Quilt & Textile Museum

2010-06-10T07:03:00.000-07:00

I haven't been posting, but I have been working and connecting. I have been honored to be asked to join the Board of Directors at the La Conner Quilt & Textile Museum. (www.laconnerquilts.com) This is an incredible place held together be an even more incredible group of people. I'm eager to contribute, but I'm also eager to learn from these folks! I'm also now represented at Scott Milo Gallery in Anacortes. They will carry my handbags and journals through the summer. "Cascade" is piece I've donated to the Museum of Northwest Art's annual auction next weekend. http://www.museumofnwart.org The pieces shown are Cascade, Night on the Town - Jakarta, Budapest.

2010-04-13T21:16:00.000-07:00

I've been working the last week or so on evening bags. Here's one of the most recent. It's made of free motion quilting over satin and just big enough for the essentials along with your symphony tickets.

For the month of April, I have the honor of being "artist of the month" for Skagit Artists Together. This is a diverse group of artists. Take a look!

Co-op show, Fidalgo Island Quilters

2010-04-03T22:03:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

The last couple of weeks I've been finishing up pieces for a local co-op show of 27 artists. This is a great show for the month of April. We're set up in a local winery, next to the tasting room. (Tulip Valley Winery & Orchard, Mount Vernon, WA)I have lots of new bags and a few new wall pieces. The first photo is of Azzurro, 6x6", hand painted silk and free hand machine quilting. (Teeny tiny quilting)

This weekend was also the Fidalgo Island Quilters biennial quilt show. More than 350 quilts and wearables were displayed. I had two quilts, a jacket and two bags displayed. Blueberry Dream (jacket) and Tokyo (evening bag)are here. I'll share more later.

Bryophyte

2010-03-03T19:47:00.000-08:00

Sunday was a great day for my ego. It was the opening of a show that will display my work, along with five other artists, for the next three months. This is in a luxury condo building in Seattle; multimillion dollar views, 300 seat theater, four in-house restaurants kind of condo. The place was great, but the people made the whole day incredible. I felt like a celebrity, especially considering the caliber and experience of the other artists. Amazing work in a variety of other media. The images are of Bryophyte, in a new series I'm working on right now. The whole thing, including frame is 11x23. I start with white silk and hand paint it. All the little circles are free hand machine quilted over Peltex. (Peltex is an ultra thick stabilizer - the same as in the bills of baseball caps) The biggest of those circles is about 1/2". My next project is to work on a piece for the Museum of Northwest Art's auction, their biggest fundraiser of the year. I'll post pictures in process. I have intended to do that before, but I get involved and forget!

overwhelmingly good stuff!

2010-02-26T07:13:00.000-08:00

I'm overwhelmed, by good things all related to art. In the next three months, I'm involved in, I think, eight shows and several more over the next few months. The piece I shared on the last post will be used in publicity for that show with Contemporary QuiltArt. Quite an honor. This week, I delivered nine pieces for a show in Seattle in conjunction with MoNA. (http://www.museumofnwart.org/) There are three deadlines coming in the next week. And I've only submitted one. Now you know what I'll be doing for a few days.

The picture is one of the pieces for the show in Seattle. It's called "Morning Light." It is pieced and tightly quilted. The textured leaves are made by sandwiching and shaping yarns between layers of dissolvable stabilizer, and stitching to hold it all together. The stabilizer washes out and I'm left with loose fabric like pieces. I hand stitch the leaves and allow them to stand out a bit from the base and add dimension.

Juried into CQA

2010-02-01T18:46:00.000-08:00

“Cedar Path” is a piece that was just juried into a show in Issaquah, which is part of Seattle. Take a look at the website, www.contemporaryquiltart.com. I have recently joined and I am eager to learn from this terrific group of artists. This piece was also shown this past November in La Conner in the Arts Alive! Festival. (www.artsalive.com) A new section was added this year to recognize emerging artists for the region; it was an honor to be included.

Cedar Path is 33x35 and is densely quilted. The detail shot is about 8 inches wide.

As yet untitled forest piece and yes, it's been way more than a week

2010-01-16T12:23:00.000-08:00

So, my plan for posting once a week or so, hasn't worked out well. I'll get better, really.

My latest project is one for a show coming up soon. I ordered 30 yards of fabric, partly for this piece. The fabric came... and I got called in to interpret for the three days. The next day was spent washing and ironing. A couple of years ago, I got caught NOT washing a fabric when I ironed with steam and the color bled. Of course, it was red next to cream, it was in the middle and it was on a commission. I had to tear most of it apart. I learned my lesson.

This piece is about 11 1/2" x 36" and will be in a dark brown wood frame. The photo shows just a section. The orange lines are about 1/16" to 1/8" wide. I'm still thinking of a title. It's representing a forest, mostly greens with bits of red and orange. Any ideas?

Blog Beginnings

2009-12-22T21:15:00.000-08:00

In the week of Christmas, I am usually wrapping hundreds of homemade caramels, canning yet another batch of marmalade and frantically stitching just one more stocking/bag/quilt/hot air balloon. Maybe not that last one. Usually, I look at what I’ve already finished and think…it’s not enough. This year, I’ve done a fraction of what I usually do for gifts, and, amazingly, it hasn’t made the news and the world has kept turning and no one is refusing my phone calls.

So, while the world keeps turning, I’ll keep doing what I do. For those who don’t know me, I am a fiber artist or art quilter or quilt artist. Call me whatever you like; I make textile stuff. Quilts or quilt like objects, framed, gallery wrapped on artist’s canvas, or finished as traditional quilts, are made to display. I make altered fabric, with yarns and threads stitched over a background of fabric, for wall pieces, handbags, journal covers, etc.

I live in the Skagit Valley, in the northwest corner of Washington State, in a continually remodeled home. My studio, however, is complete. Well, mostly.

I’ll be updating every week or so. That will keep me on track with projects, but not be a blow by blow account of every refill of coffee. If you’d like to see current work, my website is AndiShannon.com. Please drop me a note to let me know you’ve visited.