Upcoming Exhibition : City Grid/Urban Patterns at SMINK Fine Art in Dallas

Two of my foreclosure quilts will be included in an upcoming exhibition at SMINK Fine Art in Dallas, Texas entitled City Grid/Urban Patterns. The exhibition opens Saturday, May 17th with a reception from 5-8 pm. The exhibit will run through August 2nd. Although I won't be at the opening, if you're near, I do hope you can stop by.

My Albuquerque and Riverside Foreclosure Quilts have been framed for the exhibition and from what I've seen of the photos, the shadowboxes look amazing. Curated by Jennifer Smink, it will be quite a beautiful show, with work by Dennis Ekstedt, Timothy Hearsum, Diane McGregor and Thel.

For more information, visit SMINK here.

A Dream Foreclosed: Black America and the Fight for a Place to Call Home by Laura Gottesdiener

Something magical happened this year. I met an amazing author named Laura Gottesdiener. Many months ago, she contacted me to tell me she was writing a book about the Foreclosure crisis and had happened upon my Foreclosure Quilts. She wanted to find some way to include my artwork in the book she was writing entitled A Dream Foreclosed: Black America and the Fight for a Place to Call Home. I was beyond flattered and so happy to hear that there was someone out there writing the words to what I was showing visually with my quilts.  This is a story that needs to be heard and I couldn't imagine a better person to write it.

Image from www.wagingnonviolence.org

A few weeks ago, Laura let me know that the book is now available in print through Zuccotti Park Press here. It's even on Amazon where there are numerous impressive editorial reviews. The editors at Zuccotti were going to use just one quilt image at first, but eventually they decided to intersperse several of them throughout the book (I don't have my copy in hand yet but it's on its' way!)

And now you can hear Laura speak about her work, and a sweet mention about the quilts on Democracy Now! What a compelling interview. I feel so incredibly honored to have my work alongside Laura's writing. And better yet, let's hope this book really makes an impact on spreading the hidden stories behind the foreclosure crisis. Share this post and please spread the word about this book. We need more writers like Laura!

work table : foreclosure quilts

Just a quick view of my studio wall this week as I finish up quilts for the show at Gallery Nord in San Antonio in June.

Chicago, Miami and Cape Coral Foreclosure quilts.

I have several more shows coming up later this fall and into next spring all across the US, so stay tuned for more details on the Gallery Nord exhibit as well as the rest!

work table : Finally! Cleveland Foreclosure Quilt

I'm back in the studio this week after a month of travel and family staying in my studio. I always have a hard time jumping back into my work but I certainly knew what I had to do this week, make some serious progress on the Cleveland Foreclosure quilt.

It was so nice to jump right in and I'm really looking forward to finishing this one. I showed it to my friend Myrna over the weekend who used to live in Cleveland and it was fascinating to hear her and her husband's stories about driving those very streets I've sewn.

These are my reference guides, maps with layers of tracing paper over them highlighting foreclosed and empty lots. The red lots are new foreclosures since I started working in this two months ago. It shows that there is no sign of the mortgage crisis ending soon, unfortunately. Some of these houses sold for $2,000.00. Seriously.

I always save the cut out lots. It's sad watching them pile up. I'm not sure what I will do with all of them. I have them from every piece I've made so far.

The quilt is almost finished. I made a patchwork backing this time to emphasize the random nature of these foreclosures. It adds a bit of complexity to the piece as the varying shades of navy blue and black poke through. I was thinking about black holes here.

Here's a close up detail of several lots. The mottled blue fabric underneath was an old botched dyeing remnant I couldn't part with.

My next step is to add the community gardens that have been created throughout this neighborhood. There are four at my last count; hopefully even more since I started. Myrna told me about this recent article in The New York Times on Cleveland's vacant lots. It gives you a little window into what's going on here on these very lots I'm cutting apart ...

APC Quilts

I had been hearing about APC's quilts for some time but kept forgetting to check out their site.  Jessica Ogden has had APC save their remnants and was trying to think of a way to use them. She and Jean Touitou decided to make quilts with them. They sent the remnants to India and found a group of women to make them.

I find this more impressive than looking at the finished quilts, I just discovered the video of how they're made via Wise Craft's blog. Fascinating to watch!

It's so wonderful to see companies finding excellent use for their waste.See more of APC's quilts here.

Infinite Variety : Three Centuries of Red and White Quilts

The American Folk Art Museum  will share 651 red and white quilts from the collection of Joanna S. Rose. When asked, Ms. Rose says “I’m not a collector.” Ummm, beg to differ there.

American Folk Art Museum, Photo by Gavin Ashworth

The exhibit is a 80th birthday gift from her husband who asked what could he give her that she had never seen before. She realized she had never seen all of her quilts hung together.

Marilynn K. Yee/The New York Times

Marilynn K. Yee/The New York Times

The exhibit is up only briefly from March 25th to March 30th at the historic Park Avenue Armory in New York City. Read more here and here.

Foreclosure series so far

Hat's off to Kitty for reminding me that I've been sharing too many bits and pieces lately, nothing overall of my work. It's been a busy year so far and this is the first week I've been able to really spend 100% of my time on my Foreclosure series again. So here's a recap of what I've accomplished so far sharing my latest piece to the first inklings of the idea.

Cape Coral Foreclosure Boro, 2011. 30" x 44" embroidery on voile and linen.

The exciting thing about blogs is you can see the artist's twists and turns as they make decisions leading to the ultimate path that becomes a series. This is certainly a case in point here. It has been a series of explorations with various fabrics that have been discontinued (argh!) while trying to figure out the most powerful way to expess my message of how pervasive this problem is here in the US.

Las Vegas Foreclosure Boro, 2011. 12" x 36" denim and cotton on linen.

I needed to finish something since the quilt below was taking so long to make, so I made these 12" x 16" experiments with pojagi to play around with the idea of having smaller pieces surrounding a quilt in a gallery.

Foreclosure Pojagi, 2010. 12" x 16" wool and linen.

And back to that quilt. I am still oh so slowly working on it.

Las Vegas Foreclosure quilt, 2010-11. 48" x 72" embroidery on wool scrim.

Anyone who has made a quilt knows how there are starts and stops and slow progress. So while I slowly make my way through cutting holes into the quilt top, I'm focusing on the boro for the next few months and see where this leads. I have finally found enough of a particular linen and cotton I'm happy with (yeah!) to make a series of six or so boro pieces. The first one is in process right now, here's a little peek at my test sample.

Today I'm working on Modesto, California where the foreclosure rate went as high as 20% in some neighborhoods. If you want to read some articles on foreclosures, check out my Foreclosure page.

Inspiration : Japan

As most of you know, I am a true Japanophile. So hearing about the earthquake on Friday breaks my heart. What is reassuring to know is that the Japanese will get through this, their buildings have been built incredibly well, they are well prepared for situations like this and they form a tightly knit community and help each other in situations like this. I have tremendous respect for them.

"Through", by Miyoko Murata.

In addition to loving the Japanese aesthetic, my sister-in-law is Japanese so I feel a strong connection to Japan since we last visited the country for the wedding. We are looking forward to spending an expended period of time exploring Japan next year and introducing our daughter to their beautiful culture.

"Through", by Miyoko Murata.

These images are from the Tokyo International Great Quilt Festival taken by Jennifer of Moving Hands blog who lives in Tokyo. I visit her flikr quilt show page often for inspiration, I hope you will as well.

"Through", by Miyoko Murata.

Layers : Quilt experiments

I've been busy working out ideas for a new series and thought my experiments could be considered a Layer series piece as well. As a former urban planner, I've been acutely aware of how big an impact the foreclosure crisis has had on our cities and towns. I'm trying to find a way to bring it to everyone's attention just how significantly this affects most neighborhoods in the US today. I'm currently toying around with this idea in my work.

Foreclosure Map study, North Las Vegas, 2010. 15" x 20" Embroidery on linen pojagi quilt.

The empty panels represent large blocks that have foreclosures in them. Sadly, some have up to forty foreclosures in a block. I'll be playing with scales and materials over the next few weeks. I will possibly pull these away from the wall as translucent Pojagi can be traditionally shown. I'm really excited about this series and can't wait until I'm able to pin down all my decisions on how to present these. In the meantime, enjoy the ride!