Featured Guest, Joanne De Sena
Joanne De Sena, our invited guest speaker, shared her perspective on quilt making from the viewpoint of a psychologist who often accompanies Velda Newman on her teaching jaunts. Joanne has seen first hand how self-doubt can undermine the creative process, and she shared some of her wisdom with our group.
Joanne's mantra, "Free to Be," aptly expresses her approach to the creative process. She suggests that we approach art from the perspective of play -- leaving judgements behind, just having fun. Confidence is built by striving over and over, using past experience as a guide, and does not rely upon the approval of others, which only interferes with the ability to play. Joanne contends that nothing is right or wrong, it is all a continuum moving towards development and refinement, a process that proceeds one step at a time, and that if you find yourself saying, "I can't," try saying that to the image you see in the mirror and see how differently it plays.
Some of Joanne's favorite quotes are, "Believe you can and you will." "Get lost in the landscapes of your thoughts." "I have only to let myself go." And some of Joanne's favorite books are Oh the Places You'll Go by Dr. Seuss and The Creativity Book by Eric Maisel.
Show and Tell
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| Inspired by an episode of Quilting Arts, a mini group 'that plays together' decided to do a series of nests. This one, by Marylee Drake, include eggs and fabric that she has had for years. She stylized the tree branches and added a pieced background. |
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| Julie Broughan added a shoe buckle, little cones and jewels to her nest. |
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| Lynn Tubbe added a bird to give her nest more perspective. |
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| Last, but never least, are these quilts by Michelle Peerson . . . |
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| and Jan Petrie. |
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| This moving quilt, "Death Did Us Part," by Jackie Manley represents her struggle to deal with the death of her husband about 8 years ago. The background fabric is an African fabric and the broken wedding ring was made from her husband's clothes on one side and hers on the other. Her side is still intact, but his has been slashed. Her clothing is worn, because grief is hard, and his is shredded as he was ripped away from life. This quilt was shown at Sacred Threads a couple of years ago and was one of only two in the grief section. |
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| Stephanie Bennett-Strauss brought two geisha quilts to share with us. In making these quilts, she discovered that "if you put any fabric next to an Asian fabric, it turns it Asian." |
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| This pillow, also by Stephanie, is her personal logo, "Inner Compass Healing Arts." Playing off of Leonardo DaVinci's "Vitruvian Man," Stephanie has added a female body to the forefront with a line extending from her heart, indicative of a compass. |
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| In this quilt, Stephanie's theme is that 'we medicine women do what we can to make others' lives better;' the vessels represent the vessels that we all are. She fell in love with the Indian women fabric in both dark and light and used them in the borders and sashings. |
New Member
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| New member, Karin Polli, brought several quilts to share. This cat quilt, "Maggie," is the result of a pet portrait class with our own Jane Haworth. |
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| This quilt, entitled "Morning on Wye," depicts a personalized version of a street scene in Wales. Using the colors jade and coral, Karin created a street with personally significant store fronts. Beads were added to the water for texture and a bit of sparkle. This quilt was created for a challenge sponsored by the Foothill Quilt Guild. |
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| In this final quilt, "Return to the Reservation," Karin depicts the 2017 release of buffalo onto the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. This was the first time in 137 years that buffalo had roamed that part of the world and Karin took her inspiration from the articles she read. The quilt includes maroon satin from a bridesmaid's dress, wool for the buffalo hides, Seminole designs on the borders, and flags to celebrate the release. |
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