Tracy McCabe Stewart - Contemporary Fiber

Hi all,

I haven’t really vaporized!  I’ve just been incredibly lazy and distracted about art and posting.  I’ve been out doing fall planting in my garden:  exotic new colors of echinacea (Tomato Soup and Mac ‘n’ Cheese), ferns, grasses and astilbe.   My hope is that the new plants have a prayer against my dogs running through the garden.  140 pounds of excited Great Dane being chased by my 60 pound mutt doesn’t lend itself to fragile plantings.  Though this is pretty exciting in my world, but doesn’t really lend itself to pictures or postings.

I finally got all the pictures off my camera from the last month.  Hopefully this will inspire me to actually post what I’ve been doing!  Posts to come include Jeanne Beck’s workshop that I did in early September; the magic of string stamps,  vat dyeing, and pictures of a show I’m in locally called Recent Works. 

I went a few days ago to see Barbara Schneider’s solo exhibit ‘Summer’s End”  in McHenry, Illinois.  The link on her name opens to her  website and show information.  I have posted some of Barbara’s work before.  She is an incredibly talented Chicago area artist who happens to be in a  fabulous needle arts guild with me.  Lucky me, she gives classes locally as well.  I am taking a vat dyeing workshop with her this Thursday.

Anyway, her exhibit consisted of pieces from her reflections series, 3D leaf pieces, pressure formed synthetic pieces among other work.   Oh, to have an art budget; I would have lightened up her packing of the show considerably. 

I am sincerely coveting this piece below.  If sales are even close for me at the Fine Art of Fiber Show  this November, I intend to buy it.  This is a three dimensional piece about 3 feet  wide or so.  Barbara has hand dyed the fabric, constructed the piece and quilted  the surface and then stiffened them into these fabulous shapes.  It is breathtaking and the picture really doesn’t do it justice.

"Oak Leaf Cluster" By Barbara Schneider

 Here is another leaf piece she did.   Man, is she good!

Another gorgeous leaf piece by Barbara Schneider

 Here’s a detail of that beautiful piece:

Leaf piece detail Barbara Schneider

Barbara has done a whole series based on reflections.  The ones in this show are water reflections, though I think she has done some building reflections as well.  Here’s one that I would dearly love to own.  I hope that November show is really good

Reflections Series by Barbara Schneider

 Here are a few other reflection pieces from the show:

This one wasn’t for sale.  I think Barbara told me she gave pieces to various family members.  Do you think she would adopt me???????

By the way, the fact that these pieces don’t look square and are unevenly lit is due to my inferior photography.  Barbara’s pieces are square and perfect!

More leaves.  These are Prairie Dock:

Prairie Dock Leaves by Barbara Schneider

Her exhibit closes tomorrow, so go see it today!

 SAQA’s benefit auction begins this Thursday.  For those of you not familiar with SAQA, it is a wonderful art quilt network entity that promotes international work through education, shows, website and various publications.  SAQA represents some of the best artists in the field.  I am very proud to be a member. 

 My piece is in the second group.  Auction for this begins on September 17th

There are 234 Benefit Auction quilts donated by our members. The SAQA 2009 Benefit Auction – Part 1 will begin Thursday, September 10th, 2009 at 2:00 Eastern.

Last year’s Benefit Auction raised $41,775. The funds raised through the Auction are critical to supporting SAQA’s exhibitions, catalogs and outreach programs.

How the Auction works:

The Auction is run in three sections (Section 1 – Pages 1a and 1b; Section 2 – Pages 2a and 2b; Section 3 – Pages 3a and 3b).

On the first day of each section’s auction, the price for all pieces in that section is $750. The next day (at 2:00 Eastern), the price drops to $550. The third day, it drops to $350, then $250, then $150, and finally $75.

The first section will begin September 10th at 2:00 Eastern.
The second section will begin September 17th at 2:00 Eastern.
The third section will begin September 24th at 2:00 Eastern.

Prices by day:
Section 1 – September 10th at 2:00 Eastern – $750
Section 1 – September 11th at 2:00 Eastern – $550
Section 1 – September 12th at 2:00 Eastern – $350
Section 1 – September 13th at 2:00 Eastern – $250
Section 1 – September 14th at 2:00 Eastern – $150
Section 1 – September 15th at 2:00 Eastern – $75

Section 2 – September 17th at 2:00 Eastern – $750
Section 2 – September 18th at 2:00 Eastern – $550
Section 2 – September 19th at 2:00 Eastern – $350
Section 2 – September 20th at 2:00 Eastern – $250
Section 2 – September 21st at 2:00 Eastern – $150
Section 2 – September 22nd at 2:00 Eastern – $75

Section 3 – September 24th at 2:00 Eastern – $750
Section 3 – September 25th at 2:00 Eastern – $550
Section 3 – September 26th at 2:00 Eastern – $350
Section 3 – September 27th at 2:00 Eastern – $250
Section 3 – September 28th at 2:00 Eastern – $150
Section 3 – September 29th at 2:00 Eastern – $75

You bid by filling out the online bid form. You can bid on up to 7 pieces at a time. First bid on each piece wins. We will then ship the artwork to the winning bidder by insured USPS Priority Mail.

 This is a great chance to pick up pieces from your favorite artists that you might not otherwise be able to afford.