Tracy McCabe Stewart - Contemporary Fiber

I am reducing prices on my work for the remainder of 2009-Read more here

I am featuring a piece of my work every day or so through the end of the year.  Here’s today’s piece:

"Canyon" (c) 2006 by Tracy McCabe Stewart

“Canyon”

2006

By Tracy McCabe Stewart

12″x12″

2010 price: $220

2009 Price: $160

Hand dyed silks and cottons, painted tree bark, ammonite.

Machine quilted and stretched over canvas

Email me with any questions or higher resolution photos

I didn’t feel like posting photos today.  it’s a bit dreary in Chicago today, so I thought I’d post something uplifting. 

I absolutely love this organization.  They are about bringing peace through music.    Here’s a great video.  This one featuring musicians from Africa, India, Ireland and the Middle East and probably a few I’m forgetting.  Bono even makes an appearance to do some vocals.  Enjoy!

http://www.playingforchange.com/episodes/8/War_No_More_Trouble

I am reducing prices on my work for the remainder of 2009-Read more here

I am featuring a piece of my work every day or so through the end of the year.  Here’s today’s piece:

"Antlers II" (c) 2008 by Tracy McCabe Stewart

“Antlers II”

2008

By Tracy McCabe Stewart

33”lx24”w

Hand dyed, painted and commercial cottons. Machine quilted.

2010 price: $1200

2009 price: $890

I have also been working away at a new heron piece.  Here are some pictures of the process:

I start by having an outline of the shapes of the birds cut out in batting.  I then fuse on a base fabric, in this case black and start cutting and fusing on individual feathers.  I build them up in layers.  Here I am using a hand dyed fabric of mine.  Here are the larger tailfeathers.

larger feathers are fused on individually

From there I cut out individual stringier breeding plumage and add those individually:

individual feathers for breeding plumage

Here’s the whole bird.  I have yet to add legs, eyes and beak color.  I will be shading with colored pencils and paintsticks to add depth, as well.  I’ll post more as I go:

Topographical Series III (c) 2006 by Tracy McCabe Stewart

2006

31 1/2″w x 40″l

This piece was designed from an enlargement of a  photo I took of a fissure in a granite boulder.  The photo was taken during a hike up Cadillac Mountain in Maine.  

 Hand dyed and commercial cottons.  Machine quilted.

2010 price: $1890-

2009 price: $1525- 

This piece was included in

“Hand Woven, Hand Dyed: Fiber in the Spirit of the Silk Road ”

Email me for more information or higher resolution photos.

I am reducing prices on my work for the remainder of 2009-Read more here

I am featuring a piece of my work every day or so through the end of the year.  Here’s today’s piece:

2006
46″ l x 30″w
hand dyed/hand painted silks and cottons, commercial cottons, stones, fossils, shells, paintsticks.

Machine quilted.

2010 Price: $2070-

2009 Price: $1545-

Email me for more information or for higher resolution photos

I am reducing prices on my work for the remainder of 2009-Read more here

I am featuring a piece of my work every day or so through the end of the year.  Here’s today’s piece:

"Bark Series II"

“Bark Series II”

2006

By Tracy McCabe Stewart

32″lx16″w

2010 price: $770

2009 price: $575

This quilt was created by hand dyeing fabrics, sewing multiple layers in to the bark formations and cutting away each tiny area of the top layer of “bark”.  Corroded metal is enclosed behind netting and painted rocks added.

Hand dyed and commercial cottons, rocks, corroded metal. Machine quilted

Included in: “Threads of Imagination” exhibiting at the Visions Art Quilt Gallery, San Diego, CA.

Email me for more information or for higher resolution photos

For the remainder of 2009 I will be featuring a piece of my work each day or so on my blog.  Here’s today’s piece: 

“Bark Series I”

51″hx16″w

2006

By Tracy McCabe Stewart

Hand Dyed and commercial cottons, fossils.  Machine quilted.

2010 price $1225

Price through 2009: $915

Email me for more information or for higher resolution photos

I am reducing prices on my work for the remainder of 2009-Read more here

SOFA 2009 continued:

Here are more photos of SOFA 2009:

A beautiful piece by Tammy Garcia represented by the Blue rain Gallery out of Santa Fe, NM:

mixed media piece from Sant Fe Gallery Blue Rain

Another gorgeous piece:

Mixed media Sculpture by Peter Powning

I loved these glass pieces they were beautifully layered.  They looked like they had just been dug up from an archaeological site.

Crusty glass piece by Deanna Clayton

Here’s a shot of the inside.  I LOVE these!

Deanna Clayton

another amazing glass artist:

Cast glass by Charles Miner

and here are some other fabulous wood artists:

George Petersen Wood Carving

and Michael Peterson:

Michael Peterson wood piece

The ceramics below were astounding; carved and decorated with burnt horsehair.

ceramics by Jeff Margolin

I ran into Jeanne Beck while I wa at the show and got her to pose with her gorgeous fiber pieces.  I had to shoot them from an angle:

The amazing Jeanne Beck posing with her work

Finally, I saw these great kites by artist Michael Thompson  from a Chicago store called Pagoda Red:

Kites by Michael Thompson

Here’s another:

kite by Michael Thompson

Here’s a little view to end with of the lake and the Chicago skyline:

looking out the windows of Navy Pier

"Thorn Series I" copyright 2006 by Tracy McCabe Stewart

“Thorn Series I”

2006

by Tracy McCabe Stewart

Hand dyed and commercial cottons, fabric paint.  Machine quilted.

2010 price: $1500

2009 price:  $1130

I have spent the last year in the art world with a pretty scattered focus.  Most of the year has been spent  making specific work for shows and events.  This hasn’t really set well with me; I want to make work that feel true to my artistic voice and worry about who is going to buy it later, rather than trying to make work that I think is “sellable” including matching the price point that my galleries tend to sell within.  The latter hasn’t worked well for me on an artistic level , or even, especially, in sales.

I have decided that I want to spend the next calendar year exploring some surface design techniques like vat dyeing,  and making a body of work based on winged creatures, primarily wading birds, and sharing those explorations through my website and blog.  At the end of the year I will reevaluate where  and how I want  to show my pieces.   I want my concentration on mastering new surface design techniques and more deeply exploring my artistic voice.  It’s a much narrower focus for me that really feels right.

As part of honing my focus, it feels like a good time for some of my older work to move on to new homes.  I want to pare down the pieces that I currently have stored here. 

To that end, I am going to reduce the prices on the majority of my work for the rest of 2009 by 25%.

I normally price my work at $1.50 per square inch.  For 2009, I will price my work at $1.12 per square inch.  All of my work is posted on my main website-click the gallery button on the left side of the page.   You can calculate from the measurements listed or email me about any work that you are interested in and I’ll do the math   I am open to payments, and may be open to an art swap as well.    

There are some pieces that are either traveling for long periods in exhibitions or are works that are the basis for larger series I’m planning in the future. 

Excluded pieces are:

“Herons”

Any Lascaux Series pieces

and Evening Meditation (it’s traveling for another year with SAQA@20)

I will feature a piece every day until the end of the year on my blog. 

Thanks and happy shopping

My pals Shelley, and Leah and I went with some other friends down to the fabulous Sculptural Objects and Functional Art (SOFA) show held at Navy Pier in Chicago.  The show was about 1/4 smaller this year.  They went really heavy on the glass this year as well.  I did manage to see almost all of my favorite artists’ work there.  Here are some pictures.  More to come.

There were a series of these  sculptures- by Keld Moseholm I really liked them:

Mixed Media Sculpture

I’ve seen this next artist a few times  Steffan Dam.  These marvelous sea life creations are within panes of glass:

Sea life creations in glass This artist, Barbro Aberg had the most amazing ceramics!amazing ceramics

I am a huge William Morris fan.  Here is an amazing tribal piece that was included in the show:

Glass by William Morris

This piece made from rusted metal by Mary Giles completely entranced me:

Rust piece by Mary Giles

Here’s a detail:

Another artist I absolutely adore is Gilles Payette:

glass sculpture by Gilles Payette

One of the most amazing artists at SOFA is Lesley Richmond.  She uses a fiber process that combines eating away some of the fabric and then uses metal pigments on them.  The results are exquisite, my picture, not so much:

Here’s a detail of one of her pieces:

Detail Lesley richmond piece

and some gorgeous thread painting by Carol Shinn:

Work by Carol Shinn

Ther was some beautiful wood carving by Milo Mirabelli:

Wood carving by Milo Mirabelli

and some really lovely glass work by Eoin Breadan:

Glass work by Eoin Breadan

I loved this horse sculpture and even talked with the artist for a few minutes.  She does these sculptures with her partner.  The artists are   Kirk H. Slaughter and Elisabett Gudmann

Horse Sculpture

here’s another one of their beautiful sculptures:

Another great sculpture

Here is one of Elisabett Gudman’s  gorgeous metal pieces.  She makes the most amazing colored metal patinas!

etched metal piece

 more photos later!

I had my 15 minutes of fame when my piece, “Herons”  ended up on the channel 7 news or the Sunday version of Good Morning America-I never did find out which.  Very exciting!

"Herons" (c) 2008 by Tracy McCabe Stewart

 It was a fabulous show!  Here’s some of the pieces:

Shelley  put in this lovely piece:

My friend Shelley Brucar's great window piece

Maggie Weiss had a few pieces in the show.  here’s one using sheers and raw applique:

a great piece by Maggie Weiss

The fabulous Mary Jo Bowers working in some new colors on this gorgeous piece:

a wonderful piece by Mary Jo Bowers

I really love the fractured technique that Val used on this beauty:

I love this piece by Val Rodelli

ere’s a beautiful work by Sabrina Cassidy:

Gingko piece by Sabrina Cassidy

I loved the ceramic heads on this great piece by Cathy Mendola:

Mixed media piece by Cathy Mendola

Gerry’s piece got knocked askew by the fans.  I hope you can still tell how pretty it is:

mixed media piece by Gerry Macsai

Roz used every needle technique in the book on this beauty:

a beautiful triptych by Roz DeBoer

Gale Wessel made this piece based on techniques she learned in Maggie weiss’ class:

Gale wessel won the botanic challenge with this piece

as usual, I love this entry by Barbara Schneider-I rarely see anything of hers that I don’t love!

A gorgeous piece by Barbara Schneider

Here's a great piece by Virginia Cruz Carlson

Here’a beautiful piece by Debbie Plato based on cliffs near her home in England:

Here's a fantastic piece by Debbie Plato

here’s a great one from pat Kroth: