Collages Found a Home

I'm pleased to say that my two collages were acquired, on the first day of the event, by the same generous patron. Thanks, Rose Mary! I know you will be happy with them.

This event raised over $8000 for the American Cancer Society yesterday. There is a lot of beautiful artwork still available today at Fiberart for a Cause. Go treat yourself!

Collage Mania!

I am a huge fan of Virginia Spiegel's work, and of her amazing organizational and fundraising skill. I have donated artwork in the past for Fiberart for a Cause, and I am happy to be participating in this year's Collage Mania event. I will quote Virginia to give you some of the details:

"Collage Mania opens this coming Monday, May 5 and continues Tuesday, May 6. You can see the 235 collages donated by more than 100 talented fiber artists from around the world here: http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/CollageMania081.html

Of course, 100% of the proceeds are donated directly to the American Cancer Society through Fiberart For A Cause. This isn't an auction. Rather all collages will be available, firstcome-first serve, for a minimum donation of $80 on Monday and for a minimum donation of $40 on Tuesday.If you are able to donate a little more, great! As a small incentive, I will be sending one of my collages to the patron who contributes the most to this fundraiser, either for a single collage or in aggregate. Of course, fundraising is the purpose of Collage Mania. But, almost as much, I hope you will look through the collages and perhaps discover an artist new to you and be inspired to add to your art collection."

My "The Last Hurrah #1", above, and "The Last Hurrah #2", below, are on page 10 of the site.

International Collage Exhbit goes live

The 10th International Collage Exhibit and Exchange has gone live, with an exhibit online and simultaneously at The Real Tart Gallery in Plymouth, New Zealand. The brainchild of artist Dale Copeland, this year's exhibit features the work of 159 artists from around the world. One collage from each artist is offered for sale, one will goes to a permanent collection in a museum--this year, The Amarillo Museum of Art in Texas--and 11 others are exchanged among the artists. This is my fourth year participating, and it continues to be a great experience.

Pictured above is my "The Last Hurrah #3", part of the Selling Exhibit, and below is "The Last Hurrah #4" which will go to the museum. Both are heliographic prints on cotton, stitched, painted, and mounted on mat board. Take some time to browse the exhibits and enjoy the breadth and depth of the work displayed.

Christmas fern

As I anxiously await the first crocuses and dwarf bulbous irises, which should be appearing once the current snow/ice cover melts off, I continue to appreciate those bits of vegetation that stay green all winter, like the christmas fern. I took the above picture just a few days ago, at the trail around the lake where they grow wild, and where it's easy to spot them in the preponderance of brown. I also grow a few in my perennial beds, and they are a perennial theme in my work.

This small quilt features a cyanotype on silk, handpainted fabrics, and hand beadwork. It is sewn to another piece of handpainted cotton, which is then mounted on stretcher boards:

Here's another small silken quilt, mounted on mat board:

This is from The Last Hurrah series that I just finished and talked about in previous posts. I decided to keep this one for myself:

I made this heliographic print on silk, shown here as it was printing, a few years ago and pinned it to my design wall, where it remains. It's so lovely just as it is that I haven't figured out any way to enhance it yet:

Collages for a Cause

I've finished The Last Hurrah series of collages I've been working on, and am pleased to announce that two of them are going to Virginia Spiegel's Collage Mania fundraiser for Fiberart for a Cause. I've supported FFAC in the past with postcard donations, and am proud to do my part again with the collages.

"The Last Hurrah #1" and "The Last Hurrah #2" are heliographic prints on cotton, with stitching, paint, and tulle. The prints were made with leaves from a white mulberry tree. They measure 8.5" h x 6.5" w, and are mounted on mat board, dated, signed, and ready to frame.

When I picked the leaves for the prints last fall, it was just days before a killing frost, the last hurrah of Indian Summer. But I was also thinking about larger issues; I hope we are on the cusp of a change in attitude and leadership that will lead to improved environmental awareness. I hope that action will be taken to forestall the worst effects of global warming, and that we are not now witnessing the last hurrah for countless fauna and flora that could be lost to us.

Collages in Progress

I'm continuing to work on the prints that will become my collages for the International Collage Exchange. Here they are with the first round of stitching done. This has served to further define the leaf shapes, and to calm and unify the background.



Here are some white mulberry leaves, the subject of the prints above and the quilt in a previous post.

The Last Hurrah

For the past three years I've participated in The International Collage Exhibit and Exchange, formerly known as Baker's Dozen, run by Dale Copeland of New Zealand. The concept is simple; you make 13 collages and send them to Dale. One is exhibited physically and is for sale online, one joins a permanent collection (the host museum varies from year to year), and the rest are exchanged with the other participating artists.

The majority of the works are not fiber, but it seems to me more fiber artists participate each year. I've received some wonderful works in the exchanges, and have had a lot of fun with the project. I started working on the 2008 exchange late last fall, when I made a set of heliographic prints I'm calling The Last Hurrah. This is a multipurpose label; I picked the leaves at the end of Indian Summer, with winter knocking at the door, but I was also thinking about the political and environmental climate. I'm hoping it's the last hurrah for the former, and not for the later.

All of my previous collages have dealt loosely with my personal environment and global warming. You can see them at my site, suereno.com, under Collages.

The image above shows some of the prints drying in the sun. The leaves in these are plume poppy and white mulberry, two of my favorites. The colors are very bright, almost garish, but this is just a starting point. Today I got out the prints and started stitching around the leaf shapes. I'm still contemplating what else I will do in their transformation from cloth to finished collage.