Opening Reception at the PA Arts Experience Gallery

We had a great opening reception for “Sue Reno - Recent Fiber Works” and “Karen Paust - Edge of the Meadow” at the PA Arts Experience Gallery this past Friday evening.  Here I am striking a pose with my newly completed In Dreams I Saw the Colors Change, left, and In Dreams I Climbed the Cliffs.

The Gallery is on the ground floor of the beautifully restored historic Marketview Arts Building in downtown York, PA.

It has good display spaces and excellent lighting, and I am very pleased with how well my work looks hanging there.  Above is Ginger, left, and Silk Mill #1, right.  Ginger is just glowing on this wall, thanks to all the Mysore silks I used in it--I received a lot of compliments and questions about it. 

I was fortunate in being scheduled for the same month as the talented Karen Paust. Her intricate nature themed beadworks and woodland paintings were a pleasure to examine, and we received many comments on the synergy between our bodies of work.  Above is Bleeding Heart and a display of Karen’s work.

Here is Karen, on the left, next to her incredible beadwork neckpiece on the dress form, and myself, posing in front of my Plume Poppy.  We did not plan to coordinate our outfits!  Plume Poppy looks pretty magnificent in this space--it’s a large work, and needs room to be seen at full advantage.

And here is my Columbine, with another of Karen’s neckpieces. 

I hope you enjoyed this sampling of the exhibit.  It will be up through December 3--hours are here.  I am giving an Artist’s Talk this Saturday, November 9th at 11:00 a.m.  If you are in the area I hope you consider stopping by.  You can go to Central Market afterwards:

Exhibit at the PA Arts Experience Gallery

I would like to extend an invitation to visit the Pennsylvania Arts Experience Gallery, 37 West Philadelphia St., York, PA, for the November exhibit.  I will be exhibiting Recent Works, including some new pieces shown for the first time, and Karen Paust will be showing “Edge of the Meadow”. 

The opening reception is this coming Friday, November 1st, from 5:30 - 9:00 p.m., in conjunction with York’s First Fridays event.  If you can’t make it then, perhaps you can come for my Artist Talk on Saturday, November 9th at 11:00 a.m.

The Pennsylvania Arts Experience is a non-profit arts organization promoting the arts along the scenic river valleys of southeastern Pennsylvania,  committed to establishing an internationally recognized arts destination.  I’ve been a member since its inception years ago, and am very pleased to be exhibiting in our beautiful gallery space in the renovated historic Marketview Arts Building.

Cyanotypes in “How to Decorate and Embellish Your Fabrics”

Images from several of my art quilts are featured in a recently released book, How to Decorate and Embellish Your Fabrics by Laurie Wisbrun.

There’s a detail from Columbine on the right center of the cover.

More work is shown in the section on Cyanotype, written by Christina McFall.  Christina approached me about providing images because of our shared passion for working with the cyanotype process.  You can read about Christina’s creative endeavors in her blog Meadowlarking.  She has recently moved to Germany and is also highlighting glorious photos of things that catch her eye in Berlin. 

The work in the top left of the page spread is by Suzanne Harlow, and then proceeding clockwise, it features Poke Salad:

Two images from Big Root Geranium:

And a detail from The Organic Garden:


My thanks to Christina and Laurie and all involved in this book project.  It’s always a pleasure to share my work and my enthusiasm for cyanotype with a wider audience.

Upcoming Exhibits - Houston and Chandler

Lots of excitement in the weeks ahead, as my work will be on display in some wonderful venues.  The center of the quilt universe will be in Houston, TX for Quilt Market, October 27 - 29, and The International Quilt Festival,  November 1 - 4.   The invitational Studio Art Quilts Associates exhibit “Seasonal Palette” will be unveiled at the Festival, including my work “The Organic Landscape”.  The exhibit will hang in a special hard wall gallery space. Each quilt will be accompanied by a gallery book with pictures, text, and samples detailing the process by which each artist created their work.  The roster of artists involved in this project is pretty fabulous, and it should be an outstanding exhibit!  There will also be a catalogue available, and gallery talks will take place Friday, November 2nd at 11:00 and Saturday, November 3rd at 2:00.

I’ll put “The Organic Landscape” up on my website after the debut, but for now there’s a teaser detail, above, and you can track back the work in progress by clicking the Seasonal Palette tab at the top of the blog. 


Also at Houston, my Columbine will be part of the “In Full Bloom” Exhibit.  There’s a lot of wonderful texture in this one, with cyanotypes on silk, and silk, cotton, and wool patchwork.  Like most textile works it is best appreciated in person so I am delighted to have this opportunity to share it.
 

My Watt & Shand #9 will be part of the “Tactile Architecture” Exhibit.  All three exhibits will travel on the  Quilt Festivals in Cincinnati, OH and Long Beach CA in 2013.

Watt & Shand #9 is also included in the feature article on this series, The Structures in the October issue of The Quilt Life magazine, on news stands now. 


My Houston cup runneth over with the inclusion of two of my macro photographs in “The Quilters Eye” exhibit.  I’m keeping them under wraps for the moment as well by showing a similar photo, above, but they were previously published on my Facebook and Instagram accounts.   Instagram is my newest passion; if you are also there, feel free to follow me @suereno.  I post lots of insects, flowers, landscapes, and architecture shots, and get boundless inspiration from the beauty of the images that I scroll through each day in my feed. 


I am equally excited and honored that my Squirrel and Locust is part of “Art Quilts XVII: Integrating a Paradox”, opening Nov. 2, 2012  and running through Jan. 19. 2013 at the  Chandler Center for the Arts, Chandler AZ.  This is a premier venue, and again I am in the company of some amazing fiber/quilt artists.  Stella Belikiewicz has done a excellent blog post about the exhibit; you can read and enjoy it  on her blog, The Art of Inclusion.  Thanks for your work in putting this together, Stella!

Two Cyanotype Quilts Featured in “The Quilt Life”

I’m thrilled to share that two of my art quilts with cyanotype imagery are featured in the August 2012 issue of The Quilt Life magazine.  They  illustrate the article “Solar Powered Surface Design” by Irene Berry. Also featured are quilts by other artists working with cyanotype - Sandra Sider, Jane Walton, Tafi Brown, and Carol Newby.   I am honored to be in such distinguished company!

Shown are Columbine:

Columbine

And Plume Poppy:

Plume Poppy

It’s a very good article, a basic primer on the process with references to resources, including my supplier of choice, Blueprints On Fabric (no affiliation except as a longtime satisfied customer). And of course, there’s a wealth of other information and quilty goodness in this issue, so be sure to get yours either online or in the bookstore/fabric store.

I never set out to become a cyanotype expert, I just was intrigued enough by the process to give it a try.  Once I did, I was smitten, and driven to keep experimenting.  I’m a long way from exhausting the possibilities, either in making prints or incorporating them into my quilt designs.  How lucky am I, to be doing the work I love, and to be able to share it?  I wish you all the same.

Columbine Acceptance - In Full Bloom

Columbine

I am happy to share that my work, Columbine, has been accepted into the special exhibit “In Full Bloom”, which will debut at the International Quilt Festival in Houston, TX, November 1-4, and then travel to Cincinnati, OH and Long Beach, CA in 2013.

Columbine, detail 2

This was my first time applying to this exhibit, but it seemed like a good potential fit as much of my work is botanically based, and I am really thrilled to have been included.  Of all the entries, only 28 were chosen.

Columbine, detail 2

This quilt has four cyanotype panels on silk, and the patchwork is a mix of silks and cottons.  It's one of those that really needs to be seen in person, to catch the sheen of the silks and the texture of the stitching.

Here’s the blue columbine plant that was the inspiration for this quilt, as well as the source material for the cyanotype prints.  It arrived as a volunteer from points unknown in my asparagus bed years ago, and as it is happy there I let it be.  The timing is good, as it blooms when the asparagus is ready for picking, so I get to admire it up close and personal for weeks each spring.

Blue Columbine Plant

Columbine and Plume Poppy acceptance for AQS Lancaster

I’m very happy to share that two of my art quilts, Columbine and Plume Poppy, have been accepted for the AQS Quilt Show and Contest in Lancaster, PA, March 14-17, 2012.  This is my hometown show, which makes it even more exciting.  I’m really looking forward to seeing some of my friends and fellow art quilters when they come to town.  It’s held in the Lancaster County Convention Center, which is part of the repurposed Watt & Shand building that’s been an obsession of mine for some time (see my series of ten art quilts about the building renovation here.) 
Columbine is a newer work, and this will be its first outing to an exhibit.  Plume Poppy is BIG - 81"h x 74"w - and  really needs to be seen in person to appreciate the scale. 

If you are planning on coming to Lancaster, there will be an unique opportunity to see ALL of the amazing Esprit collection quilts at the Lancaster Quilt and Textile Museum during the show week.  More information is here.

Art Quilts made with Indian Silks

Since I’ve been posting a series of my mid-70’s vintage India photos, in preparation for a return trip to have adventures and procure textiles, I wanted to share more of the impetus for the trip--the beautiful textile works made possible by the exquisite silks of India.  I have a particular fondness for silks manufactured in the Mysore region of Karnataka, India.  The were my first introduction to silk--not a fabric common in my childhood--and remain my favorite because of their luminescence and “hand”, the way they feel and drape.  I posted previously about the silks, and a factory in Bangalore that produces them, here.  Today I am featuring just a few of the works I have made using them.  All of the pictures enlarge when you click on them, and the links take you to my website where there are detail views.

Poke Salad was the first quilt I made using the cyanotype process that I have come to love and rely upon for much of my imagery. The center panel is very complex, with a variety of leaves depicted and enhanced by hand embroidery.  I wanted to enhance the panel with simple shapes and a wealth of color, and the Mysore silks worked out perfectly.  Because of their luster and intensity, all the colors play nicely together without losing their separate identity.

Sweetgum in Autumn is another of my earlier works, again using a cyanotype image that I hand embroidered.  Sweetgum trees are unique in that their autumn foliage can vary on any individual tree from yellows and reds, through to oranges and even purple tones. I used those colors of silks to construct informal log-cabin style blocks that bring the deep sparkle of the oblique autumn sunlight into the piece.

In Royal Paulownia, I again used a log cabin format to construct blocks, this time mixing the silks with handspun and hand-woven Indian cottons to provide a wonderful contrast of tones and textures.

For Reed Run, I kept the construction uncomplicated, and let the silks and the hand-woven cotton, along with a deep, rich woolen, reflect the serenity of a walk in the deep woods along a sparkling stream. 

Silks add depth and character to the random patchwork that forms part of the construction of my huge Plume Poppy.

Purple and green silks , along with hand-wovens and fabrics that I hand painted, are an integral part of one of my newest works, Columbine.

I hope you have enjoyed this mini tour of my art quilts, and invite you to visit my website for many more examples of how high quality textiles like Mysore silks form an integral part of my body of work.

New Work - Columbine

  Early spring seems like a propitious time to unveil images of my latest work,Columbine, part of my ongoing series The Garden.  I was able to capture the delicacy of the flowers and seedpods using the cyanotype process on silk, and I used many silk solids and plaid fabrics in the pieced sections.

 The lustre of the silk came through well in the photos, as did the texture from the intensive stitching. 
I'm very happy with the color combinations and transitions in this piece.

 The columbines in my garden are blue flowered volunteers that drifted over from a neighbor's yard.  They pop up in unexpected places and they are always welcome.  The foliage is currently emerging, and I am impatiently awaiting the return of the blossoms.

You can track back this piece as a work in progress by clicking on "Columbine" under Labels in the right sidebar.

As always, thanks for reading, and I hope your spring, or fall, is filled with natural wonders.

Columbine Update

I've been working on the palette for Columbine, adding in these fabrics, above and below:

The shiny strips that didn't reproduce well in these quick photos are a Mysore silk, with a purple warp and a gold woof, that is just gorgeous. These strips join the ones I did earlier, below, along with the columbine prints I made. You can always track back this work in progress by clicking on Columbine under labels in the right sidebar.

While I've been hard at work accomplishing many things, other sentient beings in the vicinity have a different idea of time well spent:

This handsome boy is yet another in the series of Not My Cat; he likes to hang out here and get his belly rubbed. The locust tree is starting to drop just a few leaves--it's not fall yet, but a change is coming....

More Columbine Prints

The weather here in PA has been just outstanding, and I'm busy making prints and painting fabric. I made a few more cyanotypes for the Columbine quilt; above is a shot of the plant material on the treated fabric, out in the sun for a timed exposure. You can see a reflection of the nearby zelkova tree, and my own reflection on the left, in the glass cover sheet.

And above is a partial view of the finished print. It's on a silk/cotton blend with a lovely sheen. The earlier prints captured the flowers in bloom, while these have the seed capsules.

I'm working on four large projects more or less simultaneously right now and having an enormous amount of fun in the process. These long days are very energizing.

Columbine, New Work in Progress

I'm back at work in the studio, and it's making me very happy and energized. I've got a new work-in-progress, based on some columbine cyanotypes. They came out very crisp, and the flowers are so transparent and lovely.

Above is a quick snapshot of the partial color palette. The print fabric is the last of the remnants from a dress I had, and loved, in second grade. Yes, that was some time ago, but I remember it well. The fabric is in excellent condition, as it was a very good quality cotton to begin with. Back when people bought fabric for dressmaking as a matter of course, the standards were much higher than they are now for fabrics made for the low-end craft trade. The pale fabric with the dots and splotches is a sugar dye from Deb Lacativa. I don't use a lot of hand-dyes in my work, but hers are unique and I'm finding them very useful. The pale purple and green splotchy strips are a sateen I handpainted, and the shiny purples and greens are silks brought back from India.

I am very particular about the fabric I use, I have a stash that goes back for decades, and I can remember where nearly every piece came from and why/how it was acquired and used previously. I'm mainly concerned with color, value and texture when I'm putting together a palette for a new work, but the history of each fabric also weighs into the somewhat arcane selection process. Pieces like that second-grade dress print get me all fired up.