Considering Quilts 2004:
Fiber Artists Explore the Quilt Form

Atlantic Center at Harris House
214 S. Riverside Drive
New Smyrna Beach, FL 32168
386-423-1753

April 3 - May 15
Reception with the Artists, April 3 (4 - 7 PM)

Artists from the USA, Canada, Australia, Belgium, England, Germany, Japan and Africa have responded to the call for fiber artists to enter Considering Quilts 2004: Fiber Artists Explore the Quilt Form. Forty works including small wall hangings, wearables and freestanding sculptures, juried by Jette Clover and Teddy Pruett, will be on exhibit.

April 30 (10 AM -6 PM)
May 1 (10 AM - 7 PM)
Merchant's Market
Harris House Annex, 123 Douglas Street
Entry fee: $2

Reception with the Artists and Merchants, May 1 (4 - 7 PM)
Visit our Merchant's Market in the Harris House Annex featuring several vendors from Florida and Georgia. Then view the fiber art quilts in the Harris House Gallery at no charge.

Lectures

April 22 (7 PM)
Art Quilt History 101 or "Everything I ever wanted to know, I learned on the internet"
Maxine Farkas
Black Box Theater, Atlantic Center for the Arts, 1414 Art Center Avenue

A look at the development of the art quilt movement in the US and the impact that the Internet has had on techniques, attitudes and showing the work. Includes slides, a quilt or two, some history and lots of gossip.

April 24 (7 PM)
Dumpster Diving for the Sake of Art
Pamela Allen
Black Box Theater, Atlantic Center for the Arts, 1414 Art Center Avenue

Twenty-five years ago, Allen quit her job, went to art school (something she had always wanted to do!) and now spends her days in the studio painting, decoupaging, collaging, assembling, carving and thinking up all manner of silly creative ways of
recycling urban detritus.

May 13 (7 PM)
Creative Courage or "Taking the Leap"
Rayna Gillman
Harris House Annex, 123 Douglas Street

Gillman will show some slides of her earlier quilts and then the progression to art quilts.
She cautions, "The minute we begin to create for an 'audience' we lose respect for ourselves and begin churning out product." This will be an interactive lecture with plenty of time for discussion.

April 21 - 26
ACA RETREAT
Allen & Farkas on the Far Side
Instructors: Maxine Farkas & Pamela Allen
Tuition: ACA members $325 class w/lunch, $300 room and board at ACA
Non-members $350 class w/lunch, $325 room and board at ACA
Classes Limited - Sign up Soon!

This is an Atlantic Center for the Arts residency retreat for fiber artists who will work with instructors Maxine Farkas and Pamela Allen. Students choose between Art Quilt 101 by Farkas, as published in a series in Quilting Arts magazine, or My Quilt, My Rules! with a dash of Fabulous Fabric Faces by Allen. Simply Quilts on HGTV has featured both artists.

Students will arrive in time for dinner and a lecture on April 21 and depart after breakfast on April 26. Twenty-six rooms with private baths are available at ACA. Ten class spaces are allotted for local residents who do not wish to stay at Atlantic Center for the Arts.

Art Quilt 101, a stepping off point for fiber artists, is a translation of the written series to the real world for Farkas. The fourth article in the series will be published just before classes begin. If you've read her articles but need hands-on to learn, this is the course for you! This workshop is about stretching, experimenting, and redefining what works and what doesn't . . . for you! (quiltart.com/gallery/farkas.html)

My Quilt, My Rules! Canadian artist Allen comes to us, just before leaving for Africa, to teach her course about developing imagery and personal iconography with the "rules" being secondary to the process. The major rule is "do it the way you want to do it!" Fabulous Fabric Faces is all about taking pieces of various fabrics and creating a portrait; it's fabric collage with a twist. (pamelart.homestead.com)

Workshops

April 9 (9:30 AM - 4:30 PM)
Introduction to Polymer Clay
Instructor: Karen Woods
Tuition includes lunch: $65 ACA members; $75 non-members

Discover the potential of polymer clay by making canes, using metallics, working with mica shift techniques and finishing techniques. Woods is past president of the Florida Tropical Weavers State Guild. Students may choose one or two days of clay works.

April 10 (9:30 AM - 4:30 PM)
Image Transfer to Polymer Clay
Instructor: Karen Woods
Tuition includes lunch: $65 ACA members; $75 non-members

Woods helps explore multiple ways to transfer color and black and white images to clay. Use finished items as jewelry, buttons or as embellishments on quilts.

May 7 (9:30 AM - 4:30 PM)
To Bead or Not to Bead
Instructor: Amy Koester
Tuition includes lunch: $65 ACA members; $75 non-members

Beads add sparkle, dimension and texture to fiber creations. Join this fun class for a hands-on experience in bead embellishment. Whether you are a seamstress, a quilter, or just interested, you will be inspired to new creativity. View Koester's work at BrightThreads.com.

May 13 - 15 (9 AM - 5 PM)
Its All About the Surface

Three workshops featuring Rayna Gillman from New Jersey and Vikki Pignatelli from Ohio. Gillman (galleryfxv.com/Rayna.html and studio78.net) offers two opportunities to work with surface designs. Pignatelli (home.att.net/~vikkipm) is the author of Crazy about Curves and claims she can teach anyone to sew in curves easily and like it. Simply Quilts featured both artists on HGTV.

May 13-14 (9 AM - 5 PM)
Surface Design with Found Objects**
Instructor: Rayna Gillman
Tuition includes lunch: $150 ACA members; $165 non-members

Take a fresh look at surface design as the starting point for an art quilt. We will do spontaneous printing using a silkscreen, textile inks and any of the following materials: freezer paper, newsprint, paper towels, and textured items from around the house or the hardware store. Working experimentally, you will come away with your own unique fabric to use in your work.
** As seen on HGTV's Simply Quilts

May 15 (9 AM - 5 PM)
Introduction to Image Transfer
Instructor: Rayna Gillman
Tuition includes lunch: $100 ACA members; $115 non-members

Learn a variety of techniques for transferring photos, drawings, newspapers or magazine images to fabric or paper. Using toner-based photocopies or laser prints, ink jet prints, magazines and other printed materials, non-toxic solvents, water-based mediums, and your imagination, you'll uncover another technique for adding complexity to your artwork.

May 15 (9 AM - 5 PM)
Crazy about Curves
Instructor: Vikki Pignatelli
Tuition includes lunch: $100 ACA members; $115 non-members

Crazy about Curves is a combination piecing/appliqué method of constructing even the sharpest curves and narrowest points within a quilt design with total ease and precision. This technique is especially appealing to those who love the grace and beauty of curved designs but think these projects are too difficult to construct with conventional methods.

May 8 (9:30 AM - 4:30 PM)
Zen of Free Motion
Instructor: Amy Koester
Tuition includes lunch: $65 ACA members; $75 non-members

Koester will guide students through the wonderful world of free motion sewing. Bring your own sewing machine and find out how easy it is to embroider, stipple, or run wild with straight and zigzag stitches.