JENNIFER GOULD

The Nuveen Community Center for the Arts in Montague has an exhibit on now entitled "Art Dolls:  Reflection of the HumanForm" in which I have a group of dolls.  The show will be upthrough Sat., June 16.  The Arts Center if located at 8697Ferry St, Montague, MI 49437.  The arts center is aneducational branch of the Arts Council of Whitelake.  (231) 894-ARTS (2787)http://www.artscouncilofwhitelake.org/nuveen 
http://www.artscouncilofwhitelake.org/nuveen

Jennifer Gould

435 Woodburn, SW
Byron Center MI 49315
616-878-1526

Please visit my website at www.JenniferGouldDesigns.com and
http://artdollstextilesjennifergould.blogspot.com/ to see my
art dolls, handprinted jackets and fabric.


Other artists in the exhibit are:

Andrea Arcello
Robby Cramer
Chris McKinley Dahl 
Barb Delello
Sarajane Fellini
Nancy Reagh Johnson
Alison Lang
Helen Percy Lystra
Sue Van Duine
Linda Wells

CONNECTIONS

SDA Michigan is all about connections. I know I crave connections with like minded people and suspect most of us do. We all live separate lives, but connect to others on many different levels. Because our state is so large, our connections to each other are made difficult. Not everyone is able to attend the SDA-Michigan meetings and workshops. Hopefully that will be changing for Northern and U.P. members with our  newest ambassador, Jean Pratt. I am looking for someone to accept a similar volunteer position for our western Michigan area. Anyone want to step up? It may be an unpaid position, but I can testify that the rewards are many. My life has been greatly enriched by the friendships and connections I have made through SDA Michigan.
In order to enhance the physical connections, I thought it might be interesting to meet some of our members through interviews that can be shared with all of us. If you would like to interview another member, or write about yourself for inclusion on the blog, please do so and send the interviews to our blogger, Lynn Krawczyk,(tatgirl207@earthlink.net), or to me, Susie (skrage2@att.net). Include pictures if you can. We always like connecting a face and images of work to a name.

Susie

Introducing Lynn Krawczyk

As you all probably know, Lynn is our SDA-Michigan blogger. She says she is addicted to blogging and when asked to take over, she jumped right in to handle ours.
Lynn started her profession career as a mechanical engineer. She continues to work as an engineer designing transmissions and comes from a family of auto workers.

Do you ever wonder how fiber people get started in the field? Especially those who don’t have an art background? Lynn’s exposure was during a time when she had a back injury and had to limit her activity. She watched a quilting program on HGTV about crazy quilts. When she was able, she went to the library and took out all of the books available (6 of them) and started working. 
Over time, Lynn’s shifted her interest toward making art quilts. Gradually the art quilts became more mixed media compositions. In fact, Lynn says she has been cutting up her old art quilts, sometimes into tiny pieces, and using them in her newer mixed media collage work.
Lynn’s early collages were quite small, (8 or 10” square) but recently she participated in a two person exhibit, Ragged Layers, at Huron Valley Art Center (with another SDA member, Jackie Lams) and made much larger work. Lynn collects and save anything she thinks might be useful in her collage work. She has even been known to use colored duct tape as part of the surface.
A bedroom of her home is her dedicated studio. She says the best feature is her print table with wheels and drop leaves. It allows her to move it as needed and to make it smaller when she needs to change her space. The worst feature is the mess she makes when she is in the midst of a project. She says she has 20 tons of paint and lots of fabric. I have often heard her say, “There is nothing a little paint won’t fix”.
You may wonder what Lynn does with so much paint. Besides her self admitted addiction to blogging, she also claims an addiction to thermofax screening. Earth tones are her favorite colors and Kona cotton her preferred fabric, “It makes such nice frayed edges when torn”. Although Lynn sometimes dyes her own fabric, she is not adverse to purchasing her favorite solid colors for use as a basis for screening.
Most of what Lynn does is self taught. She has only taken four classes to date. Her favorite teacher has been Carol Soderlund, who, she says, packs so much into a class.
When asked about the future of her work, Lynn says she is content for the moment exploring mixed media collage. Her goal is to refine her work to become more elegant. 
Lynn wear many hats. Besides being a collage/mixed media artist, she is an engineer, a teacher, a blogger, and an author. She has written many articles for a variety of magazines including Quilting Arts, Cloth Paper Scissors and Sew Somerset.
I cherish my friendship with Lynn. She has a dry wit, writes beautifully, is a profound thinker who expresses herself very well, a kind and loyal friend and a super enthusiastic 
and clever artist.
Visit Lynn on her blog (http://fibraartysta.blogspot.com/), her (website (http://www.fibraartysta.com/), or her Esty shop www.etsy.com/shop/FibraArtysta

Remnants Collage 12

Remnants Collage 15

Detroit River Art Scape

New Fiber Magazine

A new fiber magazine is now available! Marcia Young has started a new fiber magazine as an outgrowth of her blog. Fiber Art Now is a quarterly, and the spring issue was only its third. The magazine is  glossy and covers a wide variety of fiber. Young says it will not be a "how to" magazine. Here is the mission statement from their website:



At  Fiber Art Now, our mission is to connect and inspire the fiber arts & textiles community with the most compelling work in basketry, felting, knitting, needle arts, paper/book arts, dyeing, mixed media, surface design, quilting, sculpture, wearable art, weaving, collage, encaustic, mixed media and more.  We are a worldwide community in support of what we love.


Take a look at the website: www.fiberartnow.net, and get a peek at Carter Smith's 2011 fall fashion show.

IN THIS ISSUE SDA /SAQA Event ABOUT US Michigan SDA welcomes members in all media. We meet quarterly and share updates on our blog. We meet in homes of members and rotate the area of the state in which we meet. If you are interested in hosting a meeting, please contactSusie Krage    Visit Our Blog: Click Here From Susie Krage, SDA Michigan Area Representative: SDA/SAQA Michigan Event Lynn Krawczyk, our SDA Michigan blogger, has recently accepted the position of co-chair of the Studio Art Quilters Association (SAQA) with Anne Hiemstra. Congratulations, Lynn!  We have put our heads together and decided it would be a great idea to have a joint gathering. We are all fiber lovers and there is probably a lot of overlap of memberships. So, get out your picnic gear and mark your calendar. The big day is June 24, at 2 p.m at the home of Susie Krage, the SDA Representative.  (1731 Seminole St., Detroit, 48214, in historic Indian Village.) Please bring a dish to share, your favorite beverage, and a single selection of your work for show and tell. RSVP to Susie at skrage2@att.net or 313-922-8112.  Susie Krage  Michigan Area Representative skrage2@att.net Contact Us Contact your Area Representative: Susie Krage EMAIL Contact Surface Design Association  EMAIL Or telephone: 707-829-3110 Surface Design Association The Surface Design Association is a member organization uniting professional and emerging artists through the art and practice of surface design. Our mission is to educate our members and the public regarding the innovative use of fiber art techniques and to showcase the work of our members.

State of Art in the D

Don’t miss this important discussion on the visual arts scene in Detroit and the lives of the artists making it all happen. Discover how they are using their creative energy, talent and love for the city to help transform it.

The panel, first in a series of three for the spring term, will feature:

Michael Hodges - Fine Arts Columnist, The Detroit News

Katie Craig -  visual artist, Northend Studios mural

Ray Stanczak  - graffiti artist, Senior Art Director in the newsroom at The Detroit News

Gilda Snowden - visual artist,  Professor in the Fine Arts Department of the College for Creative Studies, 2009 Kresge Arts Grant recipient

Moderated by:

Lolita Hernandez – writer, Semester in Detroit and Residential College faculty

Hosted by:

University of Michigan Semester in Detroit Program and the University of Michigan Detroit Center

***** Thursday, May 17, 2012, 6-7:30 p.m. *****

at: the University of Michigan Detroit Center, corner of Mack and Woodward

All welcome

Free admission

Light refreshments

Parking available in the parking structure located behind the building; bring ticket stub for validation

Jennifer Gould

Friends,

I wanted  you to know about a show I'm having in Melbourne,
Australia, entitled "Leaf Change: Textile Figures," May 5-20
of my series of leaf-themed dolls in my Square Headed Women
series.  This is the second time I've exhibited in Melbourne
(last time was spring of 2009 in the textile invitational,
FABRICATE 09).  Both events were organized by Deborah
Blakeley who now has Zoneone Arts (see my website for the
link to it).  This show takes place at Open Drawer in
Toorak, a suburb of Melbourne.  Hopefully I will also be
working on a special "Miss Aussie" doll and pattern to sell
through Zoneone Arts.

You're also on my new email list of Far Away people who I,
unfortunately, how ever get to see--friends, relatives,
acquaintances.  I've decided that the only way for you to
know what I'm doing is an email of my shows and events.  So,
as usual, if you don't want to be on this list, please do
email me to take you off the list---definitely, no hard
feelings!  I know how annoying unwanted emails are.  Hope
you're doing well and enjoying life---I am!

Jennifer Gould

Call for entries:

The Jordan River Arts Council is seeking entries for their 2012 show, "RARE THREADS -fibersfantastic"  This is the 7th Northern Michigan fiber event and will open September 23, 2012.
Entries are due by July 27,2012.  For more information visit www.jordanriverarts.com

Quilt workshops:

Katie Pasquini Masopust will be at the Dennos Museum.  Please visit www.dennosmuseum.org to rigister.

Indigo Workshop...More information

Don't forget to sign up for the indigo workshop on June 9th. (See full description on the April 23rd blog entry, click here to go directly to the post). We will be working with small vats.  We suggested you bring fat quarters, however if you plan to stitch, clamp or wrap your fabric, larger pieces will work. For pole wrapping, heavier fabrics may not scrunch enough to fit completely in the vats. Light weight silks or cottons should be fine.

Here are some pieces I did in a vat typical of what we will be using. They are all silk scarves from Dharmatrading.com. There is time to order if you wish. If anyone has another source, please let me know and I will post it.

Susie

L to R  (before washing)

1. Habotai, manipulated & pole wrapped
2. Habotai, folded & secured with paper clips
3. Habotai,wrapped shapes at ends, knots tied in middle
4. Chiffon, wrapped marbles at ends, twisted
5. Silk velvet, scrunched & tied
6. Silk velvet, folded & clamped with odd shape