SAQA Studio Art Quilt Associates, Inc. Jo Volume 24,u No.2rnal Spring 2014 photo courtesy of QuiltNational of courtesy photo

Organelle (detail) by Betty Busby In this issue… see page 4 Featured artist: Betty Busby ...... 4 Member gallery...... 18 The making of Mask of Dark ...... 8 Piecework pioneers ...... 20 Why Quilts Matter...... 10 Copyright: It’s the law...... 25 Becoming a professional artist. . . . 14 Selections from Radical Elements. . . 28 SAQA Supporters ...... 16 Featured volunteer: Vou Best . . . . . 31 Thoughts from the president by Kris Sazaki

believe the in the next 2.5 years isn’t possible. so you can have show and tell. You Isecret to Studio One way to connect is through can plan a regional conference and Art Quilt Associ- SAQA’s online conferencing system. share budgets and venue floor plans ates’ continuing The SAQA board and committees onscreen. Members can give virtual success lies in our meet virtually on a monthly basis studio tours. These are just a few regions. Here’s using this system. If you’ve partici- suggestions. why. There are pated in one of SAQA’s mentorship If you are interested in meeting 42 regions worldwide. Twenty-one webinars, you’re familiar with how with other members of your region regions write their own blogs, and, this system works. Your region can using the conferencing system, this year, 21 regional exhibitions derive great benefits from holding contact your regional representatives. are being mounted. I just returned virtual meetings. They can get the ball rolling. There from Portland, Oregon, where I Virtual regional meetings are is no charge to regions for using the participated in that region’s first-ever especially valuable in regions that do conferencing system. regional conference. The one-day not hold regular in-person meet- If you don’t know who your conference included inspiring speak- ings. Some regions are geographi- regional reps are, you can find out ers, a regional SAQA exhibition, great cally spread out. Others have few through the SAQA website. Go to networking and good food. Now I’m members, and some are just getting www.saqa.com, then look under off to Florida, where SAQA members organized. Still others have small About Us/Who We Are/Regional are planning a regional conference for subregional groups and don’t meet as Representatives. 2015. There is some neat stuff going a full region. Whatever the situation, If you schedule a virtual regional on in our regions. a virtual meeting can bring all the meeting, I’d love to attend. Please let I am enjoying meeting members members of a region together. me know the date and time so I can from the various regions and work- Topics for virtual meetings are end- put it on my schedule. I hope to “see” ing with them to make their regions less. The conferencing system allows you soon! thrive. I do want to meet all of you, presenters to show their computer but personally visiting all 42 regions screens and use their web cameras,

From the As I was editing this issue, I was At the heart of SAQA is the art our editor struck by the array of opportunities members make and share. This issue available to members of Studio Art of the Journal is no exception. Check by Dana Jones Quilt Associates (SAQA). There are out the Member Gallery and get a so many ways that members take glimpse at one of our newest exhibi- on leadership roles from curating tions, Radical Elements. Enjoy a close- exhibitions to staffing them, from up look at the art of Betty Busby, this representing their regions to planning month’s featured artist. the annual conference, from showing All the work we do is grounded their work to encouraging others to in our past. Celebrating 25 years of do so. It is no wonder our organiza- SAQA provides a chance to look back tion is growing. at the beginnings of art quilting. “Piecework Pioneers: Artists Embrace

2 • SAQA Journal • Spring 2014 Report from the SAQA executive director by Martha Sielman

ou are the smoothly, staff the SAQA booths at to serve as a mentor to others staff- Yreason more than 20 quilt shows a year and ing SAQA booths and tables. Vou also Studio Art Quilt review applications for new Juried serves on the Special Event Planning Associates (SAQA) Artist Members. Committee and the Regional Grants is successful! We Take a look at the Gold Star Review Committee. Volunteers like have staff mem- Volunteer list on the website: www. Vou are what make SAQA great. bers who take saqa.com/joinUs.php?ID=394. It’s an We’re considering other ways to care of many of the necessary tasks of amazing list. If your name isn’t on it thank volunteers, such as special running this organization, but with- and should be, let me know. We want awards, We ♥ Our Volunteers mugs out your help SAQA would never be to be sure to thank you for your time and Volunteer of the Month. We are able to accomplish as much as we do. and effort. forming a committee to work with Volunteers make up the SAQA The board and staff have been volunteers and would love to hear Board of Directors. Our 73 regional talking about how much our volun- from you with your ideas. How would representatives are all volunteers, and teers mean to SAQA, and we want you most like to have your contribu- additional volunteers help run the to do more to recognize you. This tions recognized? regional meetings. Volunteers design issue of the Journal includes the first If you can help your regional rep- and curate our exhibitions, plan in a series of articles about volun- resentatives plan a program, if you our conferences, and spearhead our teers whose contributions have been have skills that could make things educational initiatives. Volunteers extraordinary. Vou Best of Seguin, run better for SAQA’s exhibitions or proofread the Journal, prepare our Texas, served as a regional representa- educational outreach, if you have a sales-tax filings and design our adver- tive for Texas. As a rep, she helped new idea for a SAQA initiative, send tising. They monitor our investments, organize the SAQA booth at the me an email, marthasielman@gmail. recruit new members and award International Quilt Festival in Hous- com. I’d love to hear from you! grants for regional activities. Volun- ton. Her organization strategy for the teers make sure our conferences run booth was so good, we’ve invited her

From the Quiltmaking” by Robert Shaw pro- For all of you who are wondering editor vides insight into the artists who laid if you can measure up to those who Correction the groundwork for today’s growing came before and those who are at by Dana Jones The featured artist article on Alicia and ever-changing world of art quilt- the top of their game in the art-quilt Merrett in the winter 2014 issue ing. Deborah Quinn Hensel intro- world, don’t miss Carole Staples’ arti- of the SAQA Journal said Alicia duces us to Shelly Zegart and her cle, “The Making of Mask of Dark.” had a quilt in a British exhibition documentary, “Why Quilts Matter.” Carole shares her intimate journey at the National Quilt Museum in Dorothy Raymond, wearing hats through self-doubt. Her experience Paducah, Kentucky, and that she led a workshop there. Her quilt was of both lawyer and artist, provides a will resonate with many of us. exhibited, but she did not attend no-nonsense reference on the nuts Enjoy this issue. Look for inspira- the exhibition and did not lead a and bolts of copyright in her piece, tion. Look for practical advice. Look workshop. The Journal regrets the “Copyright: It’s the Law.” for great art. error.

SAQA Journal • Spring 2014 • 3 Featured artist: Betty Busby by Cindy Grisdela

ature and science are at the tell a story about a little-known slice Nheart of Betty Busby’s art. Her of life, down to the cellular level. Her vividly colored and meticulously quilts are quite large. Growth Factor, detailed images of microscopic organ- which depicts a cross-section view of isms are striking from a distance yet a cellular process, is 37 inches x 64 encourage viewers to take a closer inches. look as they enter a different world. Perhaps equally important to her Microscopic images are artificially award-winning art is her fascina- colored because there’s no color in tion with materials and process. “I the microscope, Betty said. “That’s like to take a new type of thing and my reason for using any color I want do something with it,” she said. For to use,” she said. example, in Retia she used hand- Her approach recalls that of painter woven cottons, upholstery cording, Georgia O’Keeffe, who painted close- velvet and mohair. ups of flowers that forced viewers to To create the intricate pattern- look at a common natural phenome- ing in a piece like Organelle, which Betty Busby non in a new way. Variations of color was exhibited at the 2012 ArtQuilt works on Ginger Jar. and pattern combine in Betty’s work Elements exhibition in Wayne, to describe a process in motion and Pennsylvania, Betty painted colors

4 • SAQA Journal • Spring 2014 Above: Organelle 47 x 44 inches, 2011

Left: Retia 60 x 45 inches, 2012

onto nonwoven material and cut Island School of Design in 1974 with putting art first in life really resonated out organic shapes from it. Because a major in ceramics, she founded a with me,” she said. the material wasn’t woven, it didn’t ceramic-tile business in Los Angeles Although she lives in the South- unravel in the final composition. She and ran it for 18 years. Being self- west, she feels more attuned to the overlaid the shapes onto hand-dyed, financed in business, she had to make ocean and to an Asian aesthetic in her hand-painted silk, then enhanced do and make up solutions, she said. art, possibly as a result of studying the design with felting and extensive with Professor Kaneko. “That’s where threadwork to create the pattern and Getting started in fiber the polka dots in my work come texture she wanted. Currently, Betty In 1994, Betty sold the ceramic-tile from,” she added, noting Kaneko uses is exploring the properties of a loose business and moved to Albuquerque, dots frequently in his art. mesh-type material she found at a New Mexico, to raise her son in a Betty began entering her work in local shop. “It’s easy to manipulate house she shares with her sister. She’d quilt shows and winning awards, and unravel, and it produces a great always been interested in sewing, so such as Best of Show at the 2009 graphic pattern,” she said. she began exploring it more seriously Albuquerque Fiber Arts Fiesta and Betty traces her approach to materi- over the next 10 years. In 2004, Betty Best in Show at the 2009 Quiltscapes als to her early experience in busi- decided to create in fiber full time. at the Whistler House Museum in ness. After graduating from the Rhode “I realized that my true vocation Lowell, Massachusetts, among others. is to be a full-time artist,” she said. In recent years, Betty has reduced the A strong influence in her artistic life number of quilt shows she enters, was her professor at Rhode Island focusing more on art shows and exhi- School of Design, Jun Kaneko, a bitions. Her work was accepted into Growth Factor 37 x 64 inches, 2011 painter and ceramicist. “His way of Quilt National 2011, and she won Best

SAQA Journal • Spring 2014 • 5 Voodoo Lily reinterpretation of classic forms like 36 x 16 x 16 inches, 2014 the ginger jar. They also reflect the influence of Professor Kaneko and Asian art forms. stressed the importance of branching out and exploring new avenues as an Working as an artist artist. A typical day in the studio finds Betty “I still think of myself as relatively getting the business side of her work new in this career,” Betty said. “In the out of the way in the morning. She past, I was trying to make something takes care of paperwork, packing and for everyone and enter all kinds of shipping, exhibition entries, and shows. Now I’m working more for dealing with email all before lunch. myself and going back to my roots as “It’s very rare that I don’t have a potter. I’m taking a jump into three- these chores to do, and I want to get dimensional forms and vessels.” them all done before taking a break,” Voodoo Lily, which was accepted she said. “If I don’t get lunch until 2 into Fantastic Fibers 2014 at the Yeiser p.m., I get cranky.” Art Center in Paducah, Kentucky, In the afternoon, Betty makes art. is a free-form piece sculpted out of She creates her designs, working hand-painted silk, felt and stitch- improvisationally without sketching ing. It stands on a rubber base. She or planning extensively beforehand. said the vessels are in many ways a She dyes fabric, sometimes adding of Show at Form, Not Function at the Carnegie Center for Art and History in New Albany, Indiana, in 2012 and 2013. Last year, Betty had a one-person show — Betty Busby: Unseen — at the Dunedin Fine Art Center in Dunedin, Florida. Helping fiber art become more integrated into the larger art world is an important goal for Betty, so she has been volunteering for Studio Art Quilt Associates as regional exhibition coordinator. In that role, she helps members get used to the idea of putting fiber work in art set- tings. One such exhibition was last year’s New Mexico: Unfolding at the New Mexico Capitol Rotunda Gallery in Santa Fe. The exhibition show- cased contemporary fiber art by New Mexico artists. “You can’t get any better feedback than what you see for yourself by walking into a gallery setting with fiber art on the walls,” Betty said. She Betty Busby works on Magpies. 6 • SAQA Journal • Spring 2014 paint or making marks with stencils or paint sticks. Silk is a favorite fabric. “I love the reflective quality of it,” she said. “Silk can be dyed or painted so it bounces the light back to you through the color in a way that other fibers don’t.” Once she has designed the base composition, Betty starts the process of adding texture with hand- and machine-quilting stitches, felt, beads, or other surface design. She may continue with handwork into the evening after dinner. Betty generally works on one piece at a time. “I paint, dye and experiment with new techniques daily, but when it comes down to the sewing stage, it’s nearly always one thing at a time,” Betty said. “Since I’m always eager to Dendrite move on to the next idea, it helps get 38 x 34 inches, 2013 me over the hump that many pieces seem to have. I’ve got to finish it Ovum before moving on to the next.” 58 x 47 inches, 2011 Some of Betty’s backgrounds are digitally printed onto fabric by a commercial company, using images she has painted or photographed and then manipulated in Photoshop. Dendrite, which was accepted into ArtQuilt Elements 2014, is one such piece. The yellow and green circular elements in the center of the piece seem to float on the printed back- ground, which has been enhanced with hand stitching. A sense of pattern and motion is created with the organic forms, machine stitch- ing, hand beading, and the mottled texture in the top and bottom of the piece. Betty sells her art through the shows where she exhibits, and also through Etsy.com, an online marketplace that allows artists to create a unique storefront and offer their work for sale. Etsy has been a successful source see “Busby” on page 32

SAQA Journal • Spring 2014 • 7 The making of Mask of Dark

by Carole Gary Staples with Robin Lynn Harris

he inspiration for Mask of Dark Growing doubt Tmanifested in the depths of my Throughout preparation for the soul long before I could begin to put exhibition, I was plagued by self- it into words. My spirituality reso- doubt — the doubt that is present nates from my core and is evident when you walk into your destiny, throughout my work. In retrospect, fully embracing who you are in the the Mask of Dark may be interpreted world. It’s akin to birthing something as a culmination of an internal to be cherished. process of heightened spiritual At first this doubt was a quiet, awareness. brooding internal voice. While work- November 18, 2012, holds spe- ing late into the night, long after my cial significance for me. It was the husband had gone to bed and the date of my first major solo art quilt house was quiet, that voice would exhibition, hosted by the Voice of whisper: work for me. As an artist, I’m detail- America Learning Center at Miami • “The work isn’t good enough.” oriented so I quickly began making University in West Chester, Ohio. As mental notes on the benefits of the • “You’ll never finish it in time.” a burgeoning artist, a solo exhibition voice. I fired off three rapidly: at a national university represented a • “The pieces are too big.” • The voice was motivational. turning point in my career. The sheer • “Here you go again with these magnitude of the invitation list alone • The voice was a driving force spur- women with palms raised.” was daunting. Beyond the university ring me to churn out work in the president, faculty and alumnae, the • “Always these women.” midst of self-doubt. mailing list was comprised of 27,000 • “Do you really think that people • Speaking back to the voice yielded patrons. Although I was confident in will come to an exhibition to hear a stronger internal voice that was my work, the distinction of show­ you speak about these pieces?” authentically mine, leading me to casing my art as a solo exhibition was • “They’re just the same women on victory. both thrilling and unnerving. bigger pieces of fabric.” It proved constructive to discover In preparation for the exhibition, I the voice — disturbing as it was — had worked on multiple pieces through- As the whisper grew louder, it concrete benefits. With only a week out many days and nights. As the fueled more negative thoughts. The before the exhibition, Receive and date of the exhibition approached, voice was developing form. It was Surrender were pieced and ready to I consulted with my husband and a morphing into a whisper-yell. It was be quilted, but the struggle with the close friend on what should be the foreign to me and more than a bit voice wasn’t past. I began to speak focal point at the entrance to the agitating. After discussing the voice out loud to the voice. I knew it had exhibition. I decided to complete two with a friend, I had a breakthrough. I acknowledged my awareness of it as I gained traction when I heard myself large, mirroring pieces. The pieces, realized the more I tried to fight it or saying, “I’m not good enough to quilt Receive and Surrender, embodied my these.” recurring theme of women rejoicing quell it, the louder and more insistent I asked a colleague whose work I and receiving God’s grace with their it became. highly regard to quilt the two pieces palms open and raised in praise. Silencing the voice meant having dialogue with it toward making it for me. She didn’t say yes. Instead

8 • SAQA Journal • Spring 2014 she offered instructional points and face. The mask’s commanding pres- It’s interesting to note the impres- assured me I was more than capable ence was uncanny. sion the Mask of Dark makes when of quilting the pieces. As a fiber artist who loves rich, first viewed and compare that with I often think about our brief con- vibrant, bold colors, I was initially how it is viewed on a deeper level versation and the generous blessing it horrified by my creation. The stitch- using spirit/soul eyes. My last muting provided. My colleague’s final words ing had given such lifelike texture touch to the face was to dapple silver penetrated my artist/soul psyche: to the “skin” under the eye sockets. flecks above the brow line and along “You need these quilts to be com- The mask was in stark contrast to my the cheekbones. pletely yours.” This saved me from previous project themes. I questioned What I love and embrace about allowing the voice to convince me how I could make something so Mask of Dark is that it is so evocative I needed someone else to do what I malevolent. and captivating at the same time. was more than capable of doing. Confirmation of just how startling Throughout the exhibition, people the Mask of Dark is came the next would mill about and circle back to Making the mask morning from my husband. I had the Mask of Dark. They mused aloud, At the height of the voice’s feverish propped it on the kitchen island. As “What was her inspiration for this pitch, the notion to make a mask that my husband rounded the bottom piece?” embodied it dropped into my spirit steps and walked into the kitchen, he When having the Mask of Dark heavily. Despite the fact that it made stopped. “Whoa! Now that’s a dark photographed for my portfolio, the no intellectual sense to begin a new brother with a presence!” he said, photographer was also drawn to the work in the midst of completing a looking at me in disbelief. piece. He asked about my inspira- deadline for two significant pieces, Initially I thought the Mask of Dark tion, and I gave a quick summary of the Mask of Dark was compelling me was too dark to be in the upcom- how the Mask of Dark came to be. His to bring it to life. ing exhibition alongside my quilts response remains with me today: It defied reason, but there I was in that depicted uplifting, life-affirming “I know him; he and I are well my studio, veering off course with themes. Yet I value my husband’s acquainted and go way back.” The hands in a flurry, rummaging through opinion, and he was unequivocal in photographer recounted his struggles my fabric bins for black fabric. I had his opinion it should be included. with self-doubt. In that moment, taken a class on mask making but I knew the Mask of Dark was the couldn’t recall the exact technique. Embracing the mask genesis for a book I’m currently writ- Instinctively, I began cutting and From a spiritual perspective, the ing. I now view the Mask of Dark as drafting facial features. It seemed Mask of Dark is representative of a personal catalyst for a triumphant as if I were somehow separate from a ­centuries-old foe that routinely breakthrough. the manual dexterity that my hands attempts to derail us from follow- Quilting Receive and Surrender was a displayed. Through touch and feel, I ing our dreams and aspirations. For turning point in my work as an artist manipulated paper to create a strong anyone who has struggled with their that came in direct response to the bridge for a broad nose with flared own voice that whittles away at self- Mask of Dark. I stretched and grew as nostrils. I watched as penetrating confidence and God-given talent, the an artist as I prepared for the exhibi- eyes with depth took form. When the awareness of the voice is pivotal. I tion. I’m not only more competent one-dimensional face was complete, I muted the mask’s face by softening but also more confident in how I began laying down the outline of the the eyes from jet black to a more neu- construct an image and quilt it. mask in fabric. After trimming the tral charcoal/brown. Convinced the People relate to Mask of Dark when excess away, I turned the mask inside mask’s initial shape contributed to its they hear the story behind it. They out. Before I knew it, black eyes were overwhelming presence, I streamlined recognize themselves on their own defiantly staring at me from a power- it by removing excess material along journeys. I was able to vanquish that fully evocative three-dimensional the borders of the face. see “Mask” on page 33

SAQA Journal • Spring 2014 • 9 Shelly Zegart: Why Quilts Matter by Deborah Quinn Hensel

10 • SAQA Journal • Spring 2014 s Shelly Zegart was developing the nine-part documentary, A “Why Quilts Matter: History, Art and Politics,” quilting as art was a key concept. “The very first time I looked at quilts, I saw them as art,” Shelly said. Episode 4, entitled “What Is Art?” discusses questions familiar to quilt artists: • What constitutes art? • How is art defined? • What is the role of folk art? • What elevates craft to art?

“Quilts started out as craft, made for useful purposes, but they now line the walls of galleries and art muse- ums,” Shelly says in the beginning of Episode 4. “On the other hand, no matter how beautifully presented, quilts carry so much domestic, his- torical baggage that there will always be some who can perceive them only as women’s work.” Other episodes of the documen- tary, which has become one of the Roman Square, 86 x 63 inches, maker unknown, possibly made in Vermont, circa touchstone references for the world 1930-1950. Jonathan Holstein Collection IQSCM 2003.003.0012. www.quiltstudy.org. of quilting, include a basic primer on antique and contemporary quilts, a discussion of the quilt marketplace, how quilts empower women, and role of quilting in U.S. history and the Kentucky Quilt Project, the spon- how quilts bring history to life. culture. She has built a career as an soring organization for the documen- Shelly, who has a long and impres- author, lecturer, dealer, appraiser, tary series. She served as executive sive resume as a friend to the world of collector, and curator and builder of producer and host of the documen- quilting — traditional and artistic — is collections and exhibitions around tary, which is being used in museums, more than qualified to speak on the the world. universities and public schools as a In 1993, she was a founder of The teaching tool. The documentary has Alliance for American Quilts (now the also been shown on select PBS sta- Quilt Alliance) and has been a driving tions around the United States. Zig Zag, 77 x 76 inches, maker unknown, force behind its projects to work with The documentary informed a lec- possibly made in Pennsylvania, circa 1880- 1900. Jonathan Holstein Collection IQSCM museums and universities to preserve ture Shelly gave at the University of 2003.003.0016. www.quiltstudy.org. quilt heritage. She is a co-founder of Louisville’s IdeaFestival in June 2013,

SAQA Journal • Spring 2014 • 11 called “Demystifying Quilts: Why • The misperception that all antique Counting,” explains quilting is more Quilts Matter.” quilts were made at quilting bees by than an activity from the past. It is a “Quilts are a window into the his- multiple hands. thriving enterprise. tory, art and politics of the United “I don’t think the public has a This last myth is a notion that came States,” she said. “However, the clue about how big quilting is or out of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s 1859 subject of quilts and the people who the power and money surrounding historical novel, The Minister’s Woo- make them is frequently misunder- the business of quilts,” Shelly said. ing, Shelly said. stood as they have long been rel- “The documentary looks at the quilt “When I look at an antique quilt, egated to discussions of patterns and world as if it were a small coun- it’s like a painting,” she said. “You fabrics.” try with lobbies, fiercely protected can tell whether one person made it. There are many myths surround- agendas and a business side. Within You can see the style, technique and ing quilts and quiltmaking, and the business side of quilt shows lurks hand of the artist. People love the people don’t like to let go of them, another myth: the implication that myth of multiple makers. It’s what Shelly said. In her presentation, she every little white-haired lady in a they want to believe. debunked some of these misconcep- pinafore is an honest, reputable quilt “Every time I’m able to demys- tions, including the notion that dealer. Because the public has a really tify quilts and let people know how cotton seeds in the batting of a quilt positive feeling about quilts — they’re important they were to the culture of prove it is an antique. Other myths Mother, home and country — the our history, that legitimizes quilts,” she debunked include: public tends to transfer that feeling to she said. “I often hear that quilters the people dealing in quilts. You have • The belief that quilts are a purely like the DVD series because it gives to be careful about what’s being said U.S. craft. quilting respect.” to you or sold to you.” • The idea that some quiltmakers With regard to myths that have purposely left mistakes in their The business of quilting sprung up about art quilts, she said work to demonstrate humility. Episode 8 of the documentary, the public continues to ponder the called “Quilt Nation: 20 Million and question of whether a quilt is better if made by hand or machine. “With the art quilt, that’s chang- ing,” she said. “There’s increasing respect for the studio art quilt. My concern is, who deems it art? Who deems it okay to call it an art quilt? Nine Patch, 85 x 68 inches, Is it the buyer, the gallery or the maker unknown, possibly maker?” made in Pennsylvania, circa 1880-1900. Jonathan The studio art quilt movement is Holstein Collection IQSCM still a small subset of the larger world 2003.003.0020. www. of quilting, she said. The statistics she quiltstudy.org. gathered indicate 95 percent of quilts made today are made for everyday use or as gifts. “The legitimizing of studio art quilts increases as there are more exhibitions in known galleries, muse- ums and publications and on the Internet,” Shelly said. “I think Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) is doing an excellent job in that area. Most

12 • SAQA Journal • Spring 2014 Bars, 79 x 75 inches, maker unknown, possibly made Pennsylvania, circa 1890- 1910. Jonathan Holstein Collection IQSCM 2003.003.0058. www.quiltstudy.org.

museums don’t have quilt exhibi- tions repeatedly, and they don’t really have people with knowledge to put together content for those exhibi- tions. I think that’s really difficult for the art quilt movement. If people are just walking into the museum and seeing them and saying, ‘Oh, aren’t these nice quilts,’ the art quilt movement is not getting anywhere. People need to be educated about what they’re seeing on the wall. They need to understand how art quilts are made. These are educational areas SAQA and other organizations can tackle.” As one step in educating the public, Shelly offers loops from the docu- mentary series to museums to run alongside exhibitions. comes back to the warmth of the ask, ‘How do I get there? What do I Working in fiber textile and the reflection of it back to call myself? How do I decide what I’ll Shelly’s long association with quilts history and family.” send to Quilt National?’ and quiltmakers has led her to think When it comes to quilting compe- “The art quilt movement, which about what is it about fiber that draws titions, Shelly said she thinks tradi- engages people in the art of quilting, artists who have backgrounds in tional quilts and art quilts should be whatever form that takes, is very posi- other media. judged in separate categories. tive,” Shelly said. “Many artists from other disciplines “The reality is that if these judges “Why Quilts Matter: History, were first exposed to quilts as art at have no art history background, if Art and Politics” is available from the 1971 exhibition Abstract Design they don’t know that a particular the SAQA store, www.saqa.com/ in American Quilts at the Whitney quilt artist is making an homage to store-detail.php?scat=21&ID=6. Museum of American Art in New German Expressionism, how can A discussion guide is available in York City. When they saw quilts on they judge that quilt effectively for print and can be downloaded from the wall as art, that legitimized their the kind of art that it is?” she asked. the Why Quilts Matter website, moving in that direction. “It’s the aesthetic that matters in the www.whyquiltsmatter.org. art quilt; it’s not the precision of the “I think quilt artists are trying to Deborah Quinn Hensel, a writer based break through, and one of the things stitching. So it’s like you’re judging in Houston, Texas, is an avid fiber artist that is different is in the feeling of apples and oranges in the same bas- who has been inspired by other quilters ket. They’re not the same thing. in her family. She was associate producer working with textiles as opposed to a of “Stitched,” a 2011 documentary about non-flexible medium. It could be that “Art quilters have to aim high. three art quilters’ roads to enter the they’ve already explored other media, They have to look at their quilts as if International Quilt Festival in Houston. and they see this as a fresh avenue for they are going to hang in a museum them to explore. I do think it always next to a Picasso. An art quilter must

SAQA Journal • Spring 2014 • 13 Becoming a professional artist by Carol Ann Waugh

oving from hobbyist to To get started, I opened a checking Next steps Mprofessional doesn’t have to account and put $5,000 into it to use Once you have your initial body of take long, but it does require plan- to market my brand. The first thing work, next steps are: ning, time and money. Eight years I invested in was my domain name, • Have professional photos taken of ago, I didn’t own a sewing machine. www.carolannwaugh.com. each piece, showing the full piece Today, I’m making a living as a fiber Now you’re ready to develop your including the edges and details. artist. product — your body of work. You • Create a database or spreadsheet to The first step on the road to success need at least 15-20 pieces before you keep track of your work. This will as a fiber artist is getting brand recog- market yourself. I took a lot of classes become the one place you turn to nition in the marketplace. Your brand toward finding my voice as a fiber art- for information including title, size, can be your art or your name. I chose ist. I winnowed down what I learned, date created, series, price, sales data my name because I didn’t want to be focusing on what worked best for me. and more. tied to a specific type of fiber art. You develop as an artist by making Next you need a strategic plan. You lots of art. Then one day, you realize • Develop descriptions of each piece must decide where you want to be you have a body of work to exhibit. to include in your database or in a year or two, then set goals to get Making art is the core of your work. spreadsheet. there. I keep this focus by working in my It’s unlikely you will make a living And you need money. You need to studio from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. every just selling your art. About 10 percent invest in yourself. This can be a stick- day. I do email only before and after of my annual revenue comes from ing point for many artists, but it’s these hours, and I do all my market- selling original art. The remaining necessary if you are going to succeed. ing work one day a week — usually on 90 percent comes from three sources: the weekend — so it does not intrude teaching workshops and giving lec- into making art. tures; book and kit sales; and royalties from teaching online.

Editor’s note: This article is based on the mini workshop “Going from Hobbyist to Professional: The Road to Success” presented by Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) member Carol Ann Waugh at the 2013 SAQA conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Carol Ann Waugh at work in her Denver, Colorado, studio.

14 • SAQA Journal • Spring 2014 Untitled, Stupendous Stitching series 66 x 78 inches 2013 Collection of IMA, Denver, Colorado.

Consider how you will parlay your taken home your first prize, you’re classes in your studio and at quilt art into making money. I’ve found an “award-winning artist.” shops. Teach online through such self-publishing books to be a good • Create and maintain a website and sites as www.Crafsty.com, www. revenue source. Guilds and local quilt blog. AcademyofQuilting.com and www. shops will pay you to lecture and QuiltCampus.com. • Develop snail-mail and email lists teach. While I avoid calling my art of friends, prospects, buyers and • Write and self-publish a book. “quilts,” I do believe it is important VIPs. Create a monthly newsletter to relate to the quilt world if you Pulling it all together to promote your exhibitions, new are trying to make a living. I don’t work, classes and more. Keep a con- Overwhelmed by the amount of work usually enter my work in quilt shows tact book in your studio for visitors required to market your work? Don’t because I mount my fiber art on to sign up for your newsletter. be. Determine what you do well and wooden panels so it hangs best on do those things, then hire others to • Print business cards and postcards hard walls like those at art galleries do what you don’t enjoy or aren’t featuring your work and contact and museums. qualified to do. I hired someone information. Give them to every- to create my website and someone Getting organized one and leave them everywhere. to post on social media. I engage a While many of us would like to only • Participate in social-media sites. professional photographer to shoot focus on making art, if you need to • Develop a large network of other images of my work, and I work with a make money, then you must give artists in all mediums. graphic designer to create my printed attention to the business side of the materials. I wrote the first draft of my • Join a co-op gallery. art world. You’ll find you have more book, then turned it over to a devel- time to make art if you organize your • Have a solo exhibition. opmental editor to deliver a finished marketing efforts. Here are steps to • Develop relationships with art book. take: consultants. If I can make it from hobbyist to • Enter juried art and quilt shows. • Keep up with local arts events. professional, so can you. Create a spreadsheet of exhibition • Write articles and submit your work Carol Ann Waugh is an internationally opportunities. Include exhibition known, award-winning fiber artist and for reader or member galleries of topics, guidelines, deadlines and contemporary art-gallery owner from quilt and art magazines. Get to judges. Track what gets accepted Denver, Colorado. You can see her work know the editors personally. at www.carolannwaugh.com. If you are in and rejected. Denver, stop by her studio and gallery— • Develop several workshops and • Write your resume then enhance www.abuzzgallery.com — but email her first lectures, then let quilt guilds know at [email protected] to be sure it by winning awards. Once you’ve what you have to offer. Offer she’s there.

SAQA Journal • Spring 2014 • 15 Thank you, SAQA supporters!

Philanthropic support is essential to the life of our organization’s programs and growth. It accounts for 21% of SAQA’s budget. SAQA leaders are grateful to those donors listed below who expressed their belief in SAQA’s mission — to pro- mote the art quilt through education, exhibitions, professional development, documentation and publications, and to support the artists who create them — by making a voluntary philanthropic gift.

In 2013, 300 donors contributed $70,572 in response to the spring and year-end appeals. Thank you for your support. *indicates consecutive giving of three years or more

$10,000 and over $100-$499 Yvette Howard* Geri Patterson-Kutras* Ralph James* Virginia Abrams* Ming Mei Huang Laurie Peden* Mary Lou Alexander Tanja Iannerelli* Andrea Perejda* $5,000-$9,999 Roberta Baker* Ann Johnston Dawn Piasta Shirley Neary* Abbi Barden* Dana Jones* Patricia Powers* Robert & Ardis James Elizabeth Bennett* Elke Jordan* Judy Ross* Foundation* Vou Best* Peg Keeney* Kris Sazaki* Margaret Blank* Nancy Kibbey* Joyce Seagram* $1,000-$4,999 Diane Born* Misik Kim* Denise Seavey* Jacqueline Atkins* Jane Broaddus* Geri Kinnear* Maria Shell* Esther Brabec* Pat Budge Sherry Kleinman* Susan Siefkin* Eliza Brewster* Ruth Carden* Gail Kotowski* Martha Sielman* Jennifer Day* Deb Cashatt* Susan Krznar* Valentyna “Valya” Roenko Lisa Ellis* Simpson* Lisa Chipetine* Lynn Kunz* Melanie McFarland* Joan Sowada* Carol Churchill* Paulette Landers* Nysha Nelson* Gerri Spilka Maureen Cole* Cat Larrea* Teri Springer* Lois Sprague Linda Colsh* Susan Webb Lee* The A & D Fund Jenny St Martin* Judith Content* Uta Lenk* John M. Walsh III* Priscilla Stultz* Sheryl Culver Francesca Lenville* Tiziana Tateo* Michael Cummings Susan Leonard* $500-$999 Del Thomas* Vivika Hansen DeNegre* Lisette Leveille Nancy Bavor* Judith Trager* Dianne Vottero Dockery* Andrea Limmer* Stephen Berkenfeld* Ulva Ugerup* Chiaki Dosho* Hsin-Chen Lin Karey Bresenhan* Maggie Vanderweit Nancy Erickson* Jenny Lyon* John H. “Butch” Davies III Mary Vinovskis* Connie Fahrion* Marsha MacDowell and Margaret “Marty” Susan Walen* Moon* Georgia French* Miriam Machell* Nelda Warkentin* Tommy Fitzsimmons* Barbara Frey* Gwen Mayer* Laura Wasilowski* Marvin Fletcher* Bethany Garner* Diana McClun Deborah Weir* Michele Lea* Linda Gass* Margaret McGrath* Candace Weiss Jeanne Marklin* Kerri Green* Penny McMorris* Andrea Willey* Mary Pal* Mary Green* Cyndi Kaye Meier* Marianne Williamson* Dorothy Raymond* Peggie Hartwell Carol Moore* Claire Wills* Cathy Shanahan* Denise Tallon Havlan* Jeannie Moore* Martha Wolfe* Sandra Sider* Carol Heist* Pam Morris* Diane Wright* Barbara Watler Carolyn Higgins* Reiko Naganuma* Shelly Zegart* Susan Holdaway-Heys* Jean Neblett*

16 • SAQA Journal • Spring 2014 Below $100 Bush Eastep* Kristin La Flamme* William and Allison Reker Margaret Abramshe Annabel Ebersole* Mary Lachman* Sharon Richards* Pamela Allen* Aileyn Renli Ecob* Donald Larson Emily Richardson Deborah Melton Eileen Fagan Judith Larzelere* Lesley Riley* Anderson* Clairan Ferrono* Michele Lasker* Connie Rohman* Geneviève Attinger* Robin Laws Field* Sandra Lauterbach* Bernie Rowell* Jennifer Bailey* Jamie Fingal* Mickey Lawler* Susan Ruda Elizabeth Bamberger* Andrea Fischgrund* Kate Lenkowsky* Arturo Alonzo Sandoval Alison Banks* Lisa Flowers Ross Alice Levinson* Terri Sankovitz Valerie Bashaw Ruthann Fox* Deon Lewis* Dinah Sargeant* Elizabeth Baum* Sheila Frampton-Cooper* Karen Linduska Norma Schlager* Linda Beach* Linda Friedman* Sally Lloyd Carroll Schleppi* Helen Beaven Marilyn Fries* Kate Madeloso Karen Schulz Alison Bessesdotter Carolina Fuchssteiner Jo Magaraci* Deborah Schwartzman* Ann Bird* Bodil Gardner* Alice Magorian* Mary Lou Schwinn* Twila Blume* Doria Goocher* Karen Markley* Nancy Sharp* Deborah Boschert Patricia Gould* Nancy Masters Sara Sharp* Alice Brody* Cathy Gregory* Mary Ann McCammon* Elinor Sigler* Serena Brooks Candy Grisham* Mary McCauley* Marialuisa Sponga Archi* Peggy Brown* Adelheid Gubser Joyce McKinnon Mary Jo Stipe* Nancy Bryant Pegee Haman Anita McLarin* Averil Stuart-Head* Kim Buchmann Carole Harris* Salli McQuaid* Kerryn Taylor Victoria Burns Jo Hathcock* Diane Melms* Dee Dee Van Kirk Ann Carlson Jim Hay* Alicia Merrett Mary Ann Van Soest* Diane Carpenter* Lorraine Heady* Carol Miller Desiree Vaughn* Hsui Hsing Chang Gilda Joan Hecht* Denise Oyama Miller* Patricia Walters* Lisa Charles* Maureen Hendricks Roberta Chalfy Miller* Lisa Walton* Pamela Christner* Sharon Hightower* Ann Moroz Betty Warner* Paula Chung Tina Hilton Frances Murphy* Denise Webster* Jane Burch Cochran* Joseph and Ruby Horansky* Jan Myers-Newbury* Jean Wells Keenan* Carolyn Cohen Susan Hotchkis Bobbe Shapiro Nolan* Lynn Welsch* Barbara Confer* Susan Jackan* Lisbet Okun Anita Welty* Shannon Conley Toby Jagolinzer* Bonnie Ouellette Leni Levenson Wiener* Martha Connell* Celeste Janey* Roberta Pabst Barbara Wilkins Nancy G. Cook* Laura Jaszkowski* Katie Pasquini Masopust* Hope Wilmarth* Kathleen Craig Lisa Jenni* Jane Patrick Chris Worland* Anne Datko* Jill Jensen* Camilla Pearce* Mary Ev Wyatt* Nancy Davenport* Dolores Johnson* Simona Peled Juanita Yeager Yael David-Cohen* Kathleen Kastles Pamela Pilkington Charlotte Ziebarth Lynne Dearing* Patricia Kennedy-Zafred Clare Plug Christine Zoller* Helen Degner* Harue Konishi* Jen Pollack Silvia Dell’Aere* Lynn Krawczyk* Susanne Rasmussen* Heather Dubreuil Ellie Kreneck* Daren Pitts Redman*

SAQA Journal • Spring 2014 • 17 SAQA member gallery: Family

Carol Watkins Commuity Matters 22 x 41 inches | 2013 | www.carolwatkins.com Family can be defined in the broad sense of people Mary A. Ritter enjoying life together on the streets of our town. Farm Home 44 x 42 inches | 2013 muniqueblog.wordpress.com In 1945, just weeks before my birth, this farmhouse was hauled on a trailer across frozen roads and placed on a new foundation for what would become our family home. It has seen three generations of children playing inside and out. Three more siblings would be born after me, followed by 20 grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren. The figures represent family members conducting familiar activities.

Alisa Banks Whispers 70 x 54 inches | 2010 alisabanks.com Whispers is from my identity series investigating notions of home. In this piece, words and images function as “conversations” that span generations. Paper pulp was made from plants gathered from my family’s yards. I added leaves and flowers to the wet sheets of paper.

18 • SAQA Journal • Spring 2014 Rita Hannafin Slice of Life 15 x 13 inches | 2013 On a hot summer day in 1956, my mother and I shared a happy moment in our little neighborhood.

Patricia Belyea Family Guy 65 x 55 inches | 2013 | okanarts.com Family Guy was commissioned by a friend for her husband’s 60th birthday. The composition was made using clothing from 18 family members. The main teal color is from hospital scrubs while many of the solid colors are from work shirts. Other clothes include a child’s summer dress, a championship t-shirt, an embroidered blouse, a Pittsburgh Steelers Terrible Towel and a plaid shirt with glitter.

Pauline Barrett Mommy & Me 61 x 52 inches | 2012 | www.paulinebarrett.com My most cherished memories are of the times I spent as a child with my mom in her garden. This quilt reflects the wonderful relationship that grew because of the times we spent there together.

SAQA Journal • Spring 2014 • 19 Piecework pioneers: Artists embrace quiltmaking by Robert Shaw

Editor’s note: This is the second of four t is not surprising that most of the concentrated on pieced quilts. These articles on art quilt history written Iacademically trained artists who artists cut their teeth on traditional by Robert Shaw for the SAQA Journal took up quiltmaking in the 1960s quilts, then moved away, in most in recognition of Studio Art Quilt and ’70s, including such pioneers as cases step by step, to create work that Associates’ 25th anniversary. Beth and Jeffrey Gutcheon, Michael was distinctly their own. They had to James, Nancy Crow, Jean Ray Laury, understand and master the tradition Radka Donnell, Molly Upton, Susan first. As Nancy Crow explained when Hoffman, and Nancy Halpern, interviewer Jean Robertson asked

20 • SAQA Journal • Spring 2014 Wholeness, 79 x 54 inches, Radka Donnell, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1979. Machine-pieced cottons, machine quilted by Claire Mielke. Private collection.

whether she had been influenced by traditional quilts: “I definitely bit off the tradition and stuck with it. I think that’s prob- ably how I learn. I have to somehow push through the traditional or classi- cal part and then come out the other end.” Block-style piecework is the United States’ single greatest contribution to the art and craft of quiltmaking. U.S. quiltmakers began organizing the tops of their quilts in repeated block patterns in the early decades of the 19th century. Organizing geometric shapes into grid patterns offered them a host of design possi- bilities that could be fleshed out and individualized with colored fabric. It also saved space, since the repeating square blocks could be made one at a time and sewn together when all were completed. By the beginning of World War II, thousands of patterns had been invented. Quilt historian Victor Vasarely, and the striking simi- inspired by the aesthetic possibilities Barbara Brackman’s Encyclopedia of larities between them were not lost inherent in the quilt medium. Pieced Quilt Patterns (American Quil- on students of modern art. Among ter’s Society, 1993) illustrates 4,127 them were Gail van der Hoof and Interest in quiltmaking grows blocks, many of which had been Jonathan Holstein, who collected Anyone interested in quiltmaking in given names and published in news- quilts they found graphically compel- the 1960s and ’70s could access and papers and magazines. ling starting in the mid-1960s. The study traditional designs through A number of the colorful and often couple’s 1971 exhibition at the Whit- books like Holstein’s and Patsy optically challenging geometric ney Museum of American Art in New and Myron Orlofsky’s comprehen- patterns of block-style pieced quilts York City, Abstract Design in American sive 1974 study Quilts In America intersected with later abstract paint- Quilts, and Holstein’s 1973 book (McGraw-Hill Book Company), and ings by artists such as Josef Albers, The Pieced Quilt: An American Design through actual quilts, which were Ellsworth Kelly, Piet Mondrian and Tradition (McClelland and Stewart) plentiful and inexpensive. presented pieced quilts as works of As interest grew, classes became visual art. After its run at the Whit- popular, and a number of ambitious Torrid Dwelling, 110 X 90 inches, Molly ney, versions of the exhibition trav- young quiltmakers found ready audi- Upton, New Bedford, New Hampshire, 1975. eled widely in the early 1970s. Many ences as teachers. Beth Gutcheon Cotton, cotton blends, and wool; hand and young artists who saw them were started teaching quiltmaking in New machine pieced and machine quilted. York City in 1971, a few years before

SAQA Journal • Spring 2014 • 21 Crystal Mountain, 43 x 57 inches, Jeffrey Gutcheon, New York City, New York, 1978. Cotton, poly-cotton, rayon, poly-rayon, brushed corduroy and nylon grillcloth; machine and hand pieced, appliquéd and reverse appliquéd, and hand quilted. Collection of the Shelburne Museum. Photo courtesy David Gutcheon.

she published her book The Perfect Hall). His story is typical of how art- Institution’s Archives of American Patchwork Primer (Penguin Hand- ists moved from the media in which Art, Michael James said: books, 1974). Beth’s then-husband they had trained — painting, print- “Amish quilts … had a big influence Jeffrey Gutcheon, who died in 2013, making, ceramics, weaving, graphic at the beginning because they studied architecture at Massachusetts design, architecture — to quiltmaking. were … the first traditional quilts Institute of Technology in Cam- In the introduction to The Quiltmak- that I looked at that seemed to me bridge, Massachusetts, and designed er’s Handbook, Michael James, who to convey the kind of originality homes and commercial buildings. studied painting and printmaking in and … visual power that I associated Like Beth, he made innovative pieced art school, wrote: with art .... I did incorporate aspects quilts and wrote and taught his meth- “My initial explorations of the of Amish quilts and … Amish sort of ods, which included what he called medium revolved around the mak- approaches to color and composition “Diamond Patchwork.” This method ing of countless copies of traditional in some of my earlier quilts. So I imposed flat patterns on a matrix that blocks as well as several small quilts think that was a very important appeared to be three-dimensional, in traditional patterns and finally two influence and still remains important creating visual tension and ambiguity. large, traditional quilts. Since that in the sense that I still admire and Michael James, who was mak- ‘apprenticeship,’ I have concentrated draw some amount of inspiration ing quilts full time by 1975, taught on working my own images, some from Amish quilts.” quiltmaking across New England. quite closely related to traditional Nancy Crow, who studied ceramics In 1978, he published his first book, forms, others less so.” in art school then moved into weav- The Quiltmaker’s Handbook: A Guide In a 2003 interview conducted ing, made her first quilt in 1970 while to Design and Construction (Prentice by David Lyon for the Smithsonian waiting for her son to be born. In a

22 • SAQA Journal • Spring 2014 2002 interview with Jean Robertson for the Archives of American Art, Nancy Crow said: “It took probably till 1976 … for me to realize I loved quiltmaking! It was sort of like I had to get my foot- ing in terms of the technique, and then I started to realize that this was the way. I love shape and line, and I wasn’t really able to identify that. It was just the beginning of my being able to identify how important those are to me. And in quilts, I could start to lay this down in a much more direct way than weaving. In weaving, you know, you have a shape here, but you have to build it up with the thread going across. With quilting, I could cut the shape and have that whole shape in front of my eyes.” Optical Log Cabin, 48 x 48 inches, Jean Ray Laury, Clovis, California, 1978. Cotton, machine pieced and hand quilted. Private collection. West Coast inspiration Two of the first and most influential Log Cabin Variation, 73 x 73 inches, Maria McCormick-Snyder, Annapolis, piecework pioneers were graduates Maryland, 1978. Machine pieced and hand quilted cotton. Private collection. of Stanford University and began making quilts for their children. Jean Ray Laury (1928–2011) made her first quilt in 1956 as part of her master’s thesis in design, and Radka Donnell (1928–2013) turned from painting to quilts in 1965 when her two daugh- ters were young. Jean Ray Laury made both appliquéd and pieced quilts, but Radka Donnell made only pieced quilts. Jean Ray Laury’s work was extremely influential because it was visually and intellectually accessible and because she published many images and patterns in popular women’s magazines in the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s. Many of her pieced quilts were based on tradi- tional patterns, especially log cabins, but she brought them into the pres- ent with design and color concepts drawn from her study of modern art.

SAQA Journal • Spring 2014 • 23 friends with Radka Donnell when they were all living in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and they collaborated on a 1975 exhibition at Harvard University’s Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts. Works by Molly Upton, Susan Hoffman and Radka Donnell were included in The New American Quilt exhibition the following year at the Museum of Contemporary Crafts (now the Museum of Arts and Design) in New York City. Molly Upton called her work “quilted tapestries.” Because she was not hemmed in by grid structures, her quilts are often suggestively represen- tational, with evocative titles like For- est Fire, Fanfare and Portrait Without Mirror. Her Watchtower clearly depicts a largely black-and-white castle-like Bedloe’s Island Pavement Quilt, 84 x 76 inches, Michael James, Somerset structure with multiple towers, while Village, Massachusetts, 1975. Cottons, woolens and blends; hand and machine her best-known quilt, Torrid Dwelling, pieced and hand quilted. Private collection. is a huge and complex pieced picture of a Greek hillside ruin, complete with tiny human figures. Molly Jean Ray Laury taught widely and Women's Art: A Quilt Poetics (Gallerie Upton committed suicide in 1977 recalled her early days as “an excit- Publications, 1990) she wrote: when she was only 23. The 20-plus ing time, finding out that there were “The format of a quilt, sized by its quilts she completed before her death people who really wanted to know reference to the body, allows me to remain unique and astonishing today. what little I knew.” bring my emotions and body feel- Radka Donnell was a maverick ings to life size, to create from the Art quilting expands from the beginning. She intended body outward, and to focus toward Nancy Halpern, who studied archi- her quilts to be functional, and she the body through the work of touch tecture at the Boston Architectural made them from whatever fabric necessary to piecing. The intimate Center, began making quilts in the she had at hand. Unlike most other connection between my emotions, early 1970s. She soon found her- early artist quiltmakers, she did not the materials I use, how I touch self pressed into teaching. Like her rely on a traditional grid structure, a them, and how the final product is friends and fellow Boston-area artists radical departure that Michael James used — namely, to warm and celebrate Rhoda Cohen and Sylvia Einstein, and Nancy Crow would not take until others — all this helps me to give my Nancy Halpern’s piecework designs the 1990s. She did not follow pat- best.” are subtle and reductive, suggesting terns but instead pieced intuitively, Another early artist quiltmaker who more than they make explicit. She freely mixing pieces of various sizes eschewed the grid structure was Molly explained: and juxtaposing bold prints and vivid Upton. She and her high-school “From the beginning, my quilts solid colors that she found expressive friend and fellow quiltmaker Susan have been inspired by the people, to create overall compositions that Hoffman were the first quilt artists to places and things I care about, plus conjure moods and elicit strong emo- be represented by a New York art gal- tional responses. In her book Quilts as lery. The two young women became see “Piecework pioneers” on page 34

24 • SAQA Journal • Spring 2014 Copyright: It’s the law by Dorothy Raymond

The court said an artist who created a stylized image of President Barack Obama for a campaign poster from an Associated Press photo had to share profits with the Associated Press.

s artists develop their voices, A copyright includes the right nor a copyright notice is required for Atheir work becomes more to make and distribute copies and there to be a valid copyright. This is original and concerns about whether derivative works. The term derivative a matter of international law; most they are copying others’ work — being is used in this article in its legal, not countries do not require notice or derivative rather than original — may artistic sense. For copyright purposes, registration. Copyright exists once disappear. Yet even when creating a derivative work is one that changes the artistic work is “fixed in a tangible what an artist considers original a pre-existing work. Manipulating medium” of expression. An unsaved work, copyright infringement, a legal a photo with editing software and image on your computer is not fixed concept, can occur. Art quilters need incorporating it into a different artis- nor is a drawing made on a frosty a basic understanding of copyright tic piece or writing new words to an window pane with a finger. Once an infringement, what aspects of an existing melody are both considered artist prints an image or takes a photo artistic work are protected by copy- derivative works under copyright of a drawing, it is fixed, and a copy- right and what is considered fair use. law. For more on derivative art, see right exists. The resources section of the Studio “Derivative Art Quilts” by Carolyn Art Quilt Associates website has infor- Lee Vehslage in the resources section How long does a copyright last? mation on copyright law relevant of the SAQA website, www.saqa.com/ How long a copyright lasts depends to protecting an artist’s work, www. resources.php?ID=2244. on when the copyrighted material saqa.com/resources.php?ID=2282. See Unauthorized copies and derivative was created. In Canada, the copyright “Copyrights and Quilting” by David works are said to infringe on an origi- lasts for the author’s life plus 50 years. Koehser. That will not be covered in nal work unless the defense of fair In the European Union and Australia, this article. use of the copyrighted work applies. a copyright expires 70 years after the A copyright protects an original Answers to the most frequently asked artist’s death. In the United States, it’s expression, be it a literary work, an questions about copyright follow. A also 70 years after the artist’s death architectural drawing, a computer good reference on copyright law for unless the work was created before program, a photograph, a painting or all artists, not just photographers, 1978. For such work, the law is more an art quilt. Some images are so much is Photographer’s Survival Manual: A complicated. If you need to know the a part of daily life or so generic that Legal Guide for Artists in the Digital exact date and the implications, you copyright protection is minimal or Age by Edward C. Greenberg and Jack should consult a lawyer. non-existent. An example is a photo Reznicki (Pixiq, 2010). or painting of a sunset. An artist can What if I change the artistic work so I am not making an exact copy? certainly register such an image with How can I tell if an artistic work the copyright office but will have a is copyrighted? To be infringing on copyright, the very hard time winning a lawsuit for This question comes up often when new work has to be “substantially infringement unless someone makes there is no copyright notice on a similar” to the artistic work. What an exact copy. Unoriginal expres- photo or other image an artist wants does that mean? There is no definitive sions, such as an alphabetized list of to use. Since there is no notice, is it answer; it is the subject of copyright- names, also cannot be copyrighted. okay to copy it? Neither registration infringement lawsuits on a regular

SAQA Journal • Spring 2014 • 25 basis. There is no hard and fast rule Is it okay to scan text or images United States, a copy made “for pur- for artists, contrary to urban legend. from magazines, manipulate poses such as criticism, comment… them and incorporate them into An exact copy of a small portion of a quilt? [or] teaching…” is “fair use” and not an artistic work might be an infringe- infringing. Under U.S. copyright law, “words ment. Then again, it might not. In and short phrases such as names, the 2013 Harney v. Sony Pictures What is fair use? titles and slogans; familiar symbols Television case, the re-creation by a Art quilters often want to know how or designs; mere variations of typo- movie studio of a copyrighted news to tell if they can include images from graphic ornamentation, lettering or photograph as part of a reality-drama magazines and the Internet in their coloring; mere listing of ingredients was found not to be an infringement. work. The short answer is that what is or contents” cannot be copyrighted. fair use depends on the specific facts Artists creating new works that incor- What cannot be copyrighted? and circumstances, and the coun- porate such snippets are probably on Copyright protects only the expres- try in which you working. The U.S. safe ground. sion; subject matter cannot be Copyright Act says: Quoting a whole paragraph or copyrighted. Only original creative “In determining whether the use stanza of a copyrighted work or elements expressed in an artistic work made of a work in any particular case incorporating whole images — even can be copyrighted. A color scheme is a fair use, the factors to be consid- manipulated images — requires more or a composition — the arrangement ered shall include: analysis to determine if it constitutes of elements — cannot be copyrighted • “The purpose and character of the infringement. While a copyright in and of themselves, but as part of use, including whether such use holder can prevent a copy or a deriva- an original expression, they can add is of a commercial nature or is for LaPierre SAQA 110825 8/25/11 11:11 AMtive Pagework 1from being made in the to the originality of the artistic work. nonprofit educational purposes; • “The nature of the copyrighted work; THE • “The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and Queen • “The effect of the use upon the HAS potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.” ARRIVED! The easiest type of fair use to identify is commentary, criticism and parody. If your new artwork is a par- NEW SIZE! ody, courts generally allow you to use 1 a substantial portion of the original 11 ⁄2''x 17 '' image to make the parody effective. If your new art work is a commentary on an image, you are allowed to use THE BEST SIZE for long-arm machines, enough of the image to make the set-in tables or acrylic slide-ons! comment. But beware of wholesale –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– use of an image without permission. Ask us for a FREE SAMPLE at The artist who created a stylized [email protected] –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– image of President Barack Obama for Order yours now at a campaign poster from an Associated Press photograph ended up having to www.SupremeSlider.com share his profits from the poster with the Associated Press.

26 • SAQA Journal • Spring 2014

Fair use is not limited to commen- Australia. Artists in those countries tary, criticism or parody. The 1994 should be more cautious about incor- case of Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, porating even transformed images in Inc., created the following guideline: their work. if your use of the image is “transfor- If you think an image may be mative” — creating “a new expres- copyrighted, contact the photogra- sion, meaning or message” — and not pher or artist to ask permission to use merely copying the essence of the it. Explain how you will include it in image, you are closer to achieving fair your work. Having written permission use. to use an image in your files is a good In the 2013 case of Cariou v. Prince, way to avoid a future lawsuit. artist Richard Prince, who tore images Bottom-line advice for quilt art- from a book of photographs by Pat- ists: be original. If you use another rick Cariou and altered them signifi- person’s image, make sure you make cantly to create a collage, was found substantial changes to it. to have not infringed on the copy- right of the original photos. However, Dorothy Raymond is a quilt artist and couture sewist, who practices intellectual it’s important to note that Richard property law part time when not in her Prince won the lawsuit on appeal, studio or outdoors gardening or bicycling. only after losing in a lower court. She has been a member of the Studio Art Quilt Associates Board of Directors since The concept of fair use is much 2011. Her website, www.dorothyraymond. broader in the United States than it com, includes information about her legal is in Canada, the European Union or practice and images of her art quilts. A Must for Serious Art Quilters

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SAQA Journal • Spring 2014 • 27 Radical Elements

neon 10 Ne 20.180 Marian Zielinski Beckoning of Night 36 x 22 inches

hydrogen 1 sulfur Geneviève Attinger 16 H Fleur de Soufre 1.0079 S 36 x 22 inches 32.065 Elin Noble Hydrogen Jukebox 36 x 22 inches

In Radical Elements, artists created works that were influenced by the Periodic Table of Elements. Their inspirations came from things related to their selected element including a play on its name, its color or the products made from it. The artists selected for the exhibition were charged with embracing Studio Art Quilt Associates’ newly expanded definition of an art quilt. They considered the usual material choices and then stepped beyond the norm to involve a wider variety of materials and surface designs.

28 • SAQA Journal • Spring 2014 Radical Elements

nitrogen 7 N 14.007 Elizabeth A. Baum Sine Qua Non 21 x 19 x 23 inches

iron Trisha Hassler 26 The Irony Of It All Was Not Lost On Her Fe 36 x 22 inches 55.845

titanium Valya 22 Titanium Ti 36 x 22 inches 47.867 SAQA Journal • Spring 2014 • 29 Radical Elements

roentgenium 111 Rg [272] Jim Hay Hay Meets Röntgen 36 x 22 x 13 inches

molybdenum 42 Mo 95.96 Brooke A. Atherton Orange/Red and Fugitive Blue VI 36 x 22 inches

platinum Bernie Rowell 78 Rituals and Relics Pt 36 x 22 inches 195.08 Featured volunteer: Vou Best

by ZJ Humbach

Vou Best staffs the Studio Art Quilt Associates booth at “The first trunk show I did for the International Quilt Festival in SAQA was in 2010,” Vou said. “I Houston, Texas. Photo oversaw shipping for the year. I had courtesy Vou Best. to keep three trunks continuously moving throughout the United States and abroad.” While some folks might hesitate ou Best is busy as a volunteer that will outline methods for recruit- to commit to such a job, not Vou. “I Vfor Studio Art Quilt Associates ing booth coordinators and detail take on things I know nothing about (SAQA) and has been since joining the specifics for managing booths at and learn about them, such as inter- the organization in the early 1990s. International Quilt Festival, Mancuso, national shipping,” she said. “I wanted to be around people American Quilter’s Society, and Quilt- Vou’s art is in the Texas Experience doing art quilting and discovered ing and Sewing Expo shows. exhibition. Cultural Beginnings #1 is the SAQA booth at the International “Each show is different,” Vou said. part of a series featuring decorator Quilt Festival in Houston,” Vou said. “You never know what you’ll face. sample fabrics enhanced with thread “I felt a natural draw to these people Some allow for a booth while oth- painting and embellishments. She promoting art quilts and joined the ers only have a table. We’re still in enjoys working on painted or dyed following year. I felt like I was a pro- the learning stages, so I help with fabric to depict landscapes high- fessional volunteer after supporting problems and provide support to the lighted with thread play. my four children’s activities for years, coordinators via the Internet.” “While I create quilts for my own so it was easy to transfer my time and If that doesn’t keep her busy enjoyment, I enjoy being in the back- energy to SAQA.” enough, Vou is a member of SAQA’s ground to help others take their art Vou started as a regional represen- Regional Grants Review Committee out to the world,” Vou said. “I believe tative for Texas and managed the and SAQA’s Special Event Planning in SAQA and enjoy volunteering.” SAQA booth at the International Committee. Vou’s philosophy on volunteering Quilt Festival for several years. “I was recruited at the last conven- is simple: “Managing a booth sounds easy, tion to help plan this year’s annual “SAQA’s strength comes from the but it’s really quite involved,” Vou conference,” Vou said. “I’ll definitely many volunteers who support the said. “It requires set up and teardown, have a learning curve on how it all programs the members benefit from. money collection, recruiting and happens. It takes so many things to Every project I’m involved in requires scheduling volunteers, and ensuring make a convention come off.” many volunteers working together to the booth is properly stocked and Vou is curator for Texas Experience, reach each goal. SAQA’s appreciation staffed at all times.” To help others a trunk show scheduled to travel for these many volunteers makes for a and ensure continuity, Vou wrote a around Texas and then to Mancuso rewarding experience worth the time manual on how to run the booth. shows across the United States. and effort given.” Vou is now taking her booth-man- Because pieces in the exhibition will ZJ Humbach is a freelance writer and agement experience to a new level. be for sale, each artist made four professional long-arm quilter who owns She’s working with Desiree Vaughn, pieces to ensure replacements are and operates Dream Stitcher Quilt Studio in Nederland, Colorado. Contact her at SAQA’s regional representatives available. [email protected]. coordinator, writing another manual

SAQA Journal • Spring 2014 • 31 Busby from page 7

of sales, she said. Betty prefers to use She will be teaching at Art Quilt her website — bbusbyarts.com — as an Santa Fe in April 2014 and has been online gallery, so having a shop on invited to teach at the Quilt Sympo- Etsy allows her to separate the sales sium Manawatu on New Zealand in function from the gallery 2015. presentation. Looking ahead, Betty expects to Ovum, which won first place in the continue exploring new techniques art quilt category at the 2013 ARTra- and pushing the edges of the quilt as geous exhibition in Chandler, Arizona, an art form. She’s particularly excited is an example of the art for sale on Bet- about the vessels and three-dimen- ty’s website, etsy.com/shop/bbusbyarts. sional forms she’s been working on, both incorporating felting and other Looking forward embellishments into her wall pieces Although Betty prefers to spend her and creating freestanding work. A gal- time creating her own work, she lery show combining her wall pieces enjoys a limited amount of teaching. with the sculptural vessels on display “My goal in my classes is to teach stands could be in her future. others how to use the materials and Cindy Grisdela of Reston, Virginia, is a techniques I’ve developed and help Juried Artist Member of Studio Art Quilt them find ways to incorporate them Associates. To see her work, go to www. into their own work,” she said. cindygrisdela.com.

“Workt” by Hand Hidden Labor and Historical Quilts

On view MAY 25 – SePTeMBeR 1, 2014

This exhibition showcases approximately thirty-five American and European quilt masterpieces from the Brooklyn Museum's renowned decorative arts collection. Spanning two centuries of quilt making, the exhibition features superlative examples of the most iconic quilt designs and techniques.

elizabeth welsh, Medallion Quilt, circa 1830. Cotton, 110 1/2 x 109 in. Brooklyn Museum, Gift of The Roebling Society, 78.36. Brooklyn Museum photograph (Gavin Ashworth, photographer), 2012.

216 O Street • Downtown Sacramento 916.808.7000 • crockerartmuseum.org

32 • SAQA Journal • Spring 2014 Mask from page 9 nagging voice of self-doubt by bring- ing it to life. When the Mask of Dark stared back at me, it allowed me to answer: Q2B014L “Yes! My artwork is good enough. Thank you for pushing me every step QUILTING BY THE LAKE of the way into my destiny.”

Carole Gary Staples of West Chester, Ohio is an award-winning fiber artist JULY 13-25, 2014 and art quilter. She chairs Studio Art 34RD ANNUAL QUILTING CONFERENCE Quilt Asssociates’ Education Committee. Onondaga Community College, Syracuse, NY Carole has exhibited nationally and internationally. Her website is www.carolegarystaples.com. FACULTY ELIZABETH BUSCH DOROTHY CALDWELL ROSALIE DACE Robin Lynn Harris of Monmouth County, KAREN ECKMEIER VALERIE GOODWIN TERRY JARRARD-DIMOND ANN JOHNSTON MICKEY LAWLER JEANNETTE DENICOLIS MEYER New Jersey, is a writer and family PHILIPPA NAYLOR JUDITH TRAGER VICTORIA FINDLAY WOLFE therapist. Along with leading women’s empowerment workshops, she has written several short stories and articles, and is completing her first novel. 205 Genesee Street, Auburn, NY 13021 www.quiltingbythelake.com • 315.255.1553

n

o i t a i c o s s A gn esi Surface D

The Surface Design Association is an international not-for-profit organization dedicated to education,research, critical thinking and promotion in the field of Surface Design. Members receive the Surface Design Journal and SDA Newsletter.

Surface Design Association P.O. Box 360 Sebastopol, CA 95473-0360 707.829.3110 [email protected] Send $7 for a sample copy of the Surface Design Journal.

www.surfacedesign.org

33 • SAQA Journal • Winter 2014 SAQA Journal • Spring 2014 • 33 Piecework pioneers from page 24 the happy coincidences found in the colors and patterns of a heap of June 21 - 28, 2014 September 7-28, 2014 fabric. Their designs are essences, Seattle, WA Flint, Michigan stripped down and distilled from more complex realities. Their fabrics (begged, bought and stolen) embody and embellish these essences. Their quilting is the calligraphy that tells Call for Entries, January 9 - March 9, 2015 their stories.” Exhibit dates are July 10 - July 26, 2015 As the 1970s came to an end, Nancy Crow, Françoise Barnes and Herndon, VA, outside Washington, D.C. Virginia Randles co-founded Quilt National, the first ongoing forum Opening reception, July 11th, 2:00-4:00 pm, 2015 for nontraditional quilts. Françoise Barnes recalled, "We were a tiny Not Fade Away Conference with group of quiltmakers, and we could the Quilt Alliance, July 17-18, 2015 see the sky was the limit. This was a totally new art medium that could be pushed and manipulated. We wanted to be accepted as serious artists." The first Quilt National, exhibited in an unconverted dairy barn, was held in 1979 and included innovative pieced quilts by juror Michael James, Françoise Barnes, Rhoda Cohen, Nancy Crow, Radka Donnell, Beth  Gutcheon, Nancy Halpern and Maria  McCormick-Snyder. In the decades  to come, the tiny group would grow. New artists would help pioneers like these push the boundaries of piece- work into new realms of complexity  and creativity.   Robert Shaw, an expert on contemporary and antique quilts, is the author of books  such as The Art Quilt, Hawaiian Quilt Masterpieces, Quilts: A Living Tradition and Art Quilts: A Celebration. His most recent book is American Quilts: The  Democratic Art, 1780-2007 (Sterling Publishing, 2009). Bob was curator at the Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont, from 1981-1994, and curator of special exhibitions for Quilts Inc./  International Quilt Festival in Houston,  Texas, from 1998-2003. He is a dealer in art quilts. His website is www. artofthequilt.com.

34 • SAQA Journal • Spring 2014 Board Members President Kris Sazaki, Sacramento, California Quick Notes Treasurer To find out more about SAQA, contact Martha Sielman, executive Nancy Bavor, Los Altos Hills, California ­director, at 860-487-4199 or [email protected]. Visit our website Secretary at www.saqa.com. Annual membership (U.S. and international): Mary Pal, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada associate member, $70; artist member, $70; arts professional, $95; juried artist, $135; student (full time with copy of ID) $35. Jacqueline Atkins, Jefferson, New York Lisa Ellis, Fairfax, Virginia Studio Art Quilt Associates, Inc. (SAQA) is a nonprofit organization whose Marvin Fletcher, Athens, Ohio mission is to promote the art quilt through education, exhibitions, Marsha MacDowell, East Lansing, Michigan professional development, documentation and publications. Dorothy Raymond, Erie, Colorado The SAQA Journal is published four times a year. To submit articles, contact Judith Trager, Boulder, Colorado editor Dana Jones at [email protected]. John M. Walsh III, Elmira, New York Lisa Walton, Sydney, For information about advertising in the SAQA Journal: [email protected] New South Wales, Australia Leni Levenson Wiener, New Rochelle, Deadlines for articles and member gallery images Theme New York Fall 2014 May 1, 2014 Off the Wall Executive director Winter 2015 August 1, 2014 Grief/Sorrow/Loss Martha Sielman, Storrs, Connecticut Spring 2015 November 1, 2014 Joy/Happiness Summer 2015 February 1, 2015 Creatures SAQA Journal Editor You can help SAQA save on printing and mailing costs by choosing Dana Jones, Gilpin County, Colorado to read the SAQA Journal online only. Go to www.saqa.com/ Art director/graphic designer members-amend.php and choose Online Journal Only. Deidre Adams, Littleton, Colorado Finishing Quilts... gives life to my creative spirit!

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