Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Diversity

I had a really fun & interesting evening tonight. It was a Wednesday at Pat's house. Pat Sims is the lady above on the left unfolding a large textile that was brought by Eli, a lady who is cleaning out her stash. She used to be more into textiles, but is now into book binding, & decided to give away some stuff. (sorry I didn't get a picture of Eli herself).
Pat started the evening showing us this woven piece that's actually a garment. Bonnie Bucknam bought it in Guatemala when she went there with Nancy Crow, & she gifted it to Pat.
George Taylor is one of our local quilters, & has recently retired from his engineering job. When he retired he decided to take Gail Harker's classes, & shared some of what he's been doing with that. He had some beautiful hand dyed threads, & some lovely samples of weaving & embroidery stitches that he did.
Jeannie Smith, who I just love, shared her "Yard Art Quilt". It included some old weather wooden spoons & things that had actually been weathered out in the yard.
Dr. Tina Thomson came, & brought Trust, a lovely young lady from Thailand. Trust is an exchange student & staying her for until the end of June. Tina has introduced her to new art forms, & she says that she has found freedom in the art here, that she never had in Thailand.
Trust showed us 2 Altered art books she had made for memories of her stay here in Alaska, & Tina gave her this pink computer cozy that she made for her to carry her laptop in when she flies back home.

Tina also got crafty with some old shirts & made oven mitts with them, & did some woven fabric pot holders, out of beautiful hand dyed fabrics (yikes, I'd never want to use them for fear they'd get messed up).
Tina also showed us this big group quilt that she made for a girl she knows who was in the Peace Corp, & met a man from Mongolia, & now she's marrying him. So this quilt was an interesting mix of Alaskan bears, moose & fireweed,

with Mongolian camels & Yaks, & YurtsThe back was pretty too.
I also met Jack, a very interesting young man, native Yupik, who sews, & tells stories, & is a radio personality, & is writing a Yupik opera. He has written a screen play.
Oh, & Broccoli said I hadn't posted his picture lately, & thought I should show you how cute he is.

7 comments:

Guzzisue said...

wonderful work by all of you and tell your can that hes very handsome :)

Guzzisue said...

sorry I meant cat!!

Kathy -MIQuilter said...

That was a meeting I would love to have been at, I love everything you showed! How very interesting.
We're still at Mayo, the first day we met with the Cardiologist and they put him in the hospital to do a cath.(sp?)on his heart and ended up putting in another stint! He now has 12. They don't think that is his main problem though and are still running many tests. When he is in testing, I ride the elevator up and down the 12 floors. As you get off every floor there are large, old to antique textiles from around the world, framed behind glass. And then, as you walk to the waiting areas there is a wall of windows with glass sculptures from different artists. I've been having a great time photographing them. I'm not sure when John will be released, I'll keep you informed.

roxanestoner said...

Wed at Pat's has been such an inspiration and a boost over the years for me. I am always sorry when I miss one. Jack Dalton is a wonderful storyteller and multitalented young man. I really like him. Seeing your post was being there with you guys. Thanks.

Nancy said...

It looks like I missed a great Wednesday at Pat's. I'll be happy to attend again this summer! See you soon!

allie aller said...

What a great evening!!! Such richness.
Watch out for those engineers turned quilters...they just excel so fast at what they turn their minds and hands to....
Loved meeting Trust and everyone..thanks for inviting us along.

Deb Geyer said...

Looks like a fun group!!