I YAM what I yam

I make fantastic mashed potatoes.  No, really, I do.  My husband wants to know why I refuse to share my technique, but he secretly suspects it is the volume of butter involved.  I can neither confirm or deny.  My favorites to mash are these tiny little orange sweets I get from Aldi.  I bake them (that’s the real secret) before adding butter & other goodies.  I prefer to puree them in my food processor, but I am usually too lazy to wash it afterwards, so I whip them with my hand mixer instead.  Whatever variety of sweet potato that Aldi has been carrying lately seems to have almost no stringy fibers to untangle from my beaters.  Add a hint of nutmeg, and it is like a spoonful of Thanksgiving every time.  They are great in place of rice for bowl full of stir fried root vegetables on a rainy day.

I am hyper aware of fiber lately, I suppose because of the embroidery or mark making with thread that has become a defining characteristic in my work.  The work I am loving most these days is fiber.  Rug tufting. Ombré string instillation. Simply over-stitched paper collages.  I come from a family of quilters, and I love to sew.  It isn’t a huge leap.  I honestly can’t believe my own work didn’t “go there” before now.  I think I felt that I couldn’t measure up as a quilter (imposter syndrome again).  I still don’t know how it developed; one day I just started stitching over my paintings.  Now they are incomplete without stitching.  In the meantime, no one, including me, really considers my work fiber art; therefore, I may be stuck in the mixed media category forever.  This next show is fiber specific.  I’ve been to this show multiple years, and it is awe inspiring.  Thousands of people flock to this show, and it features an ever-evolving range of work both aesthetically and narratively challenging. I want to be a part of this evolution someday.  If you do this work, please be sure to do this show.

Check out this Call for Entries from Yeiser Art Center (Paducah, KY) for Fantastic Fibers 2019.  $25 Entry & 40% commission. This is a great venue…

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CALL for ENTRIES:
Fantastic Fibers 2019 
from Yeiser Art Center

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ELIGIBILITY:  Open to all artists 18+

MEDIA: Open to fiber art –contemporary & innovative works created with fiber as the primary medium or concept. 

DEADLINE:  February 15, 2019

NOTIFICATION:  March 1, 2019

ENTRY FEE: $25 for up to 3 images of ONE piece

JUROR:  Professor and chair of the Fiber Department, Pauline Verbeek-Cowart, has been on the faculty of the Kansas City Art Institute since 1997. A native of the Netherlands, she received her BFA (1982) in Fine Art from the Maryland Institute and her MFA in textile design from the University of Kansas (1995). Ms Verbeek-Cowart’s academic and Fine Art careers have garnered her numerous awards. She is one of the leaders in the use of new technologies in hand-weaving and has also conducted research using industrial looms in The Netherlands and the US. Her industrially woven work crosses boundaries between Fine Art and applied textiles and is directed toward structurally textured fabrics for apparel as well as home-furnishings. Her work has been exhibited extensively in both national and international venues including France, Austria, Germany, Japan, Korea and Australia.

AWARD: $1,900 will be awarded:  $1,000 Best of Show, $500 First Place, $250 Second Place & $150 Third Place 

SALES:  Yeiser Art Center will keep a 40% commission on all gallery sales.

For complete details, Read the Full Call!