Leni Wiener

This week I got a sinus infection.  Not something that ordinarily matters to anyone reading a blog about art quilts, but my doctor put me on several medications which had an interesting effect.  On one hand, my brain felt a little fuzzy, but at the same time I felt that I had this super sharp focus for patterns and lines in things I had never noticed before.  A normal person would probably have asked for a change of medication–but I decided to go with the flow and use it for a change of artistic vision.

I started by taking out the small plastic bin I have which contains my “precious pieces” those small leftover pieces of fabric that I don’t want to throw away but really are too small for anything much except a detail here or there.  I began by pulling out only blue fabrics and started pinning them to the design wall in a very stream of consciousness sort of way–just sort of working by instinct.  When I decided that I liked the way it was going, I paid closer attention to moving things a bit and adding touches of other colors.  Then I decided it needed some people (my quilts always need some people) so they were added next.

This is a real departure for me from what I usually do, but think it is something I want to pursue for a bit and see where it takes me.  Tell me what you think:

I also added some writing, something I haven’t done before:

My other news is that I am off soon to Taiwan to teach two workshops in conjunction with the first international art quilt exhibition in Tainan; so I am sure I will have lots of interesting things to share when I return.  The two workshops are “faces in fabric” and “faces in thread” and will incorporate information from my second book “photo-inspired art quilts” due out sometime early this summer.

Often, when looking at art, a piece will jump out and grab me, “speaking” to me in a way that is purely emotional.  i think this is the most amazing aspect of art–that it can touch your soul besides feeding your sense of aesthetics.

Some time ago, I saw a piece by Virginia Spiegel from her Boundary Waters Series that spoke to me in just that way.  I love Virginia’s work, and encourage you to visit her website at www.virginiaspeigel.com.  I would be happy to live with any of Virginia’s artwork.  When she expressed an interest in my piece “if the earth stops singing how will we dance” we got to talking about making a trade.  Finally, we sent the pieces off to each other, and mine arrived yesterday.  How exciting it was to open the box and be able to really look at this gorgeous quilt, and touch it (my biggest frustration about museums and shows–I always want to touch the artwork).  Beatifully wrapped and packaged, I am so excited to own this piece that I had admired for so long but never dreamed would one day be mine.  Thanks, Virginia!

Here is my new acquisition, Boundary Waters #22

And here is what Virginia got in exchange:

I just realised that I never posted the completed quilt of the woman reading the newspaper on a park bench that was mentioned earlier in these posts.  Final title “Sunday morning, Central Park” is pictured below.  I decided to allow the bench to come out of the frame a bit, and chose not to make the edges perfectly straight.  I am happy with the result:

The past few weeks have kept me quite busy for two primary reasons; the first (pictured below) is a new work that I just completed this morning.  It began as a photo taken of my son, Jordan, while on vacation skiing last winter (when he fell asleep at the end of the day on a sofa).  The idea of the title “cat nap” and the addition of the cat came while I was working on the piece.

The second reason is that I have been invited to teach two workshops in Taiwan–”faces in fabric” and “faces in thread”.  Lots to do in order to get ready for what promises to be a wonderful adventure.  I will take plenty of pictures of the classes, the accompanying quilt exhibit, and the country–so watch for blog postings about this once in a lifetime experience!