Back in the Studio--Oh Yes!

Three Generations:  
Mary Catherine, Mary Rose, and Amaliya Rose

10" x 12.25" fabric, paper, photo transfer on fabric, yarn, button, cotton batting,  hand and machine stitching

This small art quilt had a beginning a very long time ago, and then the pause button was pushed.  I wasn't sure how to proceed--what was next?

I loved the two images of my daughter, Amaliya Rose at 3 years old in the bath tub.  She loved water and bath time was a treat--you can see the big smile.  The lower image is my grandmother, Mary Catherine.  She looks dressed up and ready to go some where.  She  was a dear woman and met Amaliya when she was a little baby before she passed away.

I looked for an image of my mother, Mary Rose to add to this collage piece--but I didn't have the image that completed this art quilt.  And then I found the word, Rose as part of a garment label.  It fit and connected.  So the energy of Amaliya Rose and Mary Rose is present in that small word.

The button was sewn up beside the Amaliya image and I had to move it to its current location. 

The antique button looks like a tree of life to me.

My dear Grandma Mary Catherine

Amaliya and showing the world her pleasure.

I finally found peace to complete this lovely little quilt.


See more art quilts in the Breeze on my Skin Gallery.

Birds of Fancy, A Mini Art Quilt Workshop

Birds of Fancy ~ Create a Mini Wall Art Quilt

A Workshop to create, stitch and enjoy

Saturday, June 27, 12-4pm

Cost: Workshop $30.00, Materials $10.00

SUTRA, global by design, 570 Main St, Dakota, Minnesota 55925

Call: (608) 792-7641 to register.

Instructor: Mary Lee Eischen

 

In this workshop, students will learn and create a collage mini quilt with photo images and words on cloth to delight and inspire.  We’ll begin with images of birds, nature and/or angels that Mary Lee provides for the group.  Images and text on cloth will be provided to give lots of possibilities for the creation of each personal mini quilt.

We will consider and discuss composition, color, and placement to give dynamic or calming effects depending on the creator’s desires to support the creating.  As in a quilt, we will have our top cloth with images and words, a middle batting cloth and at back piece of cloth.  Putting it all together will be with hand stitching—no need for a sewing machine for this project.  We’ll also create a miniature hanging devise to hang your mini art quilt on the wall.

All materials provided—you may bring a notebook for any personal notes, favorite art supplies such as pencils, colored pencils, scissors, fabrics, or trims, if you choose.

Mary Lee Eischen is a fiber and mixed media artist.  She dyes and paints on fabric, and creates art quilts.  She uses nature, women, family, color, and abstraction in her mixed media artwork.  See more of Mary Lee’s art at her on line gallery at Breeze on my Skin,  or at the Lanesboro Arts Center in Lanesboro, Minnesota or Bluff Country Artists Gallery in Spring Grove, Minnesota.

 

Open House for EASEL exhibit including "Fly Away with a Book"

The SELCO traveling exhibit, "Experience Art in Southeastern Libraries" is currently in Rushford/Peterson High School Library through April 8, 2015.  An open house to celebrate the exhibit is scheduled for Tuesday, March 31, 6:30-7:30pm.

The art that I created for the exhibit, Fly Away with a Book will be on display.  I'm excited to see the other pieces in the exhibit.  I've seen the images of the art in the EASEL book but seeing the actual work up close is very exciting.

Fly Away with a Book
12" x 12"

See the process of creating Fly Away with a Book

The exhibit will be traveling through June 2015.  To learn more and see the full exhibit schedule.

Hope you get a chance to view the art.

Fly Away with a Book

The Southeastern Minnesota Libraries invite artists to submit one piece of artwork that depicts books or libraries for a traveling art show in libraries called Experience Art in Southeastern Libraries, EASEL.   I was honored to be part of that show with a piece called Library Paradise as it traveled for 2012-2013.  I've had a love affair with libraries and books since I was a girl.  Just going in to find a new book or research a project is a wonderful thing to me.

The submission date for the 12" x 12" artwork was last week and I submitted "Fly Away with a Book."  It is a fiber art quilt with layers of fabric and hand writing and stitching about books.
Here's a peek into the process of creating the piece through photographs.

I began with some drawings and fabric selection.  Then I started to lay the fabric pieces on the 12" x 12" format.  

 

 

 Pinning all the fabric bits to ready for stitching.

 

 

Hand stitching the letters.

 

Maybe you'll see Fly Away with a Book in a library near you.  See you at the library!

A New Year for Quilts

Quilts by Mary Lee Eischen

The Winona Senior Friendship Center located at 251 Main Street has a current exhibit of quilts by Mary Lee Eischen.  The art quilts range in styles from traditional pieced fabrics to mixed media works that include photographs and text transferred to fabric.  Some of the artwork has fabric that is painted or dyed.  All include a top fabric, middle batting and a back fabric held together with stitching.  

Quilting is an American art form that has grown in world acclaim.  It has historically drawn women together over quilting frames to share their joys and their sorrows; and quilts have held families warm through the coldest times of winter. Contemporary art quilts share the beauty of traditional quilts and add modern elements with the changing climate of society. Today, men share in the acclaim of art quilters.

Town Square of Nines 51.5 x 51.5 October 2001 Machine pieced and quilted

Here’s a portion of Mary Lee’s artist statement:

            “Working with art and creating ease and flow in my life is very important to me.  Sharing my life with people is also very important to me. Creating art to make colors sing and resonant together is one way I share my impressions of the world with other people.  I use themes from nature, as well as patterns that excite me in my artwork.  Circles, spirals, triangles repeat often in my work.  I like the energetic emotion of color.  I want to share with others in the creation of artwork and the sharing of ideas to find our degrees of connectedness.”

  Pieces of Life 29” x 51” Hand dyed cotton, silk dupione, commercial cottons, machine pieced,  free  motion quilting, September 2005 

Mary Lee's quilts will be on display through the month of January 2013.

Visit the Winona Senior Friendship Center Monday through Friday 7:30am – 4:30pm

For more information call (507) 454-5212