Archive | November, 2023

“Space Bar” at Elegant Threads

By Ellen Lindner on November 28, 2023 in Uncategorized

The Elegant Threads exhibit, currently on display at the Lighthouse Gallery, in Tequesta, FL is VERY diverse. It’s a juries collection of 2D fiber art, 3D wearable garments, jewelry and accessories, as well as several invited pieces on loan.

The most interesting of these is Space Bar, by Nigerian artist Moffat Takadiwa.

As you can see, it fills most of one wall. It doesn’t lay flat, but has very interesting undulations.

What was it made of? Glad you asked: junk from a landfill.

Many of the components are computer keyboard keys. Thus the title of Space Bar.

The other primary material is the heads of old toothbrushes! VERY creative!

This exhibit runs through December 2nd, and it’s well worth a visit.

Ellen Lindner
P.S. See two other posts about this exhibit.

I Met a Portrait Artist

By Ellen Lindner on November 27, 2023 in Uncategorized

I’m very excited to have a solo show coming up next spring, in Orange, VA. This is the town where I grew up, so that’s extra special. (I say I grew up there, but I actually grew up on a farm 15 miles away. But Orange was town to us.) Anyway, on a recent visit I stopped in to the Arts Center of Orange, where my exhibit will be, to take some photos and measurements.

The space I’ll be using is offered to various artists and groups for their displays. But this month (November 2023) a portrait artist, Davi Leventhal, is occupying the space and painting portraits of whomever shows up.

Portrait artist, Davi Leventhal. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

When people show up and agree to sit for him, he makes a small under painting, like these.

Portrait artist, Davi Leventhal. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Later, he applies Renaissance techniques and turns them into something like this.

Portrait artist, Davi Leventhal. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

I find this pretty fascinating.

Davi also had several of his sketchbooks and other paraphernalia for visitors to peruse. Aren’t these interesting? They represent about 1/4 of the people he had sketched onto one page in his sketchbook.

Portrait artist, Davi Leventhal. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

If you miss Davi’s stint in Orange, you may want to check out his website. Of particular interest to quilters, he was involved with a community project making what we would call yo yos.

Now, back to my exhibit: what do you think of that turquoise wall color? It’s just on one wall, which I think will be perfect for my purposes. Lots of planning to do!

Ellen Lindner

Elegant Threads Fashion Show

By Ellen Lindner on November 26, 2023 in Uncategorized

Wow! The Elegant Threads fashion show was pretty amazing! I didn’t get to attend, but a friend sent me photos. Just check these out.

The show included garments, jewelry, and accessories. In this case, the green necklace is the featured item. It is made (crocheted???) from wire.

My friend, Perlie Petrillo, made this garment and she was kind enough to provide all these photos. She intended the head wrap to be a sash, but they styled it differently here. A versatile piece.

This was the Viewers’ Choice. It was constructed from old quilts purchased at garage sales. The different sections were joined together with zippers. I was surprised to see how well it moved, even with batting.

These next two garments were made by Amy Blicher. They’re both very wearable.

Can you say “goth?” My friend referred to this garment as “the leather dress.” But, I’m thinking it was actually recycled tires. Interesting either way.

Marjolaine Arsenault was the maker of this lovely felted shawl.

This felted dress was made by Charity Van de Meer Musma.

I think this garment was crocheted and felted.

This model could wear anything! I mean, what kind of confidence does it take to wear a top made entirely from strands of beads?!?

Although the fashion show is now history, the entire exhibit is still on display through December 2nd. I recommend that you hurry to see it at the Lighthouse Gallery, Tequesta, FL.

If you haven’t already, be sure to read my earlier post about the exhibit.

Ellen Lindner

Composing an Abstract Composition

By Ellen Lindner on November 10, 2023 in Uncategorized

In my last post, I showed how I started with a diagonal composition. That was probably a good starting point, but I could very quickly see that it was way to bulky and “regular.”

I knew it needed to have some variation and some energy added. So, I started trying new things. First, I got rid of the pink corner and I added a high contrast print with circles. That helped a lot!

I pieced together the center section, which had vertical pieces. I was pretty confident with that portion, so I left it in place while I auditioned changes in other areas.

You get the idea. But then, I decided I should turn that center section 90 degrees – just to mix things up.

It didn’t immediately look better. As a matter of fact, maybe it looked worse. But, since it was DIFFERENT FROM MY EARLIER VISION, it appealed to me and I decided to work with it some more. (After all, I could always turn it back.)

I kept this new center orientation as I continued to work on the placement of the red.