Author Archive | Ellen Lindner

Dirty Dozen Exhibit in Cape Canaveral, FL

Y’all, I am SO fortunate to be part of the Dirty Dozen Fiber Artists. This group of women is not only artistically talented, but great friends! What a blessing to each of us.

Here’s most of the gang viewing our current exhibit. Can you tell we’re having fun?

Dirty Dozen art at The Cape Center. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

L-R: Linda Geiger, Ruth Anne Parker, Gabrielle DiTota, Perlie Petrillo, Sandy Shenker, Ellen Lindner, Kathryn Robinson, Dij Pacarro, and Anne Kobus. Not shown: Jill Brown, Andrea Luliak, and Becky Stack

Our group is mostly about making art, but we also like to occasionally display our work. Right now, we have 19 pieces in an exhibit called Fiber Arts: An Ancient Local Tradition. The oldest textiles in the world have been found at an archaeological site in our county so this exhibit was curated to honor that. It’s on display at The Cape Center, in Cape Canaveral, FL. It’s a very nice venue, with most of the artwork well lit. Visiting is free and it will be up through October.

Here are just a few of the wonderful pieces on display.

Gabriele DiTota’s huge banana leaf is the largest piece in the exhibit. To make it she printed an actual banana leaf with cyanotype. The title is No Bananas Today. It was made during the pandemic, when many things were out of stock at the grocery store. She has text on the piece listing several other things that were also hard to find.

Dirty Dozen art at The Cape Center. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Gabriele DiTota with her piece, “No Bananas Today.”

The Cape Center was specifically looking for pieces with a local or environmental message for this exhibit, so Sandy Shenker’s piece about Red Mangroves fit right in. The title is Keystone, reflecting the importance of these plants in the ecosystem of our local river/lagoon. Can you see those BIG roots?

Dirty Dozen art at The Cape Center. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

“Keystone” by Sandy Shenker

Anne Kobus created this wonderful quilt, Sunward.

Dirty Dozen art at The Cape Center. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

” Sunward” by Anne Kobus

Andrea Luliak made this triptych featuring the life of a sunflower. She calls it Life Cycle.

Dirty Dozen art at The Cape Center. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

“Life Cycle”by Andrea Luliak

“Salty Air and Sunshine” was made by Kathryn Robinson. It include sheer fabrics, computer printed ones, and hand stitching.

Dirty Dozen art at The Cape Center. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

“Salty Air and Sunshine” by Kathryn Robinson

Hanging high, in the most prominent corner, are 3D fish made by Joan Engel. Part of an earlier work about the plight of fish in polluted water, all of these live in our local river/lagoon. Now displayed independently, they make great shadows on the wall.

Dirty Dozen art at The Cape Center. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

*By Joan Engel

I hope you get to see these great pieces for yourself!

Ellen Lindner

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Food and Flowers in Siena, Italy

While in Siena, we stayed in a lovely inn. This was the view (on a rainy day.)

Siena, Italy. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

It was very early spring and things were just beginning to bloom.

Siena, Italy. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

This photo is looking back at the building.

Siena, Italy. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

We had our fanciest meal in Siena. We think our table was located in an old wine cellar. Here’s hubby trying to decode the menu.

Siena, Italy. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

I’m sure the staff thought we were rather strange, since we didn’t order course after course as those near us did. I got an appetizer only and hubby got an entree only. But, we did share dessert.

Siena, Italy. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

It was tasty and not overly sweet. The berries were currants, something I’d never had before. We saw them in things several times.

BTW, black truffles were in season and we had them in multiple dishes. Yummy!

Here’s an interesting take on creme brulee, (from a different Siena restaurant.) They set the sugar topping on fire as they set it down before me. I had to wait for it to go out and by that time, the sugar was hardened, and still warm.

Siena, Italy. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

We had some very good food, but I also got adventurous enough that I encountered some things I didn’t care for. Like melty warm, soft pork fat on toast. No thank you. (It was part of a Tuscan crostini sampler.) They love their fatty pork!

I’d definitely enjoy visiting Siena again.

Ellen Lindner

 

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Siena, Italy

Siena is a small medieval town in the heart of Tuscany. The city center is maintained to look the way it did in the 1300’s. It’s very picturesque (or, it would be, if seen on a sunny day. It was rainy and overcast for us.)

The piazza and the town hall tower are the center of the action. Everything sits on steep hills. Can you tell how steep this street is, plunging way down over the course of one building?

Siena, Italy. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

The streets are very narrow, with no sidewalks. There’s just room for one way traffic and vehicular access to the city center is tightly restricted. When a vehicle comes pedestrians just ease over to the side and no one gets excited.

Siena, Italy. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

A Gothic church sits at the highest point in the city, made from white and dark green marble.

Siena, Italy. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Traveling along the right side of the church and around to the back we encountered “the steps of death.” Or, that’s what we called them. Marble steps, wet with rain, and no handrail. Eep!

Siena, Italy. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

They didn’t look as scary when viewed from the bottom, but I can tell you they were pretty tricky!

Siena, Italy. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Nearby we found a small grocery store. Don’t you love the way they leave the leaves on the lemons? I thought they were so pretty.

Siena, Italy. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Even in the rain, it was fun to explore.

Ellen Lindner

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Adding Interest to a Background

My current quilt is progressing along nicely, (but slowly.) I spent a LOT of time piecing the background and was quite happy with it. But, I wanted to tie the background of angular shapes into the design more. Since I planned to use large circular shapes in the foreground I thought skinny circles in the background would add interest and unity.

First, I auditioned fabrics for the background circles. I wanted them to be fairly subtle. Maybe about 5 or 6 of them. I thought these would be pretty close. But is that darkest blue too dark? We’ll see.

Adding interest to a background. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

I drew the circles on my computer sketch and used that as a loose guide. I spent a good bit of time cutting the fused fabrics and arranging the circles. Here, 3 of my planned 6 are in place. But not attached yet! I pinned everything and studied it before fusing the circles in place.

Adding interest to a background. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

What do you think about the dark blue circle, top left? I think it stands out a little, but I think it will work.

And this is where I am now. The background circles have been fused on and I’m working on the two foreground circles. (The colors are actually much brighter and I’m in love with them!)

Adding interest to a background. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

OK, what about that skinny blue circle now? I think it’s okay, since the strong red foreground elements will attract more attention.

One thing that didn’t work: a wheat stencil. Actually, the stencil itself worked fine. But, it was just too large and too different from everything else. I’ll save it for something else.

Piecing a Green Background. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

I’ve been thinking about the title. This piece is about my parents. My working title was “Daddy Was a Farmer, Mama was a Southern Belle.” While that’s a great title, I don’t think it goes with the narrative of this story. I’ll simplify it and am still thinking about. Maybe I’ll use their names, the number of years they were married, or something along those lines. I can still reference farming and southern hospitality in the artist statement.

I’m getting close!

Ellen Lindner

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Planning a Foreground Design

I’ve been wanting to do a series of quilts about my family. I made the first one, Happy Family, which used circles to represent people.

"Happy Family" complete. An art quilt by Ellen Lindner. AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Happy Family

With that one the circles were an 11th hour addition. For the next one I wanted to be much more intentional.

After selecting green for the background of my current quilt it immediately got me thinking about my dad, a farmer. I decided to make a quilt about both my mom and my dad. My mom is a very gracious southern woman, who excels at entertaining, gardening, and cooking. I think of her as a Southern Belle, because she’s a beauty, as well. Thus, my working title became “Daddy was a Farmer, Mama was a Southern Belle.” (Note: my mom is still alive and she’s given her blessing to this title.)

Piecing a Green Background. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

So, how to depict these two with circles??? I knew I wanted to use red to contrast with the green. And it had a sort of farm feel to me, since farm equipment is often red.

I drew a sketch on the computer and began to audition my ideas on the design wall. I thought Dad (or Daddy as I often addressed him,) needed a big red sort of tear shaped oval.

Planning a Foreground Design Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

But, Mom needed to be more curvy.

Planning a Foreground Design Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

And slightly pinker.

Planning a Foreground Design Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

I managed to find enough red fabrics for my purposes and I’m loving these colors together!

I was REALLY tempted to complete these two shapes, but I began to think about how much easier it would be to quilt the background before adding the circles, especially since I intended to add quilt a few more blue and green ones. So, I quilted the background and started auditioning fabrics for background circles.

Planning a Foreground Design Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

The background circles will be MUCH skinnier than the foreground ones. Maybe pinky width.  And they’ll have much lower contrast, serving as a background of ancestors.

The pace on this piece has finally quickened and I’m really enjoying it!

Ellen Lindner

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Piecing a Green Background

For my latest quilt I envisioned an interesting green background with vibrantly colored circles in the foreground. I got to work on the background with my usual technique of auditioning fabrics and designing as I went along. I chose green, because I had A LOT of green fabric. Plus, I had a theme idea that would work well with green.

Piecing a Green Background. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

It was SLOW!

Piecing a Green Background. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

I would piece a section, audition a section, and repeat.

Piecing a Green Background. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Thankfully, my efforts paid off and I was quite happy with the way it was developing.

To add interest in the less patterned areas I added several little skinny arcs.

Piecing a Green Background. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

I used red here and there to go with the fabrics and to support the red fabrics I planned to use in the foreground.

Here it is finished and I’m very happy with it. I think it has enough pattern to be interesting, but not so much that it will compete with the foreground.

Piecing a Green Background. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

I think there’s one commercial fabric in there, but otherwise I dyed all of them. I love using my own dyed fabric!

During the time  it took to piece the background I had plenty of time to think about the foreground. I knew I wanted to use red in some very curvy/circular shapes. Auditioning red fabrics was next on my list.

Ellen LIndner

 

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Antiquing in the South

When you go antiquing in Virginia you’re very likely to find items related to the Civil War. Such was the case at J.S. Mosby Antiques and Artifacts in Orange, VA, where these period uniforms were displayed just inside the door.

Antiquing in the South. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

The owner, Stephen Sylvia, is an expert on military weapons. Here, he was showing us this Navy boat flag with 49 stars.

Antiquing in the South. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Of course, he has non-military items in his store, too. Like this once-lovely needle pointed chair.

Antiquing in the South. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Mr. Sylvia spent a bit of time with us and taught us a lot about rifles of the late 1800s. It was very interesting.

This bust kept an eye on things. Do you recognize him?

Antiquing in the South. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Yes, it’s Robert E. Lee.

There’s so much history in Virginia. Just outside of town is Montpelier, the home of James and Dolly Madison.

Ellen Lindner
P.S. This antique shop is immediately adjacent to the art center, where my work in currently on display.

 

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The Opening Reception!

The opening reception for my show was FANTASTIC! First, take a quick look at the artwork.

exhibit before opening

If you’re extremely observant, you may have noticed that the video included one piece with a red dot on the label. That’s right, it sold BEFORE the opening! Woohoo! I was elated. Here it is.

Poppies Ablaze, an art quilt by Ellen Lindner. AdventureQuilter.com

Poppies AblazeLots of people came to the reception. Many of them were family and friends, plus a healthy dose of quilters. I even saw people from my high school days! (And RECOGNIZED some of them! Crazy.)

Here I am with long-time family friends.

The Opening Reception. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

And here are a few more artwork photos, moving around the room. These are 6 pieces in my Notes for a Friend series. (They worked well with the adjacent purple cabinet.)

Hanging the Show. Ellen Lindner,AdventureQuilter.com/blog

The corner with Spring Forth. It was one of the pieces I mentioned in my remarks.

The Opening Reception. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Exuberance, centered on the right wall.

The Opening Reception. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

The far right corner, showing the second aqua wall.

The Opening Reception. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Several people complemented me on the use of the aqua walls. I was just LUCKY to have artwork in those colors!

Close-ups of two more Notes for a Friend. These both sold that night.

The Opening Reception. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

This piece also sold that night, Ti Plants A-Glow-Glow.

Hanging the Show. Ellen Lindner,AdventureQuilter.com/blog

To say that the evening was exhilarating is an understatement. I got to talk about my work to a room full of interested people. (I got LOTS of questions and had many small group conversations.) And I got to catch up with old friends and enjoy the company of family. It was a great event!

There was so much interest in my process that a gallery talk/demo was quickly added for June 28th, at 2 PM. I love that!

This show will be up until June 29th. If  you’re in central VA I hope you’ll get to see it.

Ellen Lindner
P.S. Exhibit details

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Hanging the Show

I arrived at The Arts Center in Orange, VA with a thorough plan about how I would hang my show. But, you know what they say about that sort of thing. It turns out that some of the measurements and the configuration were a little different than I had anticipated.

For instance, this was my plan for the left wall.

Hanging the Show. Ellen Lindner,AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Then, I got there and discovered this in the middle of that wall.

Hanging the Show. Ellen Lindner,AdventureQuilter.com/blog
I knew this purple cabinet would be in the space, but I thought I’d be able to reposition it. But no: it was bolted to the wall! Time to rethink. I ended up shifting the 3 pieces to the left corner and adjacent wall. I was really happy with the way the artwork played off the aqua color.

Hanging the Show. Ellen Lindner,AdventureQuilter.com/blog

To the right of the cabinet I hung 6 of my little Notes for a Friend.  That’s my mom helping me measure.

Hanging the Show. Ellen Lindner,AdventureQuilter.com/blog

I had two more EXCELLENT helpers, my sister-in-law, Lisa, and a local fiber artist friend, Marty. It took us quite a while and there’s no way I could have done it without them.

This was my plan for the brick wall. It’s the main wall you see when entering the room.

Hanging the Show. Ellen Lindner,AdventureQuilter.com/blog

I was able to hang it exactly as planned. I’ll show you better photos in the next post, but these will give you an idea.

Hanging the Show. Ellen Lindner,AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Hanging the Show. Ellen Lindner,AdventureQuilter.com/blog

We were all ready for the show to open! The opening reception was a blast and I’ll show you about that in my next post.

Ellen Lindner
P.S. Exhibit details: The Arts Center in Orange, Orange, VA, May 1 – June 29.

 

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Saint Peter’s Basilica

After touring the Vatican Museum we finally got to go into the church part of the Vatican: St. Peter’s Basilica. It’s the largest church in the world, and the most opulent. Gold and marble cover most of the surfaces and it’s absolutely HUGE. The architecture and art are absolutely amazing!

There is tons of symbolism everywhere. The sculptures of people all have significance. The central figure on the roof is Jesus, with Saint Peter on the right.

The Vatican Art Museum. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

The interior of the basilica was GORGEOUS! It was spacious, with high ceilings, marble statues, and gilded surfaces in all directions. The pagoda shaped structure near the far end is actually a huge scaffold in front of an altar(?)

St Peter's Basilica. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

This panoramic shot gives you a glimpse of the crossing corridors. (Did I mention it’s huge?)

St Peter's Basilica. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

This sculpture of Mary, Jesus’ mother, holding his body is very moving.

St Peter's Basilica. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

The domed ceiling was amazing! And SO high!

St Peter's Basilica. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

It was hard to take it all in, but I highly recommend trying.

St Peter's Basilica. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Ellen Lindner

 

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