Opening Night: 100% Pure Florida

Oh my goodness: opening night at the 100% Pure Florida exhibit was mobbed!  It was very difficult to move around, but this was one of those “good problems to have.”

My piece “Lava to the Sea” was over in the corner.  Not ideal, but that’s okay.  It won an award of merit even so!  Yippee!

I wore a name tag with an image of the quilt on it and received many nice comments about it.  (The quilt, that is, not the name tag.)  This is a favorite trick of mine to help viewers connect me with my piece.

Although I took many photos, I didn’t meet most of the artists, so was unable to ask their permission to show them here.  So, I just have a few for you.

I really admired this piece, which was prominently displayed.

Caren also won an award, but I don’t remember which one.

But, the most interesting part of the evening was meeting and talking with this beauty.

Her name is Kestrel Michaud and she’s a fiber artist!  She designs pieces like you see here, often with a somewhat art deco look.  And always stylized like this.

These are fabric!  She told me the cat one has 450 pieces of fabric in it.  (My kind of gal.)  She uses fusible web, but never stitches her pieces.  Instead, they are mounted to foam core, matted, and framed.

Here’s a detail shot of a kitten’s tail and paws.  That’s a lot of tedious cutting!

I bent Kestrel’s ear for quite some time about SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates,) framing vs. quilting, and other technique issues.  I love meeting new fiber artists!

This is a very nice exhibit, in Melbourne, FL with runs through September 30th.  I hope you’ll get a chance to see it.

Ellen Lindner