Best quilters in Canada found right here at home

Set in Stone full

The South Okanagan can boast some of the best quilters in Canada, as seen in the Canadian Quilters Association’s National Juried Show held in Penticton, May 16-18.

Marianne Parsons from Oliver won first place in the Original Design Abstract Pictorial category for her “Set in Stone” quilt (at left) with 5 fossil panels on it. The award came with a $1000 prize. Marianne is a member of the Fabricators, a local art quilt group, and the Double O Quilters Guild. She is also a member of the Fibre Art Network, and will participate in a curated show of work by that group at the La Conner Quilt Museum in La Conner, WA, Oct. 10 – Dec. 31, 2013. Two of her quilts can also be seen in the Grand National exhibit at the Josef Schneider Quilt Haus in Waterloo, ON for the summer.

Joan Bielun from Penticton (another one of the Fabricators) also won first prize in her category for her “Elements of Change” quilt featuring the giant Wave. It was nice to see that the first award of the evening ceremony in Penticton went to a Penticton resident! That quilt is the cover quilt on the national magazine, The Canadian Quilter, summer issue.

Maya Brouwer  Hide and Seek  TTex viewers choice

Maya Brouwer, a former Oliver resident, now a Double O Quilters Guild member living near Victoria and a Fabricator as well, won the Viewer’s Choice award for her Trend-Tex Challenge, “Hide and Seek” (at left). Her piece also earned the highest bid at the event.

Miriam March Lattice Garden

Miriam March is a Double O Quilters member and is a longarm quilter from Rock Creek. She took first place in Canada in the Bed or Wall Quilt longarm quilted category at Quilt BC with her quilt, “Lattice Garden”. (pictured foreground below, Pat Kelly photo, Boundary Creek Times)

Several other area quilters earned awards as well. Judy Harpur from Rock Creek, (who grew up in Oliver), earned a Judge’s Award for her quilt, “Picasso’s 39 Ford”, and Karen Thatcher from the Grand Forks area won 2nd place in the Original Design, Abstract Pictorial category. 

To see all of the winning quilts, go to www.canadianquilter.com then click on Galleries on the red bar, and then on NJS 2013.

Arts Jam! on tour to quilters Monday March 12

Oliver Community Arts Council members are invited to a special edition of the monthly Arts Jam! gathering of the membership. This month Arts Jam! goes on tour to visit one of the arts council’s member groups on their own “turf”. The event is hosted by the Double O Quilters on Monday 12th at 9:30 a.m. at the Oliver Community Centre hall.

Members will be treated to a special presentation of Double O talent, listen to some news from the quilters, and have a chance to share news from the various local arts groups. Goodies and beverages are graciously provided by the quilters guild.

The arts council will announce many of its own spring activities, including the Spring Arts Faire,  Arts and Culture Week events, and Showcase of Talent, in addition to a short summary of their recent AGM, and information on funding to arts groups.

A similar “tour” in the spring of 2011 (to the spinners and weavers) proved so popular that the council thought the venture worth repeating. Watch for more “Arts Jams on Tour” in the future, and find out about our members’s talents!

Arts Jam! usually occurs on the fourth Monday of every month at the Quail’s Nest Arts Centre. This special tour replaces the usual fourth Monday gathering for March. The following Arts Jam will be Monday April 23 at 9:30 a.m. at the Quail’s Nest Arts Centre.

Photo: A file photo from the 2011 “Quilts and Beyond” exhibit by the Double O Quilters Featuring the work of prize winner, Enid Baker.

Credit: Penelope Johnson 

 

“Casting Shadows” announced as 2012 Fall Art Show and Sale theme

The Oliver Community Arts Council announces the theme for the 2012 Fall Art Show & Sale: “Casting Shadows”. Artists in all media are invited to begin the creative process using that theme as their inspiration to create new works. 

Precise categories have not been announced, but will include the following: oils, watercolours, acrylics, fibre arts, photography, mixed / new media, and three-dimensional (including sculpture, found object art, leatherwork, metalwork, lapidary and more). Emerging artists (under 19) may enter in their own category.

“Casting Shadows” was the popular choice for the 2012 theme, based on ballots received from the public at this past year’s Fall Art Show & Sale. Whether you draw, paint, take photos, or create in fabric, wool, or in 3-dimensions with wood, clay, metal or other materials, the Fall Art Show and Sale is the perfect place to show and sell your work.

The 2012 Fall Art Show & Sale will take place on Saturday & Sunday, September 29th & 30th at the Oliver Community Centre (held jointly with the Festival of the Grape on the Sunday).

For further information, please call Sally at 250-498-0104 or email the arts council at olivercac @ gmail.com

Visit the Oliver Arts Council’s website in early 2012 for entry forms and more news concerning the 2012 Fall Art Show & Sale.

"Casting Shadows" announced as 2012 Fall Art Show and Sale theme

The Oliver Community Arts Council announces the theme for the 2012 Fall Art Show & Sale: “Casting Shadows”. Artists in all media are invited to begin the creative process using that theme as their inspiration to create new works. 

Precise categories have not been announced, but will include the following: oils, watercolours, acrylics, fibre arts, photography, mixed / new media, and three-dimensional (including sculpture, found object art, leatherwork, metalwork, lapidary and more). Emerging artists (under 19) may enter in their own category.

“Casting Shadows” was the popular choice for the 2012 theme, based on ballots received from the public at this past year’s Fall Art Show & Sale. Whether you draw, paint, take photos, or create in fabric, wool, or in 3-dimensions with wood, clay, metal or other materials, the Fall Art Show and Sale is the perfect place to show and sell your work.

The 2012 Fall Art Show & Sale will take place on Saturday & Sunday, September 29th & 30th at the Oliver Community Centre (held jointly with the Festival of the Grape on the Sunday).

For further information, please call Sally at 250-498-0104 or email the arts council at olivercac @ gmail.com

Visit the Oliver Arts Council’s website in early 2012 for entry forms and more news concerning the 2012 Fall Art Show & Sale.

A Quilted Life: Enid Baker

How do you capture your life journey? With a diary? Letters? Photographs? A list of books you’ve read? For some people, like artist Enid Baker, memories are made of quilts, and life is tracked in threads on a sewing machine.

Join Enid as she pulls quilts from her travellin’ trunk, and shares moments along her life’s road.  Journey with her through a montage of quilted artwork. Find out what quilts stretched her creative talent, made her think, helped her grow, and made her laugh!

Enid is pictured at left teaching a young quilter the art. Below is “Janet Retires”, a quilted hanging entered in the “Quilts and Beyond” Show, April 2011.

The Friends of the Oliver Library present
Trunk Show: A Life Journey in Quilts
with Enid Baker
Wednesday November 23 *** NEW DATE*** 
7:30PM 
Oliver Regional Library
FREE
Refreshments served, courtesy of FOTOL

***This event has been delayed to November 23 to avoid conflict with the Oliver Foreign Film Festival on November 16. ***

Photo Credit: Val Friesen (top), Penelope Johnson (bottom)

Fall Art Show and Sale is FASS-t approaching

This popular annual event is on Saturday October 1 – Sunday October 2 at the Oliver Community Centre, in conjunction with the Festival of the Grape. See poster for details.

View many interpretations of the “Outside the Box” theme in eight artistic categories: photography,  fibre arts, 3 -D, oils, acrylics, watercolours, other media, and a category for young “emerging artists”.

Saturday is a great day to see the show for free,  from 3 – 9 p.m. View the artwork, vote for your favourites, purchase artwork, bid in the silent auction,  and tour fascinating non-competitive displays such as the RipOff Artists American Gothic and demonstrations. Visit the arts council information booth. In the evening, nibble at the reception, listen to live entertainment, and be present for the announcement of category winners and “Best Interpretation of the Theme” (our version of Best in Show).

The Sunday entrance is free only with your paid entrance to the Festival of the Grape. The exhibits and sale continue, as does the silent auction. Meet the artists. View the category winners and the  overall “Best in Show”. Did your favourites win?

Watch for cute little wine glass tags commemorating poster art from the last four art shows. They make great souvenirs as well as being handy to wear on your Festival of the Grape glass on Sunday. 

Bring your chequebook because, in addition to the great art, arts council memberships, souvenirs and gift items on sale, you will definitely want to enter the silent auction!

The silent auction is looking absolutely fantastic this year! The auction continues the “Outside the Box” theme. Bid on dozens of tempting hand-painted boxes laden with various themed goods.  Each box is filled with items such as “a night at the theatre”, “home preserves”, “vacation”, “outdoor living”, “games night”, “school days”, “kitchenware”, “gardening”, “coffee bar” , “tea for two” or “bath and beauty”, just to name a few.   Each filled box makes an attractive gift or keep it for yourself and display it at home.

Between now and the festival, watch for our travelling “Outside the Box” display! The 6-foot tall stack of boxes looks like the poster graphic.  Can you find it around town? Thank you to Beyond Bliss, Medici’s Gelateria, Interior Savings  Credit Union, Valley First Credit Union, and the Oliver Regional Library for hosting the box stack so far! Please patronize these community-minded  businesses and institutions!

Spot the “Outside the Box” box!

It’s what creative artists do — think outside the box! And this year, it’s the theme of the Fall Art Show and Sale. This popular annual event is on Saturday October 1 – Sunday October 2 at the Oliver Community Centre, in conjunction with the Festival of the Grape. See poster for details.

View many interpretations of the “Outside the Box” theme in eight artistic categories: photography,  fibre arts, 3 -D, oils, acrylics, watercolours, other media, and a category for young “emerging artists”.

Saturday is a great day to see the show for free. View the juried art, vote for your favourites, purchase artwork, bid in the silent auction,  nibble at the reception, listen to live entertainment, tour fascinating non-competitive displays and be present for the announcement of winners.

The Sunday entrance is free with your paid entrance to the Festival of the Grape. The exhibits and sale continue, as does the silent auction. View the category winners and the  overall “Best in Show”.

The silent auction continues the “Outside the Box” theme. Bid on one of dozens of tempting painted boxes laden with various themed goods.  Each box is filled with items for “a night at the theatre”, “vacation”, “outdoor living”, “games night”, “school days”, “kitchenware”, “gardening”, “coffee bar” , “tea for two” or “bath and beauty”, just to name a few.   Each filled box makes an attractive gift or keep it for yourself and display it at home.

 Between now and the festival, watch for our travelling “Outside the Box” display! The 6-foot tall stack of boxes looks like the poster graphic.  Can you find it around town? Let us know where you spot it! Hint: The first location is at Beyond Bliss on Main Street this week.  Please patronize these community-minded  businesses!

Spot the "Outside the Box" box!

It’s what creative artists do — think outside the box! And this year, it’s the theme of the Fall Art Show and Sale. This popular annual event is on Saturday October 1 – Sunday October 2 at the Oliver Community Centre, in conjunction with the Festival of the Grape. See poster for details.

View many interpretations of the “Outside the Box” theme in eight artistic categories: photography,  fibre arts, 3 -D, oils, acrylics, watercolours, other media, and a category for young “emerging artists”.

Saturday is a great day to see the show for free. View the juried art, vote for your favourites, purchase artwork, bid in the silent auction,  nibble at the reception, listen to live entertainment, tour fascinating non-competitive displays and be present for the announcement of winners.

The Sunday entrance is free with your paid entrance to the Festival of the Grape. The exhibits and sale continue, as does the silent auction. View the category winners and the  overall “Best in Show”.

The silent auction continues the “Outside the Box” theme. Bid on one of dozens of tempting painted boxes laden with various themed goods.  Each box is filled with items for “a night at the theatre”, “vacation”, “outdoor living”, “games night”, “school days”, “kitchenware”, “gardening”, “coffee bar” , “tea for two” or “bath and beauty”, just to name a few.   Each filled box makes an attractive gift or keep it for yourself and display it at home.

 Between now and the festival, watch for our travelling “Outside the Box” display! The 6-foot tall stack of boxes looks like the poster graphic.  Can you find it around town? Let us know where you spot it! Hint: The first location is at Beyond Bliss on Main Street this week.  Please patronize these community-minded  businesses!

RipOff Artists go-go-go Gothic

The RipOff Artists fifth anniversary Challenge concluded this week with a race to the finish, a ringing bell, and a burst of applause and cheers. The multimedia collective has been hard at work since Monday July 4 creating several works of art inspired by American Gothic by Grant Wood. As an added challenge, each artist in the collective chose their own iconic artist to imitate when “ripping off” the original piece. At 3:00 p.m. on Saturday July 9 , the time ran out on this year’s Challenge, with most artists completing their work.

 

 

 

Marion Trimble followed the style of Mexican painter Freida Kahlo when recreating American Gothic in mixed media. Freida and artist husband Diego Rivera replace the farming couple. Rivera holds a set of paint brushes instead of the pitchfork. The farmhouse only partially conceals Kahlo’s famous Blue House studio. Lush palm trees stand in for Iowa fields.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kurt Hutterli, a 3-D artist specializing and found objects and recycled materials, copied the bold style of Alexander Calder. Hutterli incorporates  Calder’s palette of bright primary colours for the simple wood figures, and Calder’s love of mobiles for the clouds pverhead. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JoAnn Turner, painting on a wooden cabinet, adopted the style of Byzantine iconography for a “diptych” of the farming couple, giving them the dark brown eyes and swarthy complexion more typical of  Byzantine art.    The drawer above was decorated with Byzantine architecture. Turner says she has more detail work to do, perhaps incorporating the delicate artwork of another medieval religious painter Hildegard of Bingen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Encaustic artist Thea Haubrich mimicked the style of Japanese wood-block artist  Katsushika Hokusai. Hokusai is well-known for The Great Wave and several paintings of Mount Fuji. In Haubrich’s reproduction, a pagoda replaces the farmhouse in the background. In front, a Japanese lady and a grimacing samurai (in wire-frame spectacles) pose together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quilter Dianne Birnie experimented in the style of Gustav Klimt. She combined two separate society portraits by Klimt. She enjoyed the contrast between Klimt’s high society models and the American dustbowl setting of the dirty 30s.

 

 

 

 

 

Photographer Russell Work adopted the style of Salvador Dali. Work took inspiration from several of Dali’s techniques: Melting timepieces were replaced with a melting  cameo brooch and eyeglasses.  Dali’s use of wire suspension and props were used for the farmhouse and the farmer’s chin. Dali’s famous waxed mustache twirls into curled and drooping pitchfork tines. Mimicking Dali’s Mae West painting, in which the actress’ face is transformed into a stage, Russell Work similarly transforms the farmwife’s face and blouse.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leo Pedersen admits he struggled to find an appropriate artistic style in which to reproduce American Gothic in his chosen medium: wood.  He finally settled on something very unconventional but entirely appropriate, Vancouver Sun editorial cartoonist. Len Norris. Norris was known for “skewering social mores”, much like it is supposed Grant Wood does in American Gothic. Pedersen’s work includes a typical editorial caption poking fun at the RipOff Artists, Grant Wood, and Norris himself: “…and this just when we’re through posing for that cartoonist fellow!” grumbles the farmer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Barb Levant took her inspiration from a 1930s textile artist to recreate the apron worn in American Gothic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In perhaps the most challenging recreation of American Gothic, fibre artist Terri Irvine knits a Picasso!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enid Baker’s painting was inspired by the style of Modigliani, whose models are often shown with elongated bodies, oddly bent necks,  and mask-like faces. Basing her design on Modigliani’s portrait Jacques and Berthe Lipchitz, she added a wine glass in Jacques hand– much more  appealing than a pitchfork! The background is based on a separate Modigliani landscape.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enid must have had time on her hands, because she also completed this “Gothic” version of  Charles Schultz’s  Peanuts comic. “I was tempted to add some Gothic vampire teeth,” said Baker.

Missed the show? Watch for a RipOff Artists exhibit later in the year….

 Photo credit: Penelope Johnson

Quilts and Beyond! Friday and Saturday

The Double O Quilters Guild presents

Quilts and Beyond

Friday April 15
10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Saturday April 16
10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Oliver Community Centre
FREE Admission
Exhibit, demonstrations, door prizes, merchant mall, silent auction, and MORE!
 

RipOff Artists Reach the Peak with Mount Lefroy

During the last week of June, the South Okanagan’s  RipOff Artists attracted media coverage and crowds of curious onlookers with their fourth annual exhibit, “ripping off” Group of Seven’s Lawren Harris and his iconic Mount Lefroy. During a weeklong demonstration and exhibit, each of the ten artists in the collective interpreted the famous painting in their own medium.

Leo Pedersen’s 3-D woodworking installation in progress.

Encaustic artist Thea Haubrich recreates Mount Lefroy in hot beeswax.

JoAnn Turner turns a CD cabinet into a work of art. Can you see the drawer knobs? Or are they surreal snowballs and mountain rocks?

3-D artist Kurt Hutterli adds the finishing touches to an elaborate installation. Painted egg cartons on the floor give the illusion that his artwork is at the “pinnacle” . The whimsical climbing figures added to Harris’ landscape are adapted from a famous period photograph of Rocky Mountain alpinists.

Kurt Hutterli discusses his tongue-in-cheek demo piece with OCAC member Dot Cranston. Mount Lefroy is painted on the hood of a rusted car, cruched in the shape of a mountain peak. Hutterli wonders (with a twinkle in his eye, of course) if the car perhaps once belonged to Lawren Harris himself?

Spinner and weaver Barb Levant  recreates Mount Lefroy into an outfit a sherpa or alpinist would be proud to wear. She carefully chose colours and banded patterns to match Harris’ original painting.

Quilter Dianne Birne adds the last finishing stitches to her fabric  interpretation of the painting.

Enid Baker reinterprets the masterpiece in watercolours.

Photographer Russell Work cleverly reimagines Mount Lefroy as “two-two-two Mounts in one!” His photo installation rotates (much like some modern billboards) to switch from the Lefroy painting to a photo of artist Harris at work on Mount Lefroy.

See a video of the “revolve” in action here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orECiugsq9Q&feature=player_embedded

Collage artist Marion Trimble painstakingly glues strips of fabric and paper onto her piece.

And now for the finished exhibit! Marion Trimble, Enid Baker, Barbara Levant, Russell Work, JoAnn Turner, Terry Irvine (knitter), Diane Birnie, Leo Pedersen, and Thea Haubrich. Missing from photo: Kurt Hutterli.

Photo credits: Russell Work, Thea Haubrich

For more photos, visit Thea Haubrich’s Encaustic Blog: http://encausticcanada.wordpress.com/2010/07/04/finale-ripoff-project-mount-lefroy/

For a fantastic video of the RipOff Artists with Mike Roberts of CHBC, take a look at

http://www.chbcnews.ca/video/index.html?releasePID=f5794obragGwCKDQACQpmpfwc7SlVcJm

Comments about this article? Share them at olivercac@gmail.com We’ll post them at the bottom of this article as received. (The email method helps us avoid spammers. )

Soft Expressions: Carole Grant at Handworks

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For the month of July, Handworks Gallery in Oliver is featuring the work of fibre artist Carole Grant (pictured at left) .

Titled “Soft Expressions” the show will be of special interest to textile artists and quilters.  Some of the pieces are award winners and have been widely toured  with other exhibits. for a sample of her talent, take a look at some of her artwork below.

Please come to the reception on

Saturday, July 4
2:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Handworks Gallery
35648 – 97 St.
Oliver, BC
250 – 498 – 6388

  poppies

 

 

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Double O Quilters

brenda-quilter-225x300The Double O Quilters Guild was founded in 1988 and is a non-profit group.  Members are dedicated to pursuing the elusive and challenging art of quilting and related activities. It encompasses people of all skill levels and ages, a wide range of interests, ideas, and techniques. Residents, snowbirds,and visitors are welcome to join and participate.

Guild activities mainly run from September to April on the days specified below, unless they fall on holidays. Activities are held at the Oliver Community Centre.

Meetings: 9 a.m. to 12 noon on the 2nd Monday of the month
Workshops: 9 a.m. to 2;30 p.m. on the 4th Monday of the month
Drop-In for Members:  9 a.m. to 11 a.m. every Wednesday
Mini-Workshops and Special Group Activities: 11 a.m. to 2;30 p.m. most Wednesdays

Annual membership fees are $40, due at the beginning of September or whenever joining the guild.

Guild benefits include:
◊ demonstrations on current techniques or topics of interest on meeting days
◊ monthly workshop on quilt-related topics for all skill levels
◊ weekly drop-in for sharing and co-operative working on personal or guild projects
◊  large up-to-date library of quilting books, magazines, and equipment to borrow from
◊  show and tell at every monthly meeting
◊  membership directory
◊  six newsletters annually
 

img_1052aSpecial Activities

◊ Oliver Arts and Crafts Sale: booth where members can sell their quilt related items
◊ Oliver Arts and Crafts Sale: kitchen concession every second year 
◊ Community Quilts: SOSS Bursary quilt, New Year’s Baby quilt, trauma quilts for RCMP, Fire, and Women’s Transition House, placemats for care facilities  
◊ Summer Studio: one week program featuring displays, demonstrations, workshops, and children’s activities
◊ classroom quilting projects in the local schools
 
Contact:
Double O Quilters Guild
P.O. Box 326
Oliver, BC
V0H 1T0
Top Photo by Penelope Johnson