Spirit of Summer's End

Turtle Spirit by Gayle Pritchard
A Commissioned Quilt for a Wedding

Today is my sister's birthday, which means August is right around the corner, which means, in my mind, that summer's end is beginning. Have you noticed that the days are becoming gradually shorter, that the flowers in bloom have changed, that the gardening season is slowly winding down? For me, this is the spirit of summer's end.

As summer winds down, the still-flickering childhood memories of relishing the remaining month of summer, and of preparing for going back to school in the fall remain impressed in my psyche. While I strive to live "in the moment" each day, the busyness of fall looms, as the events and deadlines on my ever-present calendar remind me to get ready.

I am working on a new piece, a companion piece to the one shown here, Turtle Spirit. The artwork at left was commissioned for a couple's wedding, and I have always loved it. The companion piece will be larger, but still focused on the turtle in the central panel.



Turtle,  a native american animal symbol

is the central focus of the piece.

In Native American symbolism, which is where this turtle symbol comes from, turtle is sacred, and contains fetish properties. Among other things, turtle is a symbol for fertility, truth, and long life. It seemed the perfect wish for a couple entering into a marriage.

Meanwhile, I have been invited to create some new work for a wearable art exhibition at the Valley Art Center. Art Strikes a Pose opens September 10 and runs through October 13, 2011.

Turtle Spirit II by Gayle Pritchard, in progress:

And the Days Go By Waiting for Spring

As seen on etsy, an artwork by AmandaJean

I had a flash of a thought this morning while standing on my front porch: sloshing around in mud puddles in early spring. I can’t tell you when exactly, but it would have been in the persistent indentation in the gravel road in front of my childhood home. We had those kind of rubber boots that rose above the ankle and had an elastic ring that fastened to a button on the side of the boot. Since I was child number four of five, they were no doubt hand-me-downs, and had newspaper stuffed into the toe to make them fit.

Today, I don't want the rain, rain, to go away! I am more than ready for spring to arrive. The rain on the now bare soil smells like spring. Hurrah!

My life has been crazy busy since my last blog post. In addition to teaching three art classes at our local BayArts, I have been working with my friend Susanne to finish my daughter's wedding dress and a lace jacket. The first fitting has taken place, and this week it is time to begin constructing the jacket. Having found a lovely blue lace, we decided to forego painting the silk for the dress bodice, as I discussed earlier, and instead make the entire dress out of lovely slinky fabric with a lace covered bodice.

This lovely lace, with two different shaped edges, will cover the dress bodice and be made into a jacket.

In March, I also received a commission to create a Parokhet for a synogogue. A Parokhet is the decorative fabric curtain inside the Ark. I have been gathering fabric swatches, created an initial design sketch, and this week must create a scale drawing of my sketch, which I plan to color in for presentation.

I spent much of March gathering and tallying receipts to pull my tax information together. I am happy to report that all has been dropped off with our accountant. So glad to have that dreaded task off my list.

I hope signs of Spring are cheering you up. I hope to have time to stop and smell the roses when they bloom.

Art Quilts are Still New

I had an unusual opportunity recently to speak about art quilts at a hospital. It all started a few months ago, when I received an email out of the blue from someone who had been referred to my website, http://www.gaylepritchardart.com/ After a few emails back and forth, we finally arranged a time to speak on the phone, and I learned that this family wished to learn more about art quilts in their quest to commission a memorial artwork in memory of their loved one, a well-loved physician who had lost her battle with cancer last year.

So, last Monday I found myself in Plymouth, Michigan at the historic Inn at St. John's, prepared to meet this family at a dinner party. My friend and colleague Christine, who has experience with the selection and installation of artwork in hospitals, generously made the trip with me.

When we arrived for the party, the house was packed with friends, family members and colleagues. Each conversation was an opportunity to learn about this amazing woman, who, like most women, had been a wife, a daughter and a mother in addition to everything else she was in her professional life. What was clear was that this physician had been a woman who had touched many lives deeply.

Despite arriving back at the Inn early, I found myself unable to sleep most of the night. My mind raced with snippets of conversations, thoughts about the memorial art the family was contemplating, and the text of my upcoming presentation. I have had the opportunity to speak all over the country about art quilts in the process of promoting my book on the subject, Uncommon Threads: Ohio's Art Quilt Revolution. http://www.ohioswallow.com/book/Uncommon+Threads

I have presented my Power Point presentation in dozens of locations, the lecture tweaked each time for the specific audience. This is, however, the very first time that I have ever presented such a lecture in a hospital. I was curious to see what the audience would be like.

After a very early wake-up call and a quick breakfast with the family at the hospital cafeteria, it was time to head to the auditorium and gather my thoughts one last time. As audience members continued to trickle in, I was once again amazed at the ongoing interest in the topic of art quilts that I have encountered everywhere I have traveled. Physicians, hospital staff, administrators, family members and interested hospital staff spouses had come together on this morning to honor the late Dr. Stuck, and to learn about the emergence and evolution of the art quilt movement in Ohio and the Midwest. Unlike most audiences, there were not many questions posed at the end of the lecture. What happened instead is that individuals came up afterwards, one by one, to ask the questions that had come to mind as they listened to the history and looked at the images of contemporary art quilts. When it was time to leave, I was left with a great sense of personal satisfaction that another audience had come to appreciate an art form they were not previously familiar with.