This has been a very busy week and especially busy weekend. Tomorrow, the 134th Troy Fair officially begins in Troy, PA. It has been a few years since I entered anything in the competitions in the fair, because I was busy doing art and craft shows, and preferred to have my best work with me in the hopes it would sell. Now that I am not doing the shows, I decided to enter some things again.
My biggest problem trying to enter my work into the fair is that it doesn't fit most of the categories in the Home Arts Department. The biggest number of quilt related classes are for bed quilts which I don't do. There are classes for framed pictures, cross stitch, hand quilting, etc. I try to find the classes that have the "other" category, or "original design" where there are no exact limitations. I entered one of my notebook covers in the household accent- "other" category, and one of my pins in the beaded jewelry category. I never know exactly what other items will be my competition- there could be almost anything.
There are a couple categories for wall hangings that I entered a few of my more recent pieces in, including my "Stained Glass and Ferns", but I decided to try something a bit different this year…. I consider my quilts to be works of art, and thought I would enter my newest quilt below in the Fine Art show in the Mixed Media category. That's what I do- mixed media… acrylic paint, digital photos, chalk pastels, and anything else I want to play with. I use fabric as one of my media.
This is a photo of "Water Road House", which is finally finished! The 12" square quilt is mounted to a piece of canvas that I painted with acrylic paint and drew on with chalk pastels to bring the design of the quilt into the canvas bordering it. This photo was taken when I thought I was was ready to mount it to the frame. I looked at this photo and decided that the colors done in the pastels were too bright and drew my eye away from the quilt more than I wanted, so the night before it was to be delivered to the show, I was painting on another layer of thin titanium white to tone things down. The result was much better to my eyes, much softer looking.
Well, when I got to the fairgrounds and delivered the piece to the Fine Arts building, I was informed that it belonged in the Home Arts building with the quilts…. There is no category I hadn't entered anything in that this would fit, and not really one it would have fit in anyway.
I decided to ask what was considered Mixed Media in this showing, so that if anything in the future might fit, I might try again (can't hurt to ask…) I explained that I believed that my piece fit that category- a work of art using multiple media. (I guess they were of the opinion that only oil, acrylic, and watercolor paintings, pen and ink, charcoal, etc. were considered Fine Art media) Long story short… there was a little huddle in the back room, and my piece has been allowed to hang with the rest of the fine art (in the mixed media category) and the judge will decide whether it would be judged or not. Even if it isn't judged, at least I have got my little toe in the door, and maybe it will gain a bit of attention.
This seems to be a problem many quilt, or textile artists have…. we don't make quilts for the bed, we make art for the wall, just not with oils, acrylics, etc. Especially in a rural area like the one I live in, the quilt categories are mostly for hand quilted quilts, very few opportunities to show machine quilting, even though machine quilting has become more common than hand work. It will be interesting to see what happens with my "Stained Glass Ferns" above…. With it's non traditional piecing and no "real" binding.
Sometimes we just have to dip out toes in new waters and see what happens. I am not sure if I will get to the fair, so it may be a week before know if my "Water Road House" got judged, or how my other pieces fared. I will update when I find out….
I am a former textile artist and new pattern designer with a degree in horticulture, wishing to share my love of nature, flowers and gardens with everyone through my photos, sunprinted fabrics, and now pattern designs. Chronic Lyme Disease has caused major changes to the direction my life. I have to limit the amount of time spent digging in my gardens, and quilting has become more difficult. I discovered pattern design as a way to get art back into my life. I now use my gardens and photos to inspire designs that can be used on fabrics and print on demand items.
