Beneath the Southern Sky still travelling

I received an email recently about the travelling exhibition of banner quilts for Beneath the Southern Sky. I was lucky enough to have my work accepted for this and am always excited to hear about its travels around the world.  I would LOVE  to go to the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, in the UK and see it in August but, alas, will not be able to.  Here are a couple of links to some of the showings of the works. (Smilebox, American Quilters Society)
It is even going to South Africa - oh to be able to go and see them in another country.  I saw them twice in Australia, at the AQC and the Craft and Sewing Show last year but it would be even more special to be able to see them internationally.
I am so grateful to Brenda Gael Smith for organising the exhibition and putting in all the hard work to have it shown in so many venues. I am still amazed at the fact that I am in an exhibition with so many wonderful textile artists.

My piece in the exhibition was inspired by eucalyptus trees and their wonderful trunks.  I am still taking pictures of trees and branches, fallen or on the trees!  (Just look at my last couple of posts.) There seems to be a theme here.

Feeling Famous

I recently received an email updating us on how Beneath the Southern Sky exhibition is going.  It is about to go to Lancaster, USA, to the AQS Quiltweek.
Here is a link advertising it.
Then it is moving on to Paducah, in April.
I would had loved to have been able to go but the timing wasn't right.  Oh well, I'll just have to imagine it.

There was also an article about the exhibition in Downunder Textiles.  I hadn't realised that until I received an email from Brenda Gael Smith, the organiser and curator of the exhibition.  She has been great, keeping us up to date on what is happening.

It was about a year ago that this exhibition was put together, so it has been good value for the effort!

I couldn't do a post without a picture - then I realised that I had taken the photo of my work and it is beside Dijanne Cevaal's.  I still feel gobsmacked that my work was accepted into an exhibition with so many top quilters.  It is exciting to think about, even after a year.

eQuilter's videos of AQC

I have been sent this link to some wonderful videos of the Australasian Quilt Convention that was on in April.  You can see some lovely work in them.
If you can't find the AQC, it might be because the site has updated but I am sure you will find them if you scroll down.

I loved the use of different fabrics in this one, by Kay Haerland. It was in Beneath the Southern Sky and the online gallery didn't do it justice.

Australasian Quilt Convention again

Not only did I have work in Beneath the Southern Sky, I also had four small pieces in another display, put on by the online group: Aus_NZartquilters.  The organisers of the group have a challenge each year and last year I decided to have a go, it makes me try new techniques and do some designing.  I have posted about it during the year, as I have played around with ideas.

I am constantly amazed by the generosity of people who organise online groups, challenges and then the actual collections and display of the works. I am very grateful to them for providing opportunities like this.

It was very exciting to see the work up.  There seemed to be two responses to the challenge, which was to design 12" square quilts that were inspired by any country other than Australia.

One response was to produce works that were clearly part of a theme and had similar designs.
The other response was to try various ideas and have a less visually cohesive, but still interesting, group of works. This is the approach I took.

The Australasian Quilt Convention

On the way home from our wonderful week at Ballarat, we called in to the AQC.  (I can't link to it anymore, it is over.)
I was very keen to go to see my work in the Beneath the Southern Sky exhibition.  Brenda Gael Smith, the curator of the exhibition, did floor talks every day at 12.30.  It was very interesting to hear her talk about why she chose the ones she did and how she decided to hang them.  I am sure this will stand me in good stead if I try for any more exhibitions.
It might also make me feel a bit better when I am not accepted as she made it clear that there were good works sent that she did not use as she only had a certain number she could show and she was trying for a particular look.  She was trying to show different techniques so had to reject some fine work because she wanted a greater variety of techniques.

It was very exciting to see my work amongst so many fine pieces.  And people were photographing it!!  Very pleasing.

I can't believe I forgot to photograph my own work in the venue - I was too busy watching everyone looking at them all.  Anyway, you can see an image of it here.