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At the opening of my family’s art show Animal, Vegetable, Spiritual: A Family View, I was asked if I had any formal art training. I haven’t. But I have a photographer for a father and a ceramicist for a mother, and I don’t know how many art museums I was dragged through as a kid. My sister has been drawing since the day she first picked up a crayon, went on to attend art school, and has become a glass and fiber artist as an adult. I got interested in quilting in 1996, joined the Tompkins County Quilters Guild, and became friends with many brilliant fiber artists. So the answer is: No, I haven’t had any formal training, but I’ve had plenty exposure to both art and artists. My art has been learned through osmosis.
Two years ago, we were discussing the fact that every member of our family is an artist and wondering how unusual that might be. The idea of having a show as a family came up and we all agreed it would be fun to do. In fact, it turned out to be a lot of work, but it all came together nicely in the end. Last weekend, I went to Maryland to attend the opening reception, which I am happy to say was packed with enthusiastic viewers.
The artists at the reception: Don, Cleo, Jane, and Kit Dunsmore (Photo by Russ Poole)
Here are some pictures of the gallery and the artists with their work to give you a flavor of the show.
My father, Don Dunsmore, with his photo "quilt" Morning Glories
My mother, Jane Dunsmore, with her piece Free Ride II
My sister, Cleo Dunsmore, with her necklace Sea Turtle
And me, Kit Dunsmore, with my Quilt for An Inner Child
Animal, Vegetable, Mineral: A Family View is on display until November 29, 2009 at The Delaplaine Visual Arts Education Center in Frederick, Maryland.
For the first time ever, Inspire Me Thursday’s theme (owl) sparked an immediate image. I saw owl eyes made out of sunflowers, and I was off. Made of fabric, ribbon, felt, and thread. I had fun with the machine embroidery.
As promised, an update regarding my studio makeover. I found a paper towel holder at the thrift store and was lucky: the holes for the screws lined up with holes in the support bar on my shelving unit. So I was able to hang the paper towels using bolts instead of screws. No holes in the wall, and my paper towels are within easy reach.
I’ve also been working in stages on my fabric storage. Whenever I’m on the phone for a while, I roll up my fabric. I think it’s going to work better than having it folded did. First, you can see all of the fabric at once (lots was getting lost in the stacks I had before), and it seems to take up less space, so I’ll have more room to play with. I’ve decided I need to find a way to hang my large scale Japanese print fabrics, though. When they’re rolled up, you can’t really tell what they look like.
I’ve also been collecting wire bins (at the thrift store) that will fit on the shelves to hold the scraps that are too small to roll. I think my favorite container so far is a recycled zippered plastic bag that a set of sheets came in. Not only can you see what is in it, but is boxed-shaped so it sits up. (It’s in the cube above the yellow and brown fabrics.)
I haven’t made any more progress than this because most of my studio time this week went to machine quilting a piece that I hope to put in our family’s art show this November. It’s a baby quilt for an inner child, and I’m having an interesting time figuring out how to hang the sucker. The obvious thing would be to just attach it to a larger square of fabric, but I’m not sure I’ll like how that would look…
Quilt for an Inner Child
The studio clean-up/reorganization will continue and I’ll keep you posted as I go.
