Life in Abstraction

I am extremely happy to announce that my piece, Life In Abstraction, has been selected as one of the 45 art quilts to tour as the Shifting Tides: Convergence in Cloth - SAQA Show from 2019 - 2021.  The show debuts in California to coincide with the SAQA National Conference. The show then tours via museums and galleries in Alaska, California, Canada, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington.

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©2018, Amanda Snavely, All Rights Reserved.

Photo by Sam Garnett

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Detail of Life in Abstraction

©2018, Amanda Snavely, All Rights Reserved.

Photo by Sam Garnett

Tour Schedule from SAQA’s website as of January 2019:

First Venue:
Venue Name: Works/San Jose
Address: 365 South Market Street, San Jose, California 95113
Exhibition Run Dates: April 19 – May 5, 2019

Venue Name: Pacific Northwest Quilt and Fiber Arts Museum
Address: 703 South 2nd Street, La Conner, Washington 98257
Exhibition Run Dates: June 1 – August 24, 2019

Venue Name: Chehalem Cultural Center
Address: 415 East Sheridan Street, Newberg, Oregon 97132
Exhibition Run Dates: March 1 – April 24, 2020

Venue Name: Wailoa Center, State Parks, DLNR
Address: 200 Piopio Street, Hilo, Hawai’i
Exhibition Run Dates: July 1 – July 30, 2020

Venue Name: International Gallery of Contemporary Art
Address: 427 “D” Street, Anchorage, Alaska 99501
Exhibition Run Dates: August 26 – September 30, 2020

Venue Name: Pratt Museum
Address: 3779 Bartlett Street, Homer, Alaska 99603
Exhibition Run Dates: October 1 – 31, 2020

Venue Name: Visions Art Museum
Address: 2825 Dewey Road, Suite 100, San Diego, California 92106
Exhibition Run Dates: January 1 – April 4. 2021

Venue Name: Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History
Address: 165 Forest Avenue, Pacific Grove 93950
Exhibition Run Dates: July 1 – September 30, 2021 (working dates)

Snow Day Art Project

During a snowstorm in 2015, I had the honor of collaborating with my 7 year old, Mazzy, on a project utilizing her preschool and kindergarten drawings and paintings.  We had a towering stack of drawings and paintings that she had completed in preschool and Kindergarten.  Due to the use of lower quality papers and temper paints, many of the pieces were deteriorating over time.  She selected her favorite pieces to keep.  The other pieces we photographed and then used in a collaboration called Mazzy's Sketches.  

Mazzy cut her drawings and paintings into various geometric shapes.  She then collaged them on to heavy watercolor paper using PVA glue.  To preserve the paint and papers,  I coated the collage with Matte Gel Medium.   Once dry, I heat adhered silk organza I had previously dyed with fiber reactive dyes to Pellon 805 Wonderunder.  Mazzy then cut geometric shapes from the Pellon backed silk organza and I helped her adhere them to the collage with a heated iron.   

Gluing a layer of mid-weight cotton fabric to the back of the collaged watercolor paper added a more secure foundation to stitch through.  Once the PVA glue dried, I then used a rotary cutter to slice the collage in to rectangles.  We then arranged the rectangles in a pattern that we both liked.  To add additional texture and further secure the layers together, we took turns using free motion machine stitching.  The free motion stitching also connected the rectangles to each other in a panel. 

I then hand stitched hexagons in a flowing pattern across the panel using a rainbow of embroidery threads. 

I hand dyed a background fabric using fiber reactive dyes.  I hemmed the fabric edges and added a rod pocket for display.  Finally, I adhered the panel to the background fabric using smoky invisible thread and a stitch in the ditch quilting concept to hide the method of attachment.  Due to the overall size of the project I have been unable to get a clear picture of the complete project.  Therefore, all of my photos are currently of the panel before attaching to the background fabric.  I will experiment further in methods of photographing large pieces clearly.

Collaborating with my daughter was both a fun and frustrating experience due to her young age.  I am happy that we were able to create this piece together.  Mazzy was thrilled when I displayed this piece in a show of my work.  Perhaps at the end of elementary school we will come up with another project for her first through fifth grade drawings.