Showtime!

When the Hartford Public Library invited my art quilt group, the Connecticut Fiber Arts Collective, to mount a show to honor the library's acquisition of two enormous murals by  African-American collage artist Romare Bearden, part of the deal was that the Library would produce a video about our group.

And so today, it came to pass.

 Pramod Pradhan is the Hartford Public Library's videographer

All ten members of the Connecticut Fiber Arts Collective met on a Saturday morning at Carol Vinick's West Hartford home, each of us bringing the piece we plan to put in the show, intending to work on it and talk about it while the videographer got it all down.  Did I tell you that our exhibit will not only honor Bearden, but also focus on civil rights, honoring the anniversaries of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965?

So here's Carol Vinick telling the camera about the stunning images of Rosa Parks which she's creating from tiny pieces of fabric:

Carol is showing Pramod the iconic photo of Rosa Parks being booked after being arrestred

Carol traced the photo and enlarged the traced version to create this pattern

How about that!  Are you impressed?  I am!

Carol is also creating this image of Rosa Parks on the bus, about to be arrested.

 And how about this portrait of MLK by Linda Martin?

Christina Blais is creating a quotation from pieced letters.  The quote is from--Christina, correct me here if I'm wrong--Rosa Parks, who said that when she was about to be arrested, she felt a determination come over her. Here Christina is showing us the pieced letters of the word "determination":

I think this show is challenging us each to stretch, to try new methods, to give her all to going out on an artistic limb.  Many of us are trying a new method of collage piecing which we learned in a recent group class with quilt artist Susan Carlson.  I know I'm stretching myself in my efforts to emulate her technique.  Here's my piece:

While all this art was happening, and Pramod was taping it, we enjoyed hanging out together:

Wanda Seldon, Christina Blais, Toni Torres, Linda Martin (partially hidden).

Christina Blais, Linda Martin

Rosalind Spann, Mary Lachman

We're working against a deadline of early December to have our pieces ready to be hung at the Hartford Public Library.  We're pumped!

The Connecticut Fiber Arts Collective.  Standing, L-R, Diane Cadrain, Carol Vinick, Karen Loprete, Rosalind Spann, Wanda Seldon, Carol Eaton, Christina Blais, Mary Lachman, Linda Martin
Seated: Antonia Torres