January WAV Meeting

The January WAV meeting was held at 1:00 at the Yellowstone Art Museum on Sunday, January 20. It was a very cold (single digits) and snowing all day. Five Billings members attended. Understandably, none of the out of state members attended.

Linda Jackson hosted the meeting and her program was on creating faces.



Jackie Mauer, Sylvia Weir, Lyn Jackson, and Sherry Walker meet annually at IQA in Houston, TX to enjoy the show, a great week, each other, and show the results of their annual group challenges. For 07 we exchanged words that reminded us of the other person and a piece of fabric that represented us to ourselves. Jackie brought dragonfly fabric, Sylvia a brush cleaning cloth from her dyeing and painting, Lyn a rusted ochre by Cynthia St Charles, and Sherry chicken fabric. In the pictures below, the rows across were made by Jackie, Sylvia, Lyn, and Sherry. The rows down REPRESENT Sylvia, Sherry, Lyn, and Jackie.

Added to the fun of making the pieces, in the end they show as much about the artist as they do the person to whom they were given. For example, third row down and across were the ones I made. Sylvia's representative fabric has mirrors and collages representing people important to her because I used a quote of hers about "perceptions". Sherry is a school nurse and a big time mom so her piece was based on taking care of her little chicks. The pieces are original and used many different techniques. Jackie emphasized the words collaged over pieced bases. Sylvia drew outlines from photos and then using her machine as a pen threadworked the heads as line drawings. Lyn worked abstractly using quotes from the others.

My abstract about myself was on the love I have for the Montana landscape and its ancient peoples. Jackie's is based on the layers of her wonderful sense of creativity, her dragonflies, and the nurturing cocoon from which it all starts.


Sherry used Mosaic quilts computer program to make representations based on photos.

For the WAV meeting Linda brought books and articles showing the many different ways a "portrait" can be made and the iconic representations we use as artists to talk of our human relationships.






Pegee Haman brought several pieces to show.
Cynthia St Charles shared some of her recent works - created using stamps on hand dyed fabrics. For more information on her process, and to see her other current work, visit Cynthia's blog.




Brooke Atherton shared a new piece with a great story. The centerpiece of the quilt is a fragment of a shredded auto tire.

This piece of Brooke's is composed of multiple components. Brooke is considering reconfiguring this piece. The detail images that follow are real eye candy. Enjoy!



Wanda Nelson brought some Japanese quilt magazines, and a book to share - other lucky members went home with them!