Bid high! Bid often! SAQA auction features Polkadot Moon

Today marks the third week of the SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates, a non-profit arts organization) online auction. The auction supports SAQA's efforts to provide cutting edge exhibitions, mentorship and marketing support for an international membership of art quilters. My piece, Polkadot Moon is in the lineup this week.The pieces were donated by SAQA members and are all 12" x 12" (see this week's lineup here)

The auction is run in three sections for 6 days each.

• To participate and add to your art quilt collection, choose the artwork (or artworks) you can't live without and complete the online bidding form.
• Each benefit auction piece starts at $750 and only pieces in the section listed will be available for bidding. Each day thereafter, the price is reduced. Don't wait too long or your favorite may disappear!
• You can bid on up to 7 pieces at a time - the first bid on each piece wins.

Set aside some time this week to look at the artwork available and support SAQA's efforts to promote art quilts.

Face Value to debut at LaConner Quilt Festival

Thanks to my two talented and precocious grandsons my Face Value quilt was accepted into the LaConner Quilt Festival in LaConner Washington (October 3, 4 and 5). Had it not been for their incredible drawings this piece would not have as much power and charm. Their drawings inspired me to think about the question we often ask children: What do you want to be when you grow up? Working with the drawings taught me to respect the looseness of their lines, the simplicity of their vision and the dynamism in their dreams.

Face Value - detail, 2014, Paula Kovarik

Some of the titles I added to the drawings are editorial in nature. Like: who ever plans to be an innocent bystander? or a man on the street?

If you are in the LaConner area please stop at the Festival show and let me know how the piece looks in person.

cigar box # 2 finished

cigar box invitational exhibit, Paula Kovarik, 2014

Here is the final result of the cigar box piece I have been working on. This one uses a stitched, folded and tied cover for the box (see flat version of the fabric piece here). The box is quite beautiful in it's own right so I didn't want to disturb it too much. The only thing I added to it was a sheet of painted paper with cutouts for the thumb and the two characters: XO on the top.

love letters

The concept behind this one started with those two characters, representative of love and the way we use cigar boxes to store precious memories. Inside the box I added a series of copied love letters from my mom and dad's correspondence in the 1950s. She was studying to be a nurse, he had enlisted in the army. They were terribly in love, young, hopeful and had no idea what life and love would bring them. The wrap that I created is an old stained dinner napkin, the stitching is chaotic and wild, representative of their ride through life.

I've lost both of my parents in recent years. Their strength, determination and love sustained our family. Reading these hopeful ecstatic letters reminded me of that.

cigar box invitational exhibit, Paula Kovarik, 2014

Memory's Playground accepted

Happy to say that my piece, Memory's Playground, has been accepted into the Quilts=Art=Quilts show at the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn, New York. It is a lovely gallery in a beautiful setting. I am honored to be part of the show. Opening weekend is November 1 if you are in the area.

It's a hard one to show online because of all the detail. Here is a close up view of the right section. I used a scalloped edge tablecloth as the base. You can see some of my work in progress shots of it here, here, and here

Memory's Playground, detail, Paula Kovarik

cigar box #2

toy box wrap, Paula Kovarik

Morning light in the studio focused on the napkin I have been stitching this week. It is a piece I am preparing as a wrap for the second cigar box entry into our local show. This piece is focusing on how we use cigar boxes to store memories, collections and toys. 

More later.

cigar box wrap, Paula Kovarik