QBL – Day one & a few more Apollo links
I am currently at Quilting By the Lake being held at Onondaga Community College in Onondaga NY. I’m studying with Fran Skiles, a warm, sharing person with a relaxed, approachable style who made a point of stressing that she is not teaching a quiltmaking class, nor will we be making any quilts. Instead, it is a painting, printing, and collage class.
Today was about creating six cotton duck fabric bases containing texture and line created with mock French seams, reverse applique, and crude embroidery — meaning large, quick stitches using heavy threads. Thus far the palette is white and black. Color will be introduced later. We also seamed together paper photographs (black and white) to create a collage that later in the week will be incorporated into the work. I love using photographs in collage, do digital collage practically daily, and have been wanting to incorporate more of such work into my textiles. My latest work, Witley Decay 1 and 2, uses my photo imagery. One of my hope is that the class experience pushes me further in that direction – if even by creating a new body of work entirely separate from “quilted” textiles.
Each day will have a new objective, with each building on the prior. It’s a very intuitive, spontaneous work approach and, again, I’ve no idea what I’ll end up with. My hope is to enjoy the process and artistically grow from the experience.
On the Apollo front, I found these two links which are fun: Apollo 11 Live TV Coverage – you can watch it as it aired 40 years ago. This begs the question: Do you remember viewing it the first time around? I have a recollection of a black/white TV and “spacemen.” The problem is that I no longer remember if it’s my memory from the first time around or seeing it replayed over the years. The Apollo 11 Lunar Surface Journal by Eric M. Jones. The site contains a wealth of links, a one-stop site for nearly all things Apollo 11-related.
July 23rd, 2009 at 10:18 am
I do remember viewing Neil Armstrong walk on the moon for the first time. I was 8 years old and outside playing. My dad called us in to watch TV. I knew it must be something important because he NEVER called us it to watch TV. We had a black and white set. I remember waiting, and waiting. The picture was really fuzzy and I had trouble understanding the point of view of the camera. And then I recognized a human foot (in spacesuit). I remember feeling like it was a really really big deal, as I had no knowledge of the space program at all at age 8, and then suddenly someone was stepping out onto the moon. Thanks for your posts!
July 23rd, 2009 at 11:12 pm
Cool story! Thanks for sharing.
July 26th, 2009 at 9:41 am
My Dad took me outside to look up at the moon when I was 9 years old (1969) ‘See the moon up there?’ he asked me, and then continued: ‘Right now there are men walking about up there’ It’s hard to describe the impact this had on my life. I developed a lifelong passion for the Space program and an enduring interest in science. No children alive today can look up at the moon and see it the way I did back then. I feel sorry for them and long for the day to come when we find the wisdom to return.
Fabulous blog Gloria.
July 26th, 2009 at 9:53 am
Thank you for sharing that story. And, gorgeous pictures on your wildlife art site. Wow!