A Lot of Housekeeping

Hi!  I have a bunch of things to update so instead several single posts, I thought I would just catch you up in one fell swoop.

First - the Ceramics & Stitchery show is extended by one weekend.  I will head to the Kerry Vickar Centre in Melfort to take it down after the last weekend in May.  If you have purchased anything of mine or Ken Wilkinson's and you are in the area, that would be a great time to pick up the art in person.  If you aren't in the area, we will gladly ship.

Overlapping with that is Dimensions 2015.  Dimensions is a 2 yr touring exhibition of Fine Saskatchewan Craft.  There is a wide variety of mediums and the 36 show pieces were juried in by June Jacobs and Tom McFall.  The first showdate of this tour begins May 23rd in Regina at the MacKenzie Art Gallery, all the way through to August 16, 2015.  The piece I had selected is 'Prairie City'.  It's not for sale - it has a new owner, but you can find more of my Prairie Threadpaintings as well as my Prairie Postcards in the Gallery Shop there on site.  Very exciting!

The 10th Annual Broadway Arts Fest is Saturday, May 30th.  I won't have a booth there, but will have new art & lots of Prairie Postcards available at the Saskatchewan Craft Council, which is right there on Broadway.  My work has been moving steadily through there every month, and so thank you to those who support the artists & the gallery.

I'm teaching Creative Postcards Class in my studio (Saskatoon) on Friday, June 5th from 1 to 4pm.  All you need to bring is a sewing machine and thread.  Email to sign up or for more information Monika@MySweetPrairie.ca

I am teaching my Threadpainting 4 hour class also in my home studio on Saturday, June 6th from 1 to 5pm.  This class is nearly full since this is a prior waitlisted group, but I can take two more people.  Again, all you need is a machine and thread (limited classroom machines are available for a small rental fee to cover annual maintanence).  : )  Email me at Monika@MySweetPrairie.ca

Saskatoon Modern Quilt Guild 1st Annual Quilt Show will be one day only on June 14th from 10 to 4 at the Nutana Legion.  (see my last post for details)  I'm actually going to have entries!  That's so weird.  I can't wait to see this quilt show.  So far, I've really only seen Modern Quilts en mass on the internet.  Plus - this is their first show, so it's part of the beginning of the rest of their 'life' as a guild.  : )  That's pretty significant.

What else... Have you heard about the goings on in Weyburn this summer?  It's big.  It's REALLY big.  I think Jaynie Himsl is organizing the whole thing!  She's amazing.  I will do this event justice with it's own post, so keep tuned in!  In the mean time, I am excited to tell you that I'll have my art in Weyburn for the entire summer as part of Art Walk, along with a lot of other wonderful artists and group shows.  ALL SUMMER!  I might just want to move there.  That's a lot of fibre art!

Speaking of southern SK, Liz at Tiger Lily Quilts took in a huge stack of my art cards to sell at her quilt shop in Wolseley.  The cards are images of some of my favourite threadpaintings.  If you are doing a road trip, you'll have to stop in at her shop.  : )  If you purchase any cards, you are supporting my need to buy more thread.  : )  It's all good.

Crazy, right!?  

I'm on the homestretch for completing commissions now and shipping work all over Canada, which feels amazing!  I've said it a few times on my Facebook page, but I have to say it again:  I'm so grateful and relieved that my yarn embroideries have been so well received!  It was wonderful to try something new, but scary to show people when I'm known for the threadwork.  Those larger textured embroideries were created with the support of a Sask Arts Board grant and nearly all have new homes.  That feels so validating.  I have more to go before the grant period is up, and will do a big review post once I have it all complete and photographed.  I've been kind of hoarding a few things and enjoying them for myself.  As soon as I blog them, they are sold and gone to a new home.  I'm sitting here looking around at my bare walled studio trying to recall what I've all done - it goes so fast that it's a bit of a blurr.

Maybe I'll make myself a coffee table book, like a memory book of my work.  lol

Okay.  Fundraising.  Later in the year, I will be emailing my 'helper' group with the details of a project to raise funds for medical care and surgery for victims of a specific form of domestic violence.  It's a stomach-churning topic, but one that I cannot get out of my head.  So I want to do something to help the survivors of an atrocity known as 'acid throwing'.  I won't get into details or descriptions here.  I will say it is horrible.  You can google acid throwing, but be prepared for some images that will shock you to the core and shake you enough to question humanity.  I can't stop the horror, but there are medical services that we can help fund.  My idea is to create an art auction or event of some sort in order to give aid to the victims who are mainly women and girls - mothers and children.  If you are handy with a needle and thread even minimally, and would like to be part of a positive, simple stitching project that really shouldn't take too much time at all, email me with "helper" in the subject line.  At a later date, I will bulk reply to all the 'helper' emails.  THANK YOU.

And so with the Year of Craft half-way complete, I'm happy to say that I am indeed a part of it.  Curating, collaborating with other artisans, trying out new territory in the way of embroidery, writing articles, introducing fibre art to children in several schools, and happily settling in to my new studio to create and have people visit from near and far.  It's awesome.  It's full time + a half work, but it's very rewarding.

Thank You for reading this incredibly long post and for keeping up with my blog & goings on.  : )  I think you are awesome.

p.s. none of the bold words are linked.  I will post more details and links with detailed posts in the near future.