Self Curating

Sounds something like you’d do to a ham or a smoked meat product. Curating. Ha ha. I feel like a beef jerky today, maybe tomorrow some turkey bacon. But I digress. I have been invited to exhibit my work with some other wonderful local art quilters at Casa Nueva here in Athens, and tomorrow we are hanging the show. Here are a few of the pieces I am going to take over:

Desert Twilight, fused floral on a base of hand-dyed twill, machine quilted back when I first got my Pfaff. It’s a delicate 9 3/4” x 10 1/2” in size.

Violet Jazz, 16” x 17”, again on a base of my hand-dyed twill.

Octopus’ Garden, 15 1/2” x 20 1/2”, done in my favorite turquoise, red and white combo.

And a detail, just love those polka dots!

Sunflower Morning, 11 3/4” x 10”, embellished with buttons from my collection of vintage buttons, as well as some new buttons sold for scrapbooking.

Spring Has Sprung, 16” x 18 1/2”, note how I used my (then) new machine’s number embroidery function.

And finally, for this series:

Tudor Rose, 11” x 10 1/2”

I made these when I first got my new Pfaff 2054, partially to learn the machine and partially because I had been working on a Kenmore without needle down and wanted to try out the new features. They don’t have my usual embellishment or my current over the top piecing, and they’ve never been posted on my website . Since they are small and come in an affordable price range ($75-$200), I figure they will be a nice fit for the venue.

Here are a few of my “rules” when self-curating:

1. Choose work that fits the available exhibition space

2. If it is in a high-traffic area, look for work with minimal embellishment (I am deliberately leaving several pieces at home because I do not want to find out something happened during dance night).

3. Choose work that you have not exhibited at this venue before. Since this is my first time at Casa, pretty much everything I have is open for showing, but I need to consider my other rules as well.

4. If you are hoping to sell, and have a good feel for your market, choose work that is priced appropriately for the venue. I’m sure there are people out there, even in poduck Athens, who could buy a higher-end piece of artwork, but for now, I am happy to send the more affordable for any budget pieces.

That’s basically it. I tweak for each show, but pretty much these are my rules. It’s one reason I will stop and make something smaller while working on one of the museum-sized pieces. I love making the work and I love to have the most people possible viewing the work. Self-curating and hard work help make that happen.

P.S. No animals were hurt in the curating of this project.