WORKSHOP-WOODLAND RIDGE JUNE 2018

sometimes there is serendipity

Just like making a quilt, I enjoy all steps of the workshop process. The prep for class finds me gathering thoughts and quilts to illustrate the theme and inspire you. I make new work to share. From my library, I'll share some of the books of quilt collections and history that keep me coming back for more. 

I was a camp counselor and it's still how I see things. My task is to mark the path to adventure, then support your discovery. Let's go campers! See you at Woodland Ridge. Maybe we will even have S'Mores, or something comparable. 

* in the small study 8" x 11" in the photo, I wanted to work with larger pieces of color in an uncluttered manner

Workshop info. Woodland Ridge   Minimalist Design, Maximum Impact  June 5-9, 2018

STUDIO NOTES---HAND QUILTING BY EYE

I mean to say that I don't use a pattern or template.

The start of the quilting

Somewhere along the way I played with some random stitches using silk thread

The end of the quilting

All this color was used just because thread comes in so many colors


My grandmother told me that a quilter's stitch was unique to the individual as is a signature. That perspective frees me to be expressive and satisfied by the process. I appreciate the organic, random and imperfect. I once read that the occasional large stitch was a "toe hooker". Utility quilts used on beds were probably not a venue for fussiness, but a toe getting caught in a stitch? Quilters have to have their humor too!   

STUDIO NOTES--- SOLID MINIMALISM

You keep me inspired. I see what you do in class. Some of you sew so elegantly. I have noticed the beauty of straight seams in solid cloth. Someone, and you know who you are, pieced a string of 3/4 inch black squares. Why would anyone do that when a stip would have worked just as well? The seams offered subtle straight lines, just the texture and detail that was called for. 

Notice the lines and the way the light is active in the above blue block. Nice, isn't it? I'll observe that this strategy of piecing is a way to express minimalism. 

Consider the painting Forest Architecture by Paul Klee here . I thought of piecing. Lines created with seams. Seems like I have something to explore. Complex or simple images created with solid color.

I will get right to work and have another sample for class at Woodland Ridge. Three month countdown--- details here 

QUILTWEEK SPRING PADUCAH

CRAYONS 45" x 44" by Pam Beal---juried into the Lancaster and Spring Paducah show

Mark making in drawing, abstract art and on objects influenced the piecing. Now doesn't it look like a box of crayons? 

Machine pieced---hand quilted---that's how I roll.

AN INVITATION

trust the process

PAM BEAL---- QUILTMAKER

Workshops from The Liberated School of Design 2018


You are cordially invited to join me at one of two 5 day workshops.


June 5-9   WOODLAND RIDGE RETREAT  Minimalist Design Maximum Impact

October 1-5 MADELINE ISLAND SCHOOL OF THE ARTS Studio Hand Quilting 


I facilitate the classroom to promote independence and discovery. Students experience the affirming process of working without a pattern and create quilts rich in self-expression. I hope to see you in class.

do one thing

MINIMALISM in QUILTS

I woke up with my head filled with ideas about minimalist quilts! Is that a contradiction?
The winter landscape offered me a minimalist scene.

This tree could be the model for Gwen's tree, except I know a Beech provided the inspiration, and my tree is an Oak.

In six short months I will be in the thick of it. Maybe that doesn't rightly characterize simplicity, yet the process of a good challenge with focused rigor leading to enough is my experience of minimalism in quilts. Here is a link to the class I am offering in June 2018 woodland ridge

This miniature minimal basket will carry us through.... I'll add that the simple basket reflects one of my favorite quilts in Abstract Design in American Quilts: A Biography of an Exhibition, plate 39, Jonathan Holstein 1991. 

AQS 2018 LANCASTER

My quilt CRAYONS will be showing in the hand quilted category at the American Quilter's Society Lancaster show. It might also go to the Spring Paducah show, but the jury is still out. Stay tuned. Here is a fun shot of CRAYONS as if it has sprouted legs. Legs would make it easier to get out to the quilt shows.