Field Trip to Corvallis

Last Thursday & Friday brought a field trip for friend Patricia and I up to Corvallis, OR to visit our friend Janette who has an exhibit up at the Corvallis Arts Center. What a fun visit all centered around visiting and the fiber arts.

Above are 3 of Janette's woven transparencies in the exhibit. The center sunflower is the latest finished piece complete with sunflower seeds in the center of the flower. The leaf piece to the right of it has always been one of my favorites.

This is a large installation that usually hangs in Janette & Mark's home. The transparency shows up well against the white wall with the lighting.

Here are several other transparencies Janette has woven - all of her works  contain many different fibers and found objects, not just yarn. The one on the right incorporates printing on fabric which is they applied to the transparency.

There was another artist exhibiting in tandem with Janette's works - Bonnie Albright, her works are woven metal - quite striking and quite sparkley -  some of her work is above.

We also went to an exhibit on the Oregon State campus at the Guistina Gallery at the LaSells Stewart Center. I'm sorry all I have to show for it is a scan of the postcard. I should have taken my camera in but was hesitant as many galleries don't allow photos.....but there was no one else in there, I could have taken pictures to my hearts content. The best I can explain the exhibit is that a group of 8 artists, of all different mediums, had a color for each of 8 months to create from. We could never figure out the exact rules, it said that they were not to discuss/show their work to the other artists during this time except it was obvious when looking at each wall of color that the theme carried through many items couldn't have just happened. It was a fascinating exhibit, I wish I lived closer by so I could go by and look at it again.

And this wasn't all - Janette thought we needed to visit The Rain Shed, a fabric store specializing in outdoor/waterproof fabrics. At least 20 years ago I had ordered fabrics, patterns, zippers from them when I made windbreakers for gifts and a gortex rain jacket for Sam. The big surprise there was that in a separate area in the same building was the studio of Nancy Bryant and Liz Hoffman. What fun that they were there so we could browse and meet them. I think Janette was really hoping they were there and that was the real reason for our visit to The Rain Shed. Nancy sells scarves here locally at The Websters - her beautiful silk kimono scarves and silk collage scarves. I've always admired those scarves, now I know who is creating them and where the work is being done.

All in all we had a wonderful visit, ending with me teaching Janette and Patricia how to make felted soaps the next morning before we headed home.

More later on my getting ready for Fiber Mania.