Featured above: Focus on Fiber or Bust: Fiber collage - Art by Mary McBride that tell a story
Pioneer Fiber Arts Guild features traditional and current fiber arts. Barbara Malif spinning wool.
Artists sharing in workshop. Rosemary Claus-Gray and Lauren Austin discuss a project.
International members of Studio Art Quilts Associates (SAQA.com) in retreat at Atlantic Center for the Arts in New Smyrna Beach, 2008. Artists come together at the Center to refresh their minds and art. They also meet with old and new friends.
ArtsEtc members, including founding member Jette Clover (center), dying cloth in the driveway.



Welcome! My website is dedicated to
the arts and promotion of local art groups
as well as my own art and programs.
Waiting for the bus back to the farm, polyform and wood, 1994. I used to be a sculptor, then I discovered fiber arts
Here is a listing of currently known events, in Central Florida unless otherwise indicated:

Pioneer Fiber Arts Guild
3rd Saturday, 9:30 AM      Pioneer Settlement for the Creative Arts, Hy 17& 40, Barberville

ArtsEtc
4th Saturday, 10 AM         Various homes - contact me for location

National Museum of Women's Art
      2nd Thursday, 11:30 AM    Holiday Express Inn, I-4 Exit 111, Saxon Blvd., Orange City


The Skinny Envelope: This is an invite to anyone who lives in Florida and gets one of those skinny envelopes from Houston this year.  The Gateway Center for the Arts in DeBary will host the works of 40 Florida fiber artists who were rejected.  Send your jpeg image and a copy of your rejection letter as soon as you get one.  Of course, this opens you to another possible rejection, but hey, this might be the best show of your year!  The Gateway is a beautiful center created by dedicated volunteers who spent 10 years raising three million dollars so they could open without a mortgage. Exhibition is October 25 - November 21. Mary McBride, mrsgorgon@gmail.com

BRAZ CAUZ Gateway Center for the Arts, on behalf of FLORIDA HOSPITAL Fish Memorial, announces a Call for Entries to create one-of-a-kind themed art bras. Braz Cauz – turn bras into art to be auctioned to raise funds to benefit women in the fight against breast cancer. A selection of the entries will be displayed at the Seminole Towne Center Mall in Sanford during September. Braz Cauz art will also be on exhibit and open for bidding at the Gateway Center for the Arts October 9 -20, with artist’s reception Tuesday, October 20, from 6 to 8:30 pm. The reception will give the public an opportunity to meet the artists, view their art and enjoy an awards presentation. The Silent Auction will close at the end of the evening. To RSVP for this free event, call (386) 917-7197. Deadline for entries: August 14, 2009 at 5:00 pm. Entry forms are available online at www.fhfishmemorial.org or from:
Gateway Center for the Arts, 880 N. Highway 17-92, DeBary, Florida 32713

The Pink Ribbon Tea takes place October 1, 2009, from 11:30 am to 3 pm at the Lake Mary Marriott. All BRAZ CAUZ entries will be unveiled and on exhibit for Silent Auction bidding during the Tea which features the opening of the Braz Cauz Silent Auction, live music, a luncheon, a physician panel discussion and Q&A. To RSVP for this free event, visit www.fhfishmemorial.org  or call (386) 917-5458 by September 25.

Call for Florida Artists – www.gatewaycenterforthearts.org – Go to their website to pick up their call for Florida artists.  Applications due by September 1.  This is a new art center is in DeBary and they are showing a lot of high quality artists already. The Gateway Art League runs the Center.  They are fiber friendly!  One of the reasons they let me play with them is because of my fiber connections. There is also a gift shop which carries small art on commission.  Since the Center is new on the scene, they are looking for instructors with creative programs and would love to fill the auditorium with installations, experimental theater and whatever!


ArtsEtc is a community of multi-media artists interested in exploring surface design and fiber arts through education, preservation and exhibition.

Monthly meetings, workshops, and lectures are held to examine different techniques and art forms. All events are open to the public. Each month guest speakers and lecturers, member teachers, and/or self-directed hands-on workshops and events are planned.

ArtsEtc members use a variety of media and techniques such as printing, weaving, quilting, stamping, spinning, sewing, beading, making paper, painting, dyeing, and other art forms.

ArtsEtc meets on the fourth Saturday of the month at 9:30 AM, except for December. Meetings consist of general business, show and tell or art critiques,  followed by pot luck lunch and a short program. Several times a year, there are afternoon classes, which are open to the public at a fee of $20 unless otherwise specified.

Programs include group challenges, hands-on workshops, critiques and sharing of ideas. Meetings are in various homes in New Smyrna Beach, Florida. Visitors are always welcome. If you’d like to attend a meeting, please contact me for more information. ArtsEtc dues are $15 a year.
The Pioneer Fiber Arts Guild is an association of community members interested in learning about, and preserving the fiber arts through educational outreaches and community meetings. They hold workshops and lectures, which are open to the public, to investigate different methods of using fiber.

Although guest instructors and lecturers are sometimes used, members of the guild also share and demonstrate their personal skills. Funds to provide for these outreaches are raised through raffles, sales of their art at demonstrations, and through special programs.

Current members are involved in hooking, weaving, quilting, embroidery, stamping, spinning, sewing, knitting, crocheting, beading, making paper, and other fiber fields. Most members work in more than one area.

The Pioneer Fiber Arts Guild meets on the third Saturday of the month at 9:30 AM, except for December when they participate in the Christmas Program at the Settlement. Meetings consist of a general business meeting followed by refreshments, and a program.

They meet at the Pioneer Settlement for the Creative Arts, Lightfoot Lane, Barberville (between State Road 40, County Road 3 and Lemon Road, just west of State Road 17), except for March and October when they demonstrate their various skills at DeLeon Springs State Park. Visitors are always welcome.

If you plan to attend a meeting, please call me for more information. Dues are $15 a year payable in January or $20 a year after January 31.

A peek at the groups I support

This is Baby Echo who turned into a 23 pound maine coon.
I am the FL/GA Rep for Studio Art Quilt Associates. We have over 100 members in our FL/GA group.  We've met at Atlantic Center for the Arts for workshops and retreats and we participate in art exhibitions throughout the State of Florida and internationally.

Studio Art Quilt Associates, Inc. (SAQA) is a non-profit international organization whose mission is to promote the art quilt through education, exhibitions, professional development and documentation.  Founded in 1989 by an initial group of 50 artists, SAQA now boasts over 2,000members: artists, teachers, collectors, gallery owners, museum curators and corporate sponsors.

It's a wonderful source of information via the website SAQAU, the yahoo group, blogs, facebook and elsewhere. Next year's conference is in San Francisco with Surface Design Association, March 19-21.


Florida Flora was created by Pioneer members hammering the leaves into the cloth to create a print.  The quilt was raffled off to provid funding for future programs.