June was a busy month for me as far as teaching classes went. Last week I introduced you to my latest group of Maine Retreat students from the last week of June, and this week (and the next two as well) I’m going to backtrack to earlier in the month and my annual trek to the Quilt Gallery in Kalispell, MT.
In the most recent Throwback Thursday blog post, I linked to Quilt Gallery class posts from 2016 to 2018. Along with revisiting past classes, it’s also fun to revisit the beautiful sights to be found in this spectacular part of the country. Just miles from Glacier National Park, as well as the Canadian border, the days are long this mid-summer time of year. Just going down the road for dinner one can see mountain ranges, a very large lake, open farmed fields, hawks, osprey, and bald eagles.
And grizzly bears and cowboys. We had both in the class—a bold and richly patterned beauty of a bear by Joan Anderson (photo above) and a purple wrangler by Sherry Jenson (below), pictured with her real-life husband (cowboy or not, he had the hat for it). Sherry managed to keep her project a secret from him until the grand unveiling on day five—even with a couple of us slipping up a bit with comments or questions when he’d pick her up after class each day. Seeing her thrill in finally showing him his portrait made all of us smile as well.
But I digress. Getting to little Kalispell, Montana from little Harpswell, Maine takes a full day of travel, with one or two airport layovers, at best. I was lucky with uneventful travel both ways, and some exceptional cloud formations on the final leg going west. In the photos below, a plane intersects the clouds at left, and the snow-capped Rocky Mountains visually mix with billowy white clouds to the right. Click on any photos to see them larger.
I landed in Kalispell amid the 9:30 p.m. sunset (below), twelve hours and three planes from takeoff in Portland, Maine.
I’ve taught at the Quilt Gallery over numerous years, but it was the first time at their new location in their new building, about three miles outside of downtown Kalispell.
Though the shop had changed location, the lovely staff was there to say hi to, as were some returning students I had met through the Quilt Gallery—Julie Sherrick (that’s her Louie the pup above) and Sunne Brandmeyer. Both have been featured in previous Finish Line blog posts, click on their names to see their finished quilts from other years’ classes.
Julie arrived this time with Louie’s portrait well in hand with much of his face already collaged. She later brought in her other two dog portraits—Stella and King Rufus—to show the class (you can see them in link above) and it was interesting to see how her style is evolving. With Louis’ portrait, she has challenged herself to use many Australian Aboriginal prints. Toward the end of the week, the real Louis stopped by to check on his mom’s progress (photos below).
Week #1 Quilt Gallery Students, from left to right: back row, standing—Nancy Adair, Sherry Jensen, and Shiela Poore; second row from back—Donna West, Judy Deeter, Susan Garrity, Joan Anderson, and Julie Sherrick; seated on chairs—Jeanenne Morphis, Faith McLeod, Sarah Robinson, and Jenny Satterthwait; seated on flooor—Patricia diStefano, me, and Deb Schultz. (Not pictured—Sunne Brandmeyer).
Student Work In-Progress Slide Show
In the beginning introductions of a class, I ask for students to tell what they’re planning on creating and if there’s anything specific they’d like to learn about the collage process. It was notable that as they introduced themselves and their subject matter, they almost all specifically (and quickly) added, “…but in blues (or purples, or rainbow, or…).” And they said it like I was going to toss them out if they’d choose realistic colors. It was kinda funny. I think my classes have the reputation of colorful creations, which is fine by me.
What I love seeing develop is a colorful collage that actually looks pretty realistic by the time it’s done. Such was the case with Jenny Satterthwait’s cape buffalo, above. His brown fur is rendered with green, yellow, and purple fabrics—yet no doubt that’s a mighty serious beast staring you down.
In the slide show below are photos that Jenny took (mostly) on the final day of class. As I was trying to wrap things up individually with everyone, Jenny got them to pose with their color-filled collages and graciously allowed me to include them in this post. Some of her photos are also mixed into the in-progress slide show as well. Thanks Jenny!
You get a good idea about how the new classroom is set up at the Quilt Gallery, and I’m going to make a plug for one of their upcoming (15 students maximum) classes. I’d like to highly recommend Gloria Loughman’s “Textured Landscape”—September 30-October 4, 2019—(see photos below). Gloria is one of my colleagues and one of the teachers I have met that I would take a class from (if I ever have the luxury to take a class). We both teach at Empty Spools Seminars in California, and my husband Tom and I, recently spent a couple days with Gloria and her husband Tony, at their home in Australia. It’s not just that I love her dearly that I’m recommending this class either. Gloria is a fantastic artist who teaches internationally (this will be her first trip to Kalispell), has the reputation of being an excellent instructor (I hear things like this from my students), has written a few books attesting to her work, is a lovely person, and has a great accent to boot. As of the writing of this post, there are only four spaces for this upcoming class at the Quilt Gallery still available.
In addition to exploring the new Quilt Gallery, I had new surroundings outdoors to explore as well. There’s a small apartment for instructors upstairs in the building, so I’d bring my morning cuppa downstairs to the classroom to set up for the day in the quiet of the morning, lounging in my pajamas. Sometimes I even caught a pretty sunrise from the shop windows. Then I might, or might not, have decided to take a walk along the country roads behind the nearby buildings and neighboring homes. Below are a few photos from those mornings.
I’ll end this post with a rock I noticed on one of my walks—it looked like there was a face painted on it. Do you see it? A profile.
Until next week, with more fabric collage adventure from Kalispell, Montana. Git along little dogies.
I love seeing the artwork come together so much fun
Wow, all of these students are very talented artists, their ability to create the necessary value changes for depth and curvature. I struggle continuously with that and all of them seemed to capture the concept. Love the late changes that took place with the Pomeranian’s eyes. Made the dog.
I was so excited when I saw this bear today. I have been working on a bear for months and something was wrong that I couldn’t figure out. Looking at this one I realized that my bear has huge Chihuahua ears. Thank you for your posts. They inspire me.
Can’t wait to see you in Seattle in September at Quilters Anonymous guild. I hope to show you some quilts I’ve made since the Maine retreat in 2016.
Gostei muito de seus trabalhos um perfição,parabens!
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