The Alegre Quilt Retreat in Gateway Canyons, Colorado was only adjacent to the path of the total eclipse on April 8 (the first day of classes), but attendees got into the spirit anyway, taking time from the end of lunch break to don protective glasses and revel in the astronomical event. And like watching daytime fireworks, we ooohed and aaahed.
The ol’ colander trick. Anything that allows the light to pass through a small opening may create this same effect. Allows you to see the eclipse as it happens by looking down at the crescent shadows it projects—instead of up—no special glasses required.
The defining landmark of Gateway Canyons is called the Palisades and is visible from almost everywhere on the retreat grounds.
As the light changes so does the Palisades, making it an irresistible subject to photograph—whether walking to class, or on the trails, or as a great backdrop for selfies.
The morning of Day One—the lull before the storm of creativity to come. The Alegre Quilt Retreat is an annual event that brings together dedicated attendees for not only a variety of classes, but for friendships and camaraderie that many share year after year. There is a sort of infectious homecoming atmosphere that is shared by the “veterans” and “newbies” alike.
Student Work
There were quite a few familiar faces in the overall assembly of retreat attendees—some from my May 2018 Alegre class, others from different travels, even from a past Maine retreat. My class this time around consisted of twelve students. We met via Zoom ahead of time for a little online pre-class coaching which gives me a chance to not only check their photos and designs to work with, but to talk about fabric selection and preparation. Definitely helps to get started with some good and confident energy.
This week I’ll begin a tour of all the whimsical and jaw-dropping work that my amazing students created. We’ll start along the left wall as we enter the door, and I’ll introduce you to the first five ladies in the first half of the classroom. In next week’s post, I’ll finish up with the other seven students and their work as our tour wraps around the room.
Lisa Charles
Lisa Charles may have been in my class to learn about “painting” with fabric, but I was introduced to her artistry of painting with thread. To see and understand her absolutely gob-smacking works of art, be sure to peruse her website!
Lisa’s work in thread has a lot of color and whimsy—my job this week was to keep Lisa reined in to using only the color and pattern of her fabrics to tell the story of her baby giraffe.
By seeing and cutting along the curves of her fabrics, Lisa could create the full-mouth bulge of this little guy’s cheeks and the boney swoop of his brows and forehead. I hope to see Lisa’s threadwork added to the fabric base she’s collaging—I’m sure it will be a complementary combination of techniques.
Cynthia Figueroa-McInteer
Oh so JoJo! Cynthia Figueroa-McInteer’s little corgi received the royal fabric collage treatment. This pup-portrait is already shaping into a sunny and joyful memory quilt.
Pre-class exercises gave Cynthia a head-start in the idea of how to blend fabrics in fabric collage.
A great use of the patterns in Cynthia’s fabrics to add contour and definition to the variety of JoJo’s fur—especially showing off JoJo’s big fluffy ears.
To more easily get fine detail into JoJo’s eyes, nose, and mouth (just look at those little doggy teeth!), Cynthia re-traced those features onto a smaller piece of muslin and created each feature as a separate unit that she could then place on the portrait as a whole.
If you look closely at Cynthia’s nicely tussled workspace below, you can see the mini pinning board for facial features directly in front of where she was sitting.
Mia Glick
Lucy dog may have been an occasional visitor to the classroom but she was full time muse for her person, Mia Glick. Mia approached Lucy’s portrait with dabs of fabric and lace as an Impressionistic painter might.
I tell students really “look” at their fabrics to see what they have to say—to let the fabrics do some of the work for you. Mia saw the leafy curves of two different fabrics for the light and dark values of Lucy’s ear.
Lacy bits are creating the reflected sunshine on Lucy’s shiny black coat—but it’s that big ol’ pink tongue that makes you smile.
Jan Lipsky
I just love the selfie that Jan Lipsky took with her owl—she looks so happy and he looks so handsome—what more could a teacher ask for at the end of a week’s class?
Jan had just the right combination of prints with pattern and value -—both light and dark—to reinterpret this owl’s fluffy feathers into a fabric portrait.
There’s a lot of black in the beak and mouth of this fellow and sorting it out into a variety of dark fabrics was the big task of the week. But Jan and her friend came through with flying colors. 😉
I absolutely love Jan’s addition of mossy greens for the warmth of his sun-dappled chest feathers—a perfect push of color, along with yellows and oranges, for a realistic-with-a-twist portrait. Note his bits of sparkle on forehead, ears, and beak.
Nancy Blake
Nancy Blake began this portrait of her daughter, Chenoa, in 2018 at Woodland Ridge Retreat. The time had come to go beyond her face and neck.
Chenoa’s exuberance comes through in the original photo, and after years of ideas percolating in Nancy’s head it all came together in a wonderful portrait of magical realism.
Nancy began the week by taking a deep breath and cutting into the original chiffon-like shirt that Chenoa was wearing in the photo. The rearranged batik patterns created a base for adding and tucking masses of feathers and petals, and arms, to recreate that burst of exuberance.
Nancy’s husband and partner-in-art, Joe Clark, spent his days at Alegre wandering trails and finding subjects to paint in watercolor. Toward the end of each workday, he’d check in with Nancy. Before long he was helping out, cutting more feathers and petals for Nancy to pull from to add to Chenoa’s wings.
Joe is (professionally) a raku artist, but has been inspired by Nancy to become a fabric artist as well. Joe brought along his finished crow collage quilt for show-and-share, “Murder on the Seventh Green,” begun in a 2021 class at Woodland Ridge Retreat.
Oh these are wonderful!!! So fun to see. I’m looking forward to my class this fall.
All of Susan’s classes invite a talented group of people and Alegre students rocked it.
Wonderfu examples!! Keep up the good work!