WOW it’s April 2017 and believe it or not I just finished mailing out my 2017 pocket calendar to my clientele.  In order to visually interpret the size of each mini image on the calendar, I decided to add sizes and prices to each monthly image. So that took a little more time to produce.  I also decided to share on my blog what is in that letter. Here is a shortened version of that letter.

So I am a little late with this year’s Fiber Art calendar but there are still lots of days left to enjoy using it.  I continue to be in the moment as shown in my photo above taken on Rte. 66 in Hebron, Connecticut. My camera captured this fleeting moment when a sudden gust of wind extended out a loose piece of the white plastic – like a hand informing you that there is “Hay for Sale” just call.  During 2016-2017 my work was juried into shows at the following locations:  Art League of New Britain – Park Plaza Hotel, Boston, MA – The Slater Memorial Museum – Mattatuck Museum – The West Hartford Art League – Artist Cooperative Gallery of Westerly – Norwich Art Center Galleries – Connecticut Women Artists – Windham Textile & History Museum – “The ART Party of the Year: New Britain Museum of American Art – Arts of Tolland – Monson House of Art – Mystic Museum of Art – Guilford Art Center – and “Local Color: Connecticut Stories Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) a traveling show. My art received several awards including the Alice Clark Hubbard Award; a Third Place prize; an Honorable Mention, and a Katherine Forest Crafts Foundation Award.

For current shows that include my work please check out my Shows and Publication link for details and up-dates at www.catherinewhallsmith.com . Or, if you are not a subscriber to my blog (I do limit the number of posts that I send out) there is a link on my webpage where you can do just that – subscribe to receive my up-dates.

The exciting news is my work will be seen in Wall Art the newly-titled Artistry in Fiber, Volume 1: Wall Art by Anne Lee, and E. Ashley Rooney. It is in Schiffer Publishing’s Spring/Summer catalog and is scheduled for release late summer of 2017. The book will be available at Barnes & Noble stores, it’s website and through Amazon. “Connecting us to the wide variety of contemporary fiber art in wall-mounted format, this resource combines more than 600 photos with personal comments from 100 of today’s established and emerging artists. In conjunction with the other two books in this acclaimed series, it invites readers to re-examine fiber art through a multifaceted contemporary lens.

Presently, I am working with another Fiber Artist, Joan Blade Johnson to curate a month long Fiber/Quilt show titled “Locally Inspired” which will take place at the Windham Textile & History Museum during the month of June. I am excited about the 20 fiber artists and their pieces that will be included in this invitational show. Find more information on the June 10th Textile Duo events at http://www.millmuseum.org . If you are in the area please stop by the museum during their Friday through Sunday weekend hours.

So, as soon as I post this I will head outside to enjoy this beautiful Spring Day and do a little “plein air” stitching.  Which means hand stitching thousands of tiny stitches in repetitive lines across the quilt as three layers become one and my art transforms from a flat surface to one with texture, drape, and dimension.  HAPPY SPRING!!