In the Summer issue of The Professional Quilter, Eileen Doughty wrote a profile on Linda Beach, a quilt artist from Alaska. Linda specializes in landscape quilts and she is quite successful in the competitive field of public art. I’ve admired Linda’s work for some time. Here’s a portion of Eileen’s profile:

How did you then become a professional art quilter?
After I had been quilting for several years, I realized that my fabric addiction was way beyond any reasonable “hobby” budget. I was also making more pieces than I could ever hope to give away. I was in a local coffeehouse one day, looking at the monthly display of art for sale, and I thought, “Why couldn’t I do that?” I spoke to the owner, scheduled a show and that was the start of my art career. After that, I sought out other spaces that featured art on a monthly basis — different coffee shops, a restaurant and a hotel lobby. Each one exposed me to a different audience and most resulted in a sale, giving me more confidence. Always, though, I was the one doing the approaching. I also tried showing my quilts in a local high-end craft fair for a few years. While ultimately not a good fit for my art, it did get my work noticed by a local gallery that decided to show my work.

That first gallery was a learning experience, with both good and bad aspects. I was very flattered that they wanted to show my work, and I eventually sold several quilts through them on a consignment basis. The gallery was one of the larger ones in Alaska, showcasing oils and watercolors with Alaskan subjects. I was featured in two shows so the exposure was great, but they made it plain that I was the first fiber artist they had ever worked with. I don’t think they ever really had an appreciation for or an understanding of art quilts. Needless to say, I lost all confidence in them and ended my association with that particular gallery.
Through my Web site, I was contacted by a local organization and invited to submit a proposal for an art quilt for their conference room. This resulted in my first big public commission. The project involved two very large quilts, and I was thrilled at the chance to work in such a large scale. In the meantime, I started to enter my quilts in juried shows, meeting with some successes and some rejections. My résumé was small but growing, and the success of my first public commission gave me enough confidence to apply for other projects. One call for art for a local hospital put me in touch with a national art-consulting firm. Not only did I get that commission, but the firm subsequently contacted me for commissions for several other projects.

What were your experiences with private vs. public commissions?
When first starting out, one private commission I did ended up being so micro-managed by the customer that by the end of the project the whole quilt seemed totally foreign to me. I have learned from that experience and am much more careful about which commissions I accept. For a private commission, I talk to the prospective customer about the quilt and their expectations in detail. If I feel that we are not “in sync” and that I cannot create a quilt that will make both of us happy, I will not take the commission. My experience with private commissions is that most people have too many restrictions and preconceived ideas to allow the freedom I need to work.

However, my experiences with public commissions have been totally different. Those seem easier in the sense that there are rarely preconceived design ideas involved. The committees involved in the selection process approach the project in a more professional manner and tend to have more respect for your choices as an artist. In public commissions you are either submitting your own proposal or responding to a general guideline or theme, so the committee decides if you will be the right “fit” before you ever get directly involved with the project. I only submit a bid if I’m a good match for the project and the design idea excites me. That way, if I’m chosen, I can put my whole heart into the project. Art consultants have been very receptive to my ideas, so the quilt that I ultimately create is still true to me.

You have many quilts in medical buildings. Are there any special concerns about either the design of the pieces or the materials you use?
Since the majority of my subjects are images inspired by nature, there usually isn’t a problem with the subject of my quilts. I did work on one project for a children’s psychiatric facility where they wanted quilts that featured animals found in Alaska, including bears. The only stipulation was that the bears not have long claws or visible teeth, so I depicted them fishing for salmon and foraging in a blueberry patch.

To read more of Eileen’s article with Linda Beach, you can purchase Issue 103 or can start a subscription here.

Innovative Fabric Imagery
Cyndy Lyle Rymer and Lynn Koolish
C&T Publishing; $27.95

Every year we see more and more quilts with images that have been created with digital technology. In 2007, C&T sponsored an Innovative Fabric Imagery special exhibit at International Quilt Market and Festival in Houston. The majority of Innovative Fabric Imagery for Quilts features a gallery of more than 40 of the inspiring entries in that exhibit. The book also includes the basics of working with photos on your computer and 19 projects. The projects range from “Ocean Sunset” by Gloria Hansen, which features a large photograph printed in four sections, cut into squares and then fused on a background, ending up with an attic windows look, to “Gramsie” by Jeanie Sumrall-Ajero, which turns a photo into a kaleidoscope as the focal point of the quilt. The book is full of ideas to inspire you to put your computer and its imaging software to creative use.

The Summer issue is out and in the mail. I’ve heard from subscribers that it’s showing up in mailboxes. Here’s a peek at the cover:

Articles include a profile by Eileen Doughty with Alaska quit artist Linda Beach, tips for developing a blog as a marketing tool by Maria Peagler, a studio tour with longarm quilter Paula Rostkowski, guidelines for business recordkeeping by David Nagle, help with phrasing judging comments by Scott Murkin and a primer on understanding DPI for good digital printing by Gloria Hansen. We will have some excerpts in our ezine later this month.

On Monday my husband and I had scheduled a day to ourselves and drove out to Southern Maryland, driving down through St. Mary’s County and then back through Calvert County. It included a wonderful crab lunch at Stoney’s. And one of the highlights for me was a trip to Annmarie Garden, a 30-acre public sculpture garden in Solomons. It was a beautiful setting with numerous pieces of sculpture placed in the open and along paths in the woods, some recycled art, many pieces on loan from the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum. The entrance to the gardens features two ceramic gateposts made by Peter King and Marni Jaimie from Pensacola, Fla. The gardens also featured an art studio, classes, etc., however, all but the gardens were closed on Mondays. Here are some other pictures from the trip. The first two are Three Red Lines by George Rickey and feature painted stainless steel kinetic construction

Finally here’s Curved Form: Bryher II, a bronze by by Dame Barbara Hepworth.

Last year we were visited once again by barn swallows who built a nest just above a door leading from our deck into the house. Not wanting the birds to return to the same spot, we put a screen over the space they had previously nested. They would not be thwarted and returned this year to build their nest in the same spot. This time they tore up our door mat to gather bits of building material and build the nest into the screen. A few weeks back we had violent storms and the nest found its way to the deck floor. Not to be deterred, the birds began to build something on top of our security light. I’m not sure why they never finished.

A couple of weeks ago I posted about a seminar that I was attending with David Neagle, the million dollar income acceleration coach. It was truly worthwhile, and gave me a lot to study. I have more than 10 pages of notes from his “Wealth Acceleration Day.” Here are just a few of the things I learned:

• Success requires that you go beyond what’s comfortable – into what was termed the abyss – and to do that you must know where you are and where you are going. And, the faster you get beyond the discomfort zone, the faster your changes will come about

• Take responsibility for all your experiences and ask yourself, “Why am I choosing to have this experience?” This process gives you power to make changes.

• You need to be clear on your vision and goals.

• Don’t ask “How?” When you do that it breaks any expectations, just be open to it manifesting. The “how” will take care of itself.

• Your belief system is made up of thoughts, feelings and action. When they are all congruent, you will be able to manifest remarkable success.

He also talked quite a bit about our belief about success and what holds us back. Some of this sounds simple, but it’s not easy to accomplish. You can think you’ve got your belief system congruent and then the worry, doubt and fear jump in.

When my husband and I got to Baltimore, the first person I saw was Sheri Flemming, a subscriber and longarm quilter from Hershey, Pa. (Lots of people drove or flew into this seminar, so I feel fortunate it was only a 35 mile drive for us.) I brought my camera, so here’s a shot of my husband, Rand, myself and Sheri. I asked a woman sitting near me to take the shot, and I actually manifested a professional photograph – Lynn Dykstra who owns Focused Images Photography Inc in Reston, Va

If you’re interested in learning more about David’s programs, he offers a free 4-hour teleseminar that you can download and listen to at your leisure. It’s called the Art of Success and you can get it here.

This week Karen Eckmeier came to Maryland to teach, spending time with three guilds. Karen makes fabulous collage quilts and is working on her next book. The time she spent with my guild included an overnight stay at my house, so we had plenty of time to chat. We also visited the local shop, Capital Quilts, where they had on display quilts made from Skinny Quilts and Table Runners, edited by Eleanor Levie, including one of Karen’s designs. It was a fun surprise. Here’s a shot of us taken at dinner at the Olney Grille (They make a cream of crab soup that’s to die for) with members of my guild, Nimble Fingers.

This week I was asked to participate in a phone survey. Since I conducted surveys part-time in high school, I’m usually willing to help out. This particular survey was a marketing survey for the US Treasury, aka The Internal Revenue Service. Turns out you can pay your estimated quarterly business (and personal) taxes online, and the feds were surveying small business owners to see if they were aware of this. I was aware you could e-file your return, but not that you could actually make online payments. After the survey, I called the someone in the marketing department at the US Treasury and got more details on the process. The e-payment system has lots of pluses. Here’s a link if you are interested in enrolling: www.eftps.gov.

This year I went to International Quilt Festival in Chicago. I gave my lecture, Open House Studio Tour: A Peak Inside Quilters Studios. It’s a fun look at working quilter’s studios full of tips. I had 70 people at the lecture

Then the following morning I taught my Quilting Passion to Profit class to a group of 32. It was great fun and we had the treat of guest speaker Debbie Caffrey, who talked for five minutes about how her career started and how it has grown.

I enjoyed the show, especially seeing it without the constraints of having a booth. And, an extra plus for me was the visit with my sister, her husband and her three kids that live in Chicagoland and a visit from my sister in California. Now, if I could get them to become quilters!

QHC is one of my favorite quilt shows, partly because I think of it as my home show. This was the 21st year, and I’ve lived within driving distance of the show for most of those years. I think I’ve been to all the shows but one or two. This year I taught a class, Quilting Passion to Profit, to a group of 22 would-be and current quilt business owners and had a booth. I enjoyed catching up with lots of long-time friends. And, an extra plus of the show is seeing part of the Quilt National exhibit.

Here’s a shot of Sue Reno, who is from Columbia, Pa., and me. I’m a big fan of both Sue and her work. She generously loans me a quilt each year for the booth. This one is Prickly Sow Thistle.

And Rita Barber, who owns the show, stopped by the booth on Sunday afternoon. During the awards ceremony, she noted that anyone who had been to every show since the beginning had seen more than 8000 quilts. Wow!

And, I also had a quilt in the Teacher’s Exhibit. It’s a quilt I made for my grandmother when she turned 90. Each signature block went to a family member: my mother, my aunt, myself, my four sisters, my two cousins. That year, I told her my grandmother that she was my role model for someone at 90. Without missing a beat, she said, “Wait until I’m 100.” This past August she celebrated her 100th birthday. Sadly she died in early November. Here’s the quilt and a photo from her 100th birthday celebration.