Interview 2

Busy doing and unfortunately not blogging about it

cheryldineenferrin — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:48:37 +0000

Hello everyone,
Probably just my brother reading this now as I have been so lax about posting. Other than trying to heal bones in my foot – yes, more broken bones- I am still enmeshed in creating pieces for the Blackfeet Portrait Project. We have gotten a contract for the exhibit from the Hockaday Museum in Kalispell, Montana and I am getting the inventory list completed to send it back to them.
I am still creating work for and exhibiting with the Fiber Artists Coalition (www.fiberartistscoalition.com). It’s a great group to work with and I am looking forward to my next new exhibit with them in the American Craft Council’s offices in March.
I will post my next completed work soon: Motorcyclist Portrait Project: the Librarian.
Bye for now!
Cheryl

Saturday at IQF

cheryldineenferrin — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 14:52:07 +0000

Hello again,
Today we have the pleasure of having Diane Nunez and Martha Warshaw in the booth with us. Diane has recently become a professional artist member of SAQA.

Diane and Martha, SAQA booth volunteers

Good Morning from IQF Cincinnati

cheryldineenferrin — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 15:18:23 +0000

Sightlines installation IQF Cincinnati

Hi Everyone,
Welcome to Friday at the Festival. I am here in the SAQA booth with Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi, Nysha Nelson, Michele Ellis Bell having a great time meeting lots of traditional and art quilters including Jackie Skarritt from Kalamazoo, Michigan. Jackie reports she was accepted into the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts West Michigan Area Show with an art quilt featuring a number of different surface design techniques.
The Sightlines exhibit pictured here had it’s origins in an exhibit done by a group of art quilters from Australia.
If you would like to read the curators statement about the exhibit – it has lots more insight about the exhibit than I can post here http://www.saqa.com/about.php?ID=1699

International Quilt Festival-Cincinnati

cheryldineenferrin — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 13:51:15 +0000

Hello from the International Quilt Festival in Cincinnati! It’s warm and
wonderful here compared to Michigan. The grass and shrubs are green, the trees
are starting to bud out, the birds are singing – oh, wait – no, that was me
going 72 in a 55 . . .
SAQA exhibits are up @ IQF and just getting their final adjustments. If you
can make it to IQF, it’s going to be worth the trip.
Show hours at the Duke Energy Convention Center:
tonight, 5-9 pm
tomorrow and Sat. 10 am-7 pm
Sun. 10 am-3 pm.

The end of an era

cheryldineenferrin — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 16:10:41 +0000

Dominie Nash, Stills From A Life Series #37

I’m finally done with my last Studio Art Quilt Associates, Inc. Portfolio. I’ve been working on this project with SAQA for seven years. When I took over, the Portfolio was a wire-bound book we had to collate ourselves from pages provided by each artist. Dominie Nash (www.dominienash.com) worked on the Portfolio for 8 years before I came on board. I think she brought things along from postcards to the book stage.
SAQA has some interesting ideas about how to present artwork to the public and I’m grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the project. Now that Deidre Adams is going to take over, I am sure that the Portfolio will become even more popular. We each contribute what we can to move things forward. (Deidre is a master at handling images.)
I remember last year I was talking with my brother about the things I was working on and I mentioned the Portfolio. He muttered something under his breath about how I was “always working on the Portfolio.” His comment gave me a lot to think about. What was I contributing to this project after six years? Had I taken it along as far as my capabilities would allow? What would I have to do to be the one to advance the style and quality of the book to the next level of professionalism for SAQA? And of course the most difficult question to face, how much time was I diverting from my own artwork in favor of this project?
This book was particularly difficult for me. As editor of an art book, you don’t have a lot to read or write but you do have hundreds of images to edit, quality check, rework, and at times reject. Despite the fact that SAQA has been requesting digital images from its Professional Artist Members for many years, the learning curve still seems to challenge many artists. There were 213 artists included in Portfolio 17, far fewer than the 280+ artists in Portfolio 16, and I was thankful that we did not have more. Normally, I am calling folks to get them to send me their images. I mean come on, you can have your work published in a book and you are not stepping up? This year there was no time for that luxury. Out of all the submissions, I think there were about 12 that were completely correct. Some images required days of editing before they could be published.
Ahh, but now Deidre, image editor and designer extraordinaire, will step up to the challenge. Fair notice to all SAQA professional members: Deidre will expect your “A” game.

How I spent my summer vacation . . . 3

cheryldineenferrin — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 16:47:15 +0000

Ok, so by now I have a list of about 25 Blackfeet artists and I am looking for contact information. I was really surprised to find that many of these artists do not have their own websites and the information I could find was not leading me where I needed to go. This made tracking them down a bit problematic. With the help of Darrell Norman, David Dragonfly and Zola Sellars I was able to find almost all of the artists on our master invitation list.
I spent about two weeks calling and e-mailing artists when I needed a break from working on the SAQA Portfolio 17 editing job. Most of the artists I spoke to were interested in participating, although a couple had to be coaxed a bit – and one artist did turn me down flat.

Jackie Larson and some examples of her work

The turn down came from Jackie Bread Larson. Her work is amazing. She creates beaded works, both traditional beadwork and realistic portraits that must take forever to complete. I saw one of her beaded portrait bags in Darrell Normans Lodgepole Gallery while I was visiting, it was incredible. He told me that the week before we arrived two of her works had been stolen from his gallery. It is awful that that happened but from a certain perspective it is a testament to how prized her works are. I don’t recall the title of the work I saw in Lodgepole Gallery but I was struck by the attention to detail and the radiant quality a portrait gains when created from small glass (?) beads.
I found this quote from Jackie on one of her galleries websites:
“The beads are size 14 and a small amount of size 11. The stitch technique is called applique, a two needle process where one needle carries the beads and the other is used to sew down the beads.
“Blackfeet people use this stitch exclusively. It is incredibly time consuming and the most complex stitch used in traditional beadwork. I like the detail that this stitch renders and the smooth tight appearance that it gives.”
Apparently Jackie never has an inventory. Her works move that quickly. She literally sells everything she makes as soon as it is completed and this was the reason she gave for turning me down. She would not have any work that she could afford to tie up for three years in a traveling exhibit.
I am still hoping that Jackie will reconsider her decision.

How I spent my Summer Vacation … part deux

cheryldineenferrin — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 10:08:30 +0000

Picture of the Tipi Village in Browning, Mont. from Darrell Norman's website

When we left off yesterday, I was talking with David Dragonfly, the Acting Curator of the Museum of the Plains Indian. He was discussing developing a support system to assist me in creating the Blackfeet artist portrait series. Since I am not a registered (or unregistered for that matter) Native American, I can not receive support services from the Museum of the Plains Indian. However, the Friends of the Museum of the Plains Indian, as a non-profit group not reporting to any government entity, could choose to support the project. And, bonus, they have an office upstairs in the Museum where I would be able to work when in town. David suggested that I speak to the Friends and gave me the number of their executive director who lives in Great Falls, Montana. He then sent me two miles down the street to meet the President of the Friends, Darrell Norman, at his Lodgepole Gallery and Tipi Village.

Darrell Norman in his studio, image from his website.

Darrell Norman strikes me as a soft-spoken and gracious man. I met with Darrell in his Lodgepole Gallery and studio which is attached to his home. His gallery is full of stunning works of art from Native artisans. It is a wonderful space with large windows looking over the mountains. I talked briefly with him about the portrait project and asked if he felt this was something he could support. When he said yes, he also said he’d like to participate. In the space of one hour I had three artists agreeing to participate in a project that actually hadn’t started yet. I was getting pretty excited about this idea. (check out the Lodgepole Gallery & Tipi Village at www.blackfeetculturecamp.com )
Darrell also suggested I speak with Ruthann Knudson, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Friends to discuss the particulars of the project. I made contact with Ruthann right away, but as I was also traveling to Wyoming and South Dakota, it took me a couple weeks to get a full proposal out the door.
The Friends responded quickly by extending me the Visiting Artist position, offering the use of their office in the Museum and the opportunity to pursue grants with joint applications. Darrell Norman, David Dragonfly, and Zola Sellars of the Blackfeet Heritage Center & Art Gallery, each helped me to develop a list of some of the most extraordinary Blackfeet artists. We now had support for the project- -and a name for it: Blackfeet Portrait Project. My next job would be to contact the artists to see if they would be interested in participating in the project and schedule a trip back to Montana.
OK, stop by tomorrow for another installment on the Blackfeet Portrait Project.

How I spent my summer vacation … working, the back-story

cheryldineenferrin — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 14:35:26 +0000

Perhaps by now you have heard the news that I’m the Visiting Artist for the Friends of the Museum of the Plains Indian for 2010-2011. I will be creating a traveling exhibit and many portraits of Blackfeet artists. What we really have not talked about was how this came about. I wish I could take all the credit for the idea but the truth is I had a lot of help. In the spirit of recognizing where credit is due, here we go . . .
I spent quite a bit of time in Montana this summer. My husband and I had planned a two-up motorcycle trip for most of the month of July. Well, that was before the “incident.” Yes, that’s how we are referring to a motorcycle accident June 1st that left me with a dislocated knee, multiple torn ligaments and a fractured tibia. (I’m doing much better now.)
Since I was not going to be doing much hiking – or motorcycling for that matter – I decided to make this a working trip. I figured I could talk with some of the many motorcyclists we would see on our journey and discuss participation in my Motorcyclist Portrait Project. My objective became to sign-up and photograph 8-10 new individuals to include in the project. Reality dawned on my quite quickly: no one is going to take kindly to being solicited while they are enjoying their trip to the national parks. I wouldn’t.
My husband and I discussed this and agreed that there were better venues to approach motorcyclists. Then he said, hey, why don’t you do portraits of historical figures from the Blackfeet Nation? We had been on a number of guided bus tours through Glacier National Park during the week and had gotten an introduction to historical figures of the Blackfeet Indians. Most of what we learned was interesting and distressing all at once.
Perhaps the most amazing thing was the fact that I said “Wow, what a good idea.” In the past, when my husband comes up with suggestions for my artwork, I routinely consider and dismiss them. (I don’t know, some deep-seated thing on my part about it not being my original idea. Lately, I have come to realize that is a limiting perspective.) But this idea to do modern portraits of historical figures resonated with me. I went to the Museum of the Plains Indian to see if I could get some guidance on creating historically accurate renditions of figures from their past.
The first person I met at the Museum was Harold Weipert. Harold is a key figure in the transformation of this project. He listened patiently to my idea (my husbands idea) on forming the series of portraits and he responded directly and honestly. He said, (I’m paraphrasing here) “That sounds like a great project, but you’re not going to get any help from anyone here. You are not Native, you are not from around here, and we don’t know you. There’s a lot of skepticism toward outsiders. What you need to do is portraits of people who need to promote their work as much as you do. You need to do portraits of Blackfeet artists. Then when we get to know you, you might try bringing the historical portraits up.”
I am not sure if Harold said anything else right after that because I was too distracted by the ringing of that giant bell that just went off in my head. I had been thinking about doing a series of artists’ portraits for a few years but never could get off the dime on it. I suddenly saw all these large art quilt portraits accompanied by one or two pieces of each of the Blackfeet artist’s work traveling about the country. When I told Harold that idea, he suggested I return the following day to see the Acting Curator of the museum and talk with him about my idea (our idea.)
The next day I met with David Dragonfly, Acting Curator of the Museum of the Plains Indian and artist extraordinaire. I pitched the portrait exhibit to him and asked if he would support it and help me get started. He said very slowly and calmly “That’s a good idea.” From there things seemed to move really fast.
Now, the Museum of the Plains Indian is owned and operated by the U.S. Department of the Interior; these museums (there are 3) exist to preserve the history of Native arts and promote the works of current Native artists. They do not exist to promote or display the works of red-headed/German/Irish/Swiss/French artists who happen to have a good idea. Due to the focused nature of their mission, the Museum could not help me directly. Ahh, but there is always another option to make things happen, especially where our government is concerned. The Museum is supported by a non-profit organization of Friends, and having their support, as David Dragonfly said “was a whole other story.”
The story continues tomorrow . . .

The Museum of the Plains Indian

cheryldineenferrin — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 15:36:46 +0000

David Dragonfly, Artist and Curator of the Museum of the Plains Indian

So, this is the Museum here. It looks incredibly governmental from the outside, as you would expect as it is a part of the Department of the Interior. There are some interesting sculpture outside near some pick-nick tables in the front of to the side of this image but most of the art works are housed within. The Museum is open 7-days a week during the summer and through the end of September. David Dragonfly is the Curator of the Museum. He is a cordial gentleman, down to earth and quite knowledgeable. I had the opportunity to see a few pieces of his artwork: they were wonderful. I’ll see if I can get some images of them to post here.

The Museum of the Plains Indian, Browing, Montana

The Museum of the Plains Indian displays historic clothing, horse gear, weapons, household implements, baby carriers, and toys in one part of the Museum and the works of contemporary Native American artists in two others. http://www.doi.gov/iacb/museums/museum_plains.html

Browning, Montana

cheryldineenferrin — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 01:43:13 +0000

The drive from Browning to East Glacier, Montana

My time as Visiting Artist in Montana is really going fast. The people I have met have been fabulous, as has the scenery. I have been staying in cabins in East Glacier, Montana about 12 miles south of Browning. Let’s see, the first night I stayed in East Glacier Motel and Cabins, right across the road from a terrific restaurant called Luna’s Cafe and just about a quarter mile from Serrano’s Mexican Restaurant. I’ve been to both places before so it is no coincidence I stayed close by. Then I moved to Jacobson’s Cottages. The president of the local Chamber of Commerce said “they’re clean and cozy, you’ll like them.” And I did.
Browning is the headquarters for the Blackfeet Nation and the location of the Museum of the Plains Indian where I have been working. The Friends of the Museum of the Plains Indian have a good sized office on the second floor of the Museum that I have converted into a photo studio. I have been taking 30-50 reference shots of each of the invited artists so that I can go back to Michigan and create the sketches and then the final large format art quilt portraits. I went in with a number of poses in mind and just chucked them all out the window and let each individual get comfortable and talking before I started looking for the pose that was uniquely “them”.

Leonda Fast Buffalo Horse

The first person I worked with was Leonda Fast Buffalo Horse. I was talking with a tour guide from the Red Bus Tours when I was in Montana in July. He described the ancient Blackfeet women as ‘fierce”. Then he added with a cautious smile, “Contemporary Blackfeet women can be pretty fierce too.” These word echoed in my mind the first time I met Leonda despite the fact that she looks all of 5′ 5″ and 98 pounds. She struck me as the kind of person who would be a jewel of a friend. She has the ability to see to the heart of the situation and is willing to share her insights in an honest and direct manner. My husband is gifted in this way also. No wonder I liked her.
This information came from her gallery:
“Leonda was born in Browning, Montana and has been a full time artist since she moved back to the reservation from Seattle, WA in 1993. Her foundation is in painting, drawing and design, which fosters her flexibility to create organic forms as well as traditional geometrics. Adapting imagery of the Northern Plains, she enjoys the simplicity of the designs and primary colors, re-imaging cultural art forms in the medium of glass. She incorporates objects and traditional porcupine quillwork into stained glass designs to fuse old Plains Indian tradition with the media of glass into a new form of cultural artistic expression. Leonda was an instructor for porcupine quillwork at the Institute of Native American Art in Santa Fe, NM and has been a contracted teacher for glass mosaic work in the Browning School District, Since 1996, Leonda has attended art shows such as Northern Plains Tribal Arts in Sioux Falls, SD, Heard Museum Indian Art Show in Phoenix, AZ and the Native American Art Show in Great Falls, MT. In most of the shows she was honored for her quillwork. In 2005 she received the Artist in Business Leadership Award by the First Peoples Fund.”