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Farm to Easel at Exhibit B Gallery in Souderton, PA through 2/9/19

Sunshine and Shadow Log Cabin Quilt Block by Margaret Almon
Sunshine and Shadow Log Cabin Quilt Block by Margaret Almon

 

My Sunshine and Shadow Log Cabin Quilt Mosaic is on display at “Farm to Easel” at the Exhibit B Gallery Annual Winter Group Show. All work includes farm-related subjects from the Pennsylvania landscape to images of quilts, farm animals, the harvested bounty and beyond. 20+ artists and 30+ paintings from artists far and wide. The show continues thru 2/9/19.

Farm to Easel at Exhibit B Gallery
Farm to Easel at Exhibit B Gallery

Exhibit B Gallery: Gallery of art and fine craft in a lovingly restored former 1901 cigar factory.

105 N. Main St, Souderton, PA

Hours: Thursday & Friday 2-7 and Saturday 11-5

or by Appointment Call (215) 799-0266

 

Glorious Contrast: Quiltmaker’s Color Workshop Meets Mosaic

Around the Square by Margaret Almon, glass and ceramic on wood, 8×8 inches.
I remember reading that color gets all the glory but contrast does the heavy lifting! This mosaic was inspired by a pattern from The Quiltmaker’s Color Workshop from Weeks Ringle and incorporates some broken dishes from my great grandmother Margaret’s china—the feathery white and amber pattern. My mother was so pleased that I could use the broken pieces in my art. This one hangs in my studio.

Rainbow Hope

Rainbow Hope Doodle Church Banner by Wayne Stratz
Rainbow Hope Doodle Church Banner by Wayne Stratz
This Hope banner designed by My Partner in Craft Stratoz really pops when you walk by the church.  It is based on a colored pencil design he created and an Arts & Crafts font. We could all use some rainbow hope.

A Colorful Trip Around the World with Kaffe Fassett

Kaffe Fassett is the epitome of bright colors with his quilts, fabric, knitting and mosaics. I had the chance to see his work at the Michener Art Museum  a few years ago. A postcard of this quilt is on my bulletin board in the studio. I feel a kinship with those who love the colors in Fassett fabric!  I made some Trip Around the World Mosaics early in my mosaicking. I may need to revisit it.
Sunshine and Shadow Trivet by Margaret Almon
Trip Around the World/Sunshine and Shadow Trivet by Margaret Almon

Color as Motivation

Rainbow Tracker and Colorful Pendants
Rainbow Tracker and Colorful Pendants by Margaret Almon.

I am very partial to orange, but really I never met color I didn’t like in art making. I noticed as I had these pendants sitting on my bullet journal tracker that there was definitely a similarity! I am highly color motivated, and getting to color a square after doing a task helps me get things done. The narrow striped pendants are a new shape for me, and I will be bringing a new crop to the North Penn Holiday Market November 17th, 2018. Just 1/2 inch wide, and 2 inches long and full of color. Send me a message if you want to know when they will be in the Nutmeg Designs Etsy Shop.

Log Cabin Quilt Mosaic Trivet in Autumnal Tones

Asymmetric Log Cabin Quilt Mosaic by Margaret Almon
Asymmetric Log Cabin Quilt Mosaic by Margaret Almon, glass on wood, 10×10 inches.

 

Quilt patterns never cease to delight me! This is a variation on the Log Cabin quilt block, and I never grow tired of all the ways to express Log Cabin Quilt Love. The modular nature of quilts is very suited to mosaic. I used to think I liked sewing, but I actually liked pattern, fabric, color.

A Midas Moment: Gold Smalti Mandala Pendant

Gold Smalti from Orsoni
Gold Smalti from the Orsoni Factory in Italy

One of my favorite materials is gold smalti: a chunk of glass plus a thin layer of gold and an even thinner layer of glass on top. This luscious dish of smalti was made by the Orsoni Factory in Italy, and I buy it by the ounce, even though I covet it by the ton. Someone asked me if this is the gold used in the ceiling of San Marco in Venice. I looked it up, and Orsoni has since its beginning in 1888, manufactured mosaics for the renovation of the Basilica. It supplied more than 1,000 ancient 24K gold plates that decorate the 8,000 square meters of the structure.

Blue and Gold Mandala Pendant by Margaret Almon
Gold Smalti Mandala Pendant by Margaret Almon

 

 

Two Colors: Moonflower Mandala Pendant in Dichroic Glass

When I discovered dichroic glass and it was love at first sight! The name means “two colors” — layers of coating on the glass allows it to change hue depending the light. Originally created for the aerospace industry, fortunately it was recognized for its beauty and companies now sell it to artists. This new Moonflower Mandala Pendant shimmers between green and violet.

Moonflower Mosaic Mandala Pendant by Margaret Almon

Bringing Suzi Beber’s Tree of Life into Mosaic Unfurling

Tree of Life Mosaic by Nutmeg Designs
Tree of Life Mosaic by Nutmeg Designs based on a drawing by our client, glass, millefiori, gold smalti on slate, 10×14 inches.

Our first collaboration with Suzi Beber was translating her Tree of Life drawing into glass mosaic, from Suzi’s series : “. . . one of a kind, and are only the size of a hockey trading card. Each represents a precious person or pet whose life has been touched by cancer. “Cancer Breaks” are miniature worlds done in pen and ink and are sacred spaces where hope is the medicine and love is the cure for cancer.”

Suzi wanted us to include the blue she loves, and for which her foundation The Smiling Blue Skies Cancer Fund, is named, “Long live Blue Skies, where Hope is a kite, and dreams really do come true.”

Read more about Suzi’s support of the human-animal bond.

 

Suzi Beber, Tree of Life Drawing.