Page 16 - the NOISE November 2012

16 • NOVEMBER 2012 • the NOISE arts & news • thenoise.us
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Tree by Jane Alvillar is among the artist’s new work at the Artists’ Gallery this First Friday ArtWalk.
with it, it’s like a weekend getaway from my 40-hour-a-week job.”
Sharon McGinnis works with watercolors and fused fiber to make art quilts. “Recently I have been experimenting with collages,” Ms. McGinnis says. “I really enjoy being in the win- dow as it allows space for larger works. Last summer I again had a great time with students at the Adult Center. Teaching always opens new creative doors as we all are learning from each other.”
It’s been quite a while since I’ve enquired into the artistic mind of Dawn Sutherland, who was happy to tell me what she has been working on recently. “I’ve been painting even more intensely in Grand Canyon. The Canyon is the siren song that calls to me. Although I still paint the big picture when at the Canyon, I’ve come to concentrate more on the smaller scenes such as the shadow or light pattern as it falls across a formation or plateau. I often leave the sky out of a painting, giving the feel of the immenseness of a particular scene. I have two new Canyon pieces I’d like to feature. End of a Perfect Day is a view from Yaki Point in late af- ternoon. CascadingMorningLightisamorning scene of Zoroaster Temple and the pattern of early morning light as it catches the edges of that formation all the way down to the Tonto plateau.”
Ms. Sutherland tells me she believes this time of her life is the most fun. “I find I’m do- ing all the things I enjoyed as a child: gardening, playing in the dirt and artwork. Although I nev- er truly painted until I was in my late 40s, I still enjoyed drawing and coloring as a kid. Add to that the hiking opportunities in this area and you could say, I’m having a really good time!”
When she paints, Ms. Sutherland goes to the area she wants to immortalize on canvas and paints in plein air, right on the spot. “Win- ter brings some interesting opportunities for painting,” says Ms. Sutherland. “I love painting snowy scenes at the Canyon. That requires a little more preparation than in the warmer months. I’ll attach a pair of micro-spikes to my
paint pack for icy conditions and stuff some hand warmer packets inside. Sometimes it’s cold enough that my oil paint stiffens too much to paint in the shade. I’ll also be traveling to the Sedona area for warmer conditions and a little change of scenery. My husband, Stan and I are traveling to France in November and I’ll be taking my painting gear with me. This will be a profound change of scenery, light and painting conditions in general. There will definitely be some new inspirations to paint there! And lo- cally, I’m always challenging myself to express the beauty and intrigue of the Southwest, par- ticularly the Grand Canyon.”
You can see Ms. Sutherland’s entire painting process start to finish on her website, Dawn- SutherlandFineArt.com. She is always updat- ing her site to show her most recent works in progress. FlagstaffArtistsGallery.com
FREE MOTION FLOW
The Z House Gallery’s featured November artist Wendy Garrison is a free-motion quilt artist. While I am familiar with some textile arts, I asked her if she would tell me a little more about the style of quilting she does. She ex- plains, “Quilting, in general terms, refers to the making of quilts; sandwiching a backing fabric, some sort of batting and a top layer of fabric to- gether and securing them by stitching through all three layers to hold everything in place. Tra- ditionally quilting was done by hand, but quilt layers can be stitched or tied by hand, stitched using a professional long arm quilting machine and frame, or by maneuvering the quilt layers through a domestic home sewing machine.
“Free-motion quilting on a domestic sewing machine like I use refers to the technique of moving the quilt layers through the machine, without the machine feeding the fabric, to create intricately stitched designs in thread. Designs are created by manipulating the quilt under the needle freehand while regulating the speed of the stitching using a foot control. It’s kind of like drawing by holding the pencil in one spot and moving the paper around un-