CMMAG at Art of the Carolinas 2008

Members of CMMAG participated in Art of the Carolinas, sponsored by Jerry's Artarama. We assisted the staff by preparing and maintaining classrooms for art workshops, operated a "Make and Take" area for people to create Artist Trading Cards (ATC), and welcomed trade show goers to our own CMMAG table which featured work from many of our members.

Kudos to our intrepid secretary Penny Arrowood, for putting this all together and making it all work in pre-show planning, and over the four days of the event. Our Guild was presented to a new audience composed largely of other artists, and we received many positive comments about the work we displayed. At our CMMAG table, we raffled off a one-year membership to the Guild, and made contacts with artists from near and far.

And, at our Make and Take ATC table, we displayed hundreds of ATC made by our members, and we encouraged artists to create their own Artist Trading Cards to keep or share. Creativity and originality abounded, and fun was had by all!

Cultural Cloth Workshop

In October, eight CMMAG members participated in a workshop called Cultural Cloth: Exploring and Expressing Our Cultural Histories, run by Ann Flaherty. We were her very willing 'guinea pigs,' as Ann fine-tuned her presentation of the class. The aim of Cultural Cloth is to share experiences of diversity, with an eye to education. Ann's Cultural Cloth blog describes it best.

Cultures explored included: African, African-American, Asian, Creole, German, Native American, American Southwest, and Welsh. To begin the workshop, Ann shared her own works with the group, along with the stories behind the various quilts she'd brought. Then, each member spoke about her reasons for choosing the culture to explore. Ann provided great resources and instructions for each member to create her own 14"x14" no-sew quilt, and steered the discussions while the group worked. And, each member brought a dish which reflected the culture she'd chosen; lunch was a true multicultural feast!

Here are the 8 CMMAG members displaying their quilts.

The Cultural Cloth quilts and statements by each artist will be displayed at Art of the Carolinas this weekend, but here's a close up sneak peek at two of them.

Nanette's depicts New Orleans, and she describes it this way: "New Orleans, in my mind, is truly a melting pot. The foods, traditions, and lifestyle truly portray the blended ethnic and religious backgrounds that formed this fascinating city... I look at the colors of Mardi Gras – purple represents justice; green is for faith; and gold stands for power — and realize the hues truly represent this fine city. May the colors stand true and continue to stand for the importance of this blended historical culture, justice, faith and power.
"Michelle's quilt celebrates her Native American, African, and African American ancestry, and was inspired by sisters, Nature, and fabrics with African and Native American motifs. Photos are placed within or across the fabrics as they relate to the ethnicity of the sisters, and embellishments of feathers, twigs, beads and braids frame each photo as part of each sister's world.

Come see the rest of the quilts and meet the artists at Art of the Carolinas, at the North Raleigh Hilton this weekend.

See you there!