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MIX: Adventures in Mixed Media
Artistic Artifacts is collaborating with Del Ray Artisans Gallery for: MIX: Adventures in Mixed Media. This juried exhibit will take place May 1-31, 2015 at Del Ray Artisans Gallery, located at 2704 Mount Vernon Avenue in Alexandria, VA. Artistic Artifacts owner Judy Gula and Karen Schmitz, a contemporary painter, mixed media and monotype artist will serve as co-curators of the exhibit. The MIX: Adventures in Mixed Media juror is Rosalie Lamanna, a mixed media artist and long-time owner of Beads Ltd in Alexandria. Full details, including information about entering, related workshops and events held in conjunction with the show and more »
You can see the blank spots on the wall
as art went home with excited bidders!
2013 Challenge — Mixed Media Metallics
All that glitters is not gold...it’s silver, and copper, and bronze too (and jewel tones, and rusted bits, and...)! Artistic Artifacts’ latest challenge invited everyone to create a mixed media piece of art that celebrated the shine (or patina) of metallics. We were delighted by the response, as more than 100 beautiful and creative pieces were received! We hope you were able to join us for a public exhibit of all challenge entries. In the photograph shown here, Etta Stewart receives her Viewer’s Choice award from guest curator Diane Herbort (holding prize basket) during the Mixed Media Metallics Closing Reception on February 22, 2014.
Many of the challenge artists were so generous, donating their entry to our silent auction — more than $1,800 was raised to benefit Food for Others. A food drive held during the exhibit also collected more than 60 lbs of non-perishable food for donation!
Learn more about Mixed Media Metallics»
Past Challenge Exhibitions
Arts & Old Lace Art Quilt Challenge
Learn more at www.artsandoldlace.com.
Viewing the Arts & Old Lace art quilt exhibit at Artistic Artifacts
The 2012 challenge, Arts & Old Lace began with the challenge packet, packed with lace fabric, trim, vintage buttons along with sample fabric swatches of suiting and shirting. Quilters were asked the following: “What do you think of when you hear ‘Arts & Old Lace’? A classic movie? Your favorite fabric or trim? Recreating classic art with an unexpected textile? Or creating modern art with a vintage feel? Does lace conjure images of weddings, baptisms, lingerie, table linens? Whatever your vision, we invite you to create your own Arts & Old Lace quilt to express your point of view.”
Eighty artists responded with 87 quilts (from 10 states, from the UK, and from Canada). Wonderful displays of family memories, vintage portraits, plays on words, traditional techniques, modern and abstract works made up the challenge quilts. The 18" x 18" quilts that make up the Arts & Old Lace challenge debuted on July 21, 2012 with a packed Artists’ Reception and were on display through early October. They have since traveled to several venues and will next be seen at the Road to California Quilter’s Conference and Showcase, January 23–26, 2014 at the Ontario Convention Center in Ontario CA.
An Arts & Old Lace Quilts CD that includes the beautiful quilt images and accompanying artist statements is available to purchase. The CD includes two formats: a PowerPoint presentation (requires PowerPoint on your machine to view) and a PDF that requires Adobe Acrobat Reader (free download; preloaded on most computers) to view.
One of two Suffragette-themed art quilts created by Judy Gula.
Power Suit Art Quilt Challenge
Learn more at www.powersuitquilts.com.
When a local tailor contacted Cyndi Souder (www.MoonlightingQuilts.com) in 2011 to offer her his outdated fabric swatches, a quilt challenge was born. Living in the Washington, DC area, Power Suits was the obvious theme. Artistic Artifact’s Judy Gula and Cyndi worked together to develop the theme, package swatches, and offer them for free to interested quilters.
Distributing challenge packets at quilt shows, lectures, and online through their blogs and websites, Cyndi and Judy invited quilters to express their take on Power Suits through their artwork. The resulting quilts address such diverse topics as politics, family, worklife, playing cards, and super heroes. Power Suit artists come from 21 states and from Canada.
A Power Suits Quilts CD that includes the beautiful quilt images and accompanying artist statements is available to purchase. The CD includes two formats: a PowerPoint presentation that requires PowerPoint on your machine to view and a PDF that requires Adobe Acrobat Reader (free download; preloaded on most computers) to view.
The quilts were exhibited at Artistic Artifacts from October 22 to November 23, 2011 (learn more and view photos of the Opening Night Artist Reception). In 2012 the exhibit was displayed at numerous venues, including the Lancaster Spring Quilt Show, the Upper MidWest Show/Machine Quilting Today, the Road to California Quilters Conference and Showcase (Ontario, CA) and finished their two-year tour June 27-29, at NQA 44th Annual Quilt Show, Columbus, OH. Selections of the full collection were exhibited as a “show within a show ” in Power Art, a March 2013 exhibit at Del Ray Artisans Gallery in Alexandria, VA — learn more.
