These pictures are of my wonderful students in BA – the one with the sewing machine in front is the advanced class, the others are the ‘beginners’.   Apart from mine, the classes offered at the festival were very traditional and I think were wiselychosen taking into account the relative short involvement of patchwork and quilting in latin america.   

I taught a beginner and advanced class on freehand cutting and piecing, suggesting that going into the advanced class the student should have done some of this before (I have taught a number of times over here in Uruguay, once to several argentines who came over for a class)  or, if they hadn’t, that a worksheet on absolute basic principles available to practice at home before class, but only a couple asked for it.  Interestingly, there were more outstanding results from the beginner class than in the advanced – probably partly a scheduling issue that made it more convenient for some to take a class with me on one day than the other – and partly because I think some saw themselves as ‘advanced’ which maybe they were in terms of traditional piecing.  From making traditional patchwork with its focus on precise measurement and exact 1/4″ seam allowances,  it’s a huge step from there to cut and sew as you go without templates, and decide what seam allowance you feel OK with, and understand that ‘this is not at all important’.

Whatever class I teach, there is never just the one project everyone is doing, so everyone is holding up something different.  Students make choices, taking options to follow one of several directions, all the while learning what I am teaching.  These classes were technique based –  freehand rotary cutting and piecing (which produces irregular shapes – no pattern, sew as you go) and part of the class includes devising some simple repeat blocks which I prefer to call ‘units’ since in some cases they really aren’t ‘blocks’ per se.  Some students came up with their own plan, others chose from several options available.   I was impressed with them all, they worked hard and were a lot of fun.

Yesterday’s class for beginners in the world of freehand cutting and piecing had an element of additional brain activity for all of us  – three languages were being spoken in class – there were several of the brasilians in class most of whom spoke a little spanish but no english, I speak spanish enough to manage, but not very elegantly imho, and understand a bit of portuguese if it is spoken slowly and clearly, and fortunately one student could clear any roadblocks ( which I am proud to say were rare) with enough ability in all three.  There was meant to be an interpreter around, like pin boards and enough table space … but we managed, as quilters always do.  One of the sponsoring sewing machine companies provided machines for the class, plus a techie who was in the room most of the day – so someone dropping a pin into the mechanism of one, and another just not working well, did not present me with any worries at all.

The morning session included demos, some sample making, then deciding which aspect of these techniques the quilter was going to put into a small wallhanging.   As we proceeded I was a bit concerned that a couple were just not getting the freehand bit, couldn’t handle the freedom actually! which I did understand, they were all from the traditional quiltmaking world with its necessary attention to precise measurement and careful cutting.  But in the afternoon these two in particular really ‘got it’ , which pleased me to see.

At the end of the day, as class wqas starting to pack up, one student asked me would I mind if she taught classes on this.  I immediately thought  ‘You have to be joking surely, you are not any kind of expert dear! ‘  but of course, I said that since it is just a technique, and if she makes all her own samples and images – with absolutely no permission to use any of my quilt images, of course, she could.   I discussed this response with another teacher later, who agreed.  It’s technique, and  I am very glad I have long had the teaching policy of never giving out copious class notes – there is the one page basic instruction sheet which is (c) I pointed out – but free to anyone who asks – and the half page list of points (c) covered in class in the order of the sample sets I demo-ed.  Another student asked if I had a book …. answer = no – for the same reason.  I teach, and the student has to learn what I am teaching in this class, making note of anything they need to remember – which is the point of making samples and having a pen and notebook.   They all have my email, and I welcome any follow up inquiries to my classes.

On one of the mornings I was free to do my own thing in San Miguel de Allende, I wandered around to El Nigromante cultural centre, which includes an art school, where in addition to various classes in progress, I found several exhibitions, including a lovely little one, in every sense, titled “Petit Four” , set up in just one medium sized room.   As we all know, petits fours are exquisite little bite sized sweet cakes served with coffee;  something similar but often less exquisite is available here in uruguay – masas finas come in many shapes and degrees of decoration.  I googled the artist, Pat Lasch, found she was on Facebook, and have had some correspondence with her, in which she was very forthcoming about her art.   As a young child she began helping her pastrychef father ice cakes when she was about 8 or 9  and did this with him for some years.  Later in life they collaborated in a book together with his recipes and her artworks – this time  cake sculptures rather than actual cakes.  I hope to see this book some time, as from what I saw of this artist’s work, it will be enchanting, too.  It wasn’t very surprising to hear from her that back in the ’70’s she too worked in fabric and thread – I haven’t seen any images of that work, yet anyway.

Look at the photos below.  These are not edible – they are miniature sculptures of acrylic and wood.   Each piece on the plate for example is within 2″x2″x2″.    From a technical point of view, just as the pastrychef needs to get the ingredients just right so that icing for example sits correctly at just the right consistency and holds its shape when moulded, so too I think a huge amount of experimentation must have taken place over time to get the ‘fondant’ looking just right, and the lovely glaze on some of the pieces is another technique altogether.    And then, the artful arrangement of these pieces, some on a large elegant platter with lace doiley, others individually presented in miniature cake boxes arranged on a lovely lace tablecloth.  It was just beautiful.

But art is not mere technical expertise; there needs to be some rationale that connects the artist to the viewer via the work on show.   On the walls were two quotations important to Pat and used by the curator to help set the mood, create context for this work.  Pat’s father told her “If you make a mistake, put a rose on it”.  (A famous embroiderer teacher once told a class I was in, not to unpick anything but to just sew more stitches over the top… interesting)  The other quotation “There are three branches of the fine arts: painting, sculpture and pastry making, of which architecture is a branch”   Pierre Simon Fournier, 1712-1768 (a time in which wit was a prized social/intellectual faculty)

Just as Iwas getting my mind into gear to write this post, somewhere I came across a link to another artist, Michael Paul Smith a designer and photographer who uses his miniature car collection and his occupational skills in modelling for designers and architects to pursue miniature art via photography; and in addition to this link there are others with more examples of very realistic looking photos featuring cars – but his hand made sets are totally to scale and not at all real – just ‘atmosphere’ of the place in which he grew up. 

Additionally this same week, on a quilters’ list there was a call for miniature fibre works that must be less than 30cm, or something pretty small for fabric and fibre – anyway, again miniaturisation came up, and it all set me thinking about why people work this way, and how it appeals to the viewer, well to some of us anyway.  As Michael Paul Smith commented “What started out as an exercise in model building and photography, ended up as a dream-like reconstruction of the town I grew up in. It’s not an exact recreation, but it does capture the mood of my memories.”   and this would have to be true for Pat Lasch, too.  I haven’t taken to the world of the miniature to the point of wanting to work there, but it is very interesting to see good examples.  People often say to me when they see my work,  “I don’t know how you have the patience to do that”.  I  just say ” Well, I enjoy doing it”  and smile.   I don’t think I can expect such a person to understand that it’s not a matter of patience alone -the artist must have persistence too, but far more important, there must be passion for what you are doing.  In these cases, two people are looking back and exploring something that has had profound influence on them, and presenting/exploring that in miniature form.  I am really glad I wandered into the fine arts centre that day.

I was fortunate to spend 6 days in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico the week before last (you didn’t know I was gone, did you?) and while our DD was involved in her daily 4 hour botanic drawing class, I either walked in the town itself or walked in the wonderful botanic garden, Charco del Ingenio.  Sited on ridges above this historic, World Heritage listed town, the focus is entirely on indigenous mexican plants, featuring cactii, agaves and succulents. Trees there were mostly the acacia family – all low rainfall area plants.  I commented as we drove into the town from the airport how dry it was and how it clearly had not rained for a very long time,  and would you believe, that night it rained…

the cross in the background to this pic is very symbolic according to the english half of the didactic panel/plaque nearby:

these rolled dried leaves attached to the underlying mesh (refer to the plaque above) I thought would make a gentle surface for a dead body – caring somehow – I didn’t test my theory as I didn’t want to look too nosey and pokey as an obvious tourista gringa.

Each time I was in the garden there were groups of school children there for an outdoor lesson or field trip.  Since its foundation in 1991, the garden has become widely known for its conservation and preservation of these specias of plants found all over Mexico, some of them iconic images of the country.  Some are very rare and difficult to cultivate, but certain people on the staff here have the skills and special knowledge, several of them are consulted by botanists from everywhere, several have travelled widely to lecture and teach and the city is,  rightly, very proud of this place.  The small low building behind the plaza is the lecture hall/classroom where DD’s class was held.  At the other end of the garden was a conservatory housing some special cactii, and an agaves garden planted out with a large variety of these.  And everywhere along the natural gravelled pathways were low bench seats for visitors to sit and gaze out over the partk with the wetlands at the bottom, watch birds, take photos, rest, or whatever. In one or two places I came across volunteers weeding among planted beds.  Following are some of the fav. photos from the time I spent there:

In future posts I will show a few other pics of the town and things I observed there as we did mother and daughter tourist things in the afternoons and evenings.

this second 'sign' was set in loose sand way up the beach at the foot of a dune.

On the morning after the first lot of rather high tides, this, second one, was still high ad dry but had been approached by water, as far up the beach as it was.

And this is roughly the spot where I think the red-based marker is buried after the incredibly wild weather.

A series of pics showing how the profile of the beach has changed.  The two top pics are of a couple of scutlptures,  ‘markers’ or ‘offerings’, ?signs perhaps, of a kind I hadn’t seen before.   Both were in a cement base, the lower one still in the bucket it was set in.  I thought I’d keep an eye on how long they lasted – not knowing things would change so fast.  The next day the one set at the water’s edge was still there, but in the tidal movements since had settled down into the sand a bit.  The top one was untouched, and I took a pic to show how they were located.  I wondered idly whether the angle between the and on out into the river might mean anything.  The first time I saw them some people were fishing nearby, and I wondered if they might have been some kind of marker for them.  Who knows, but they were left there.  Now that the beach profile is so totally different I imagine they are still there, but now lurking under the sand, and will re-appear some time.   I hope someone doesn’t step on one of those rusty iron arms of one of the sculptures – the spines at the bases of them look pretty lethal … but there’s no sign at present.  Thing is now I don’t know how far up or down the beach I should walk!  and am looking ahead carefully.

If the pictures line up oddly on this page, sorry, I’m nost sure why – but enjoy them anyway ;-p