Historic Antiques meet Contemporary Uptown Artists

This weekend I delivered 2 new works to the Morris Jumel Mansion, a historic cite located in Washington Heights. They mansion wil host the work of several contemprary artists including myself and Beatrice Lebreton from now trough September. I love the house which is the oldest house still standing in Manhattan. Perched on a hill it has great views and the current skyline was once filled with trees and farmland.

June 19th the mansion will host a family day that will include an artist reception and artist talk.

http://www.morrisjumel.org/index.php?sec=home

Visit their website since they often host small music events open to the public and have great outdor grounds.

The Bigger the Better

In March I took the big plung and purchased a long arm, well actually a mid arm. For those of you not familiar this is an industrial sewing machine on a long table and allows you a great deal of ease when machine quilting you work espscially large quilts. At 10 ft long and 4 ft deep she is a big girl and I call her Sally.

Ride Sally Ride! So far I have quilted 6 large quilts and several art quilts on her and it has been great. There is still a need for all of may other machines: the little singer for binding, the pfaff for piecing... but with ease I can neatly free motion quilt with out fighting too much. Now this gal is a bit of an oil-aholic and will "cut fool" when she is thirsty. She also gives me a bit of a problem every so often in certain settings but all in all she's a good gal and we are working on our relationship. Wish me luck since I'll have to sew on her till the cows come home to pay her off! Its all about the big quilts this year.

A Sunday Brushed with Greatness

Sunday, March 14th 2010. I traveled a bit further uptown to check out the Morris Jumel Mansion ( http://www.morrisjumel.org/index.php?sec=home ) for a site visit in hopes of becoming a participating artist in their upcoming Design in the Heights exhibition. Ms Trish Mayo gave myself and others a very informative tour of the mansions and its antique treasures. While there I meet a New York Times photographer and later discovered he was artist Chester Higgins http://www.chesterhiggins.com/. He was gracious enough to send me a photogragh that will help me with my project for the exhibit. Please travel to his site to see what a n honor that was.
Later that Sunday I was scheduled to showcase my work at the world famous Dance Theatre of Harlem ( http://www.dancetheatreofharlem.com/about_mission_history.asp ) as part of a reception for an in house concert. Ms Virginia Johnson came over to me and my display and thanked me for participating (fomer diva ballerina and current Artistic Director of DTH). After watching her on stage for many years this was another great honor.
2 Magnificient artists in 1 day. I just had to share

Baby, I'm back!

Well it has been over a year since my last post but that doesn't mean I haven't been busy with quilting. My new website, http://thegadsongallery.com/ has taken up most of my web posting time but I have decided to get back to blogging.

This year I wil concentrate on creating new work. Last year taking care of my mom was a new deal and I spent time curating a few group shows for artists of different mediums. This year has started off with 2 new art quilts and 2 new bed quilts, three of which will be finished and featured in this weekends open house. Tried my hand at creating floor cloths inspired by quilts but this kept me away from my most cofortable sewing room. Didn't finish any of the 4 that I started but I promiss to get back to at lest the ones I started by the summer.

If you are in the New York city area and are not afraid of the snow please feel free to drop by my home gallery (225 West 134th Street, Harlem) on Sat 2/27 from 2-7 pm. I will have a few eats and drinks and will host jewelry artist Shimoda and fellow artist Clymenza Hawkins (who crested the artwork for Eraka Badu's "butterfly" CD cover). A good time is always had by all.

HGQC explores THE COLOR PURPLE

The latest Harlem Girls Quilting Circle event is taking place at Gallery M in Harlem. The Color Purple is our quilt exhibit that will be on display through February 26th 2009 and includes work from our color purple challenge as well as other work by HGQC members. quilts There was a wonderful turn out at the opening and we hope folks will continue to visit. Gallery M is located at 123 West 135th Street (bt. Lenox Ave and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd. near the 2 &3 trains). Regular Gallery hours are Wed & Friday 1pm - 5pm, Thurs. 2pm - 8pm, and Sat. 1-5pm. All work on display is for sale.