500 Art Quilts, my Garden of Haiti piece, TAFA List, HeART for Haiti paintings, GHESKIO

This is the cover of the new Lark book "500 Art Quilts," which just came available for purchase. You can buy it on Amazon. It's authored by Ray Hemachandra and Karey Bresenhan, who selected a really impressive amount of narrative works, the most I've ever seen in one art quilt volume before!

I have two pieces in the book: "The Timer (Magic Lama)" on page 235, and  "The Potluck / World" on page 275. This is one of my favorite art quilt books ever! Wish they'd had room to add our statements, but then the book would be even bigger. A lot bigger! And after all, curious people can google us and our titles.

Above: "Magic Lama" (formerly called "The Timer." ©Susan Shie 2008. 86"h x 80"w.  See its statement and detail shot in my 2008 Gallery.

Above: "Potluck for the World."  ©Susan Shie 2008. 85"h x 76"w.  See its statement and detail shot in my 2008 Gallery.

While I'm at it, here's my newest finished piece, "Garden of Haiti." ©Susan Shie 2010.  82"h x 69"w, begun on January 22, 2010 and finished on Feb 27, 2010.  See its statement and detail shots in my 2010 Gallery.

I've just joined a networking group called The TAFA List: The Textile And Fiber Art List. It's really interesting to see works from fiber artists from all over the world in this group, which was founded in March by Paducah, KY artist Rachel Biel.

My own profile on TAFA includes the flickr photostream slideshow I worked so hard to figure out, as well as a live-view link to my Facebook fan page. Next project will be to make a little video to put on there.  :)

On February 12, one month after the 7.0 earthquake in Haiti, Lisa Wagoner held a benefit auction at Wayne Center for the Arts in Wooster, Ohio. Twelve high profile citizens bravely and rather well made paintings that night to auction, and our WAGE (Wayne Artists Group Effort) group donated paintings we'd started on Feb 2, when we'd painted together. The project raised $11,000, which was split between Save the Children/Haiti and Muncheez Food Drive Haiti.

My two pieces in the auction brought over $3,700. for Muncheez Food Drive Haiti.  They both have a lot of Haiti's history written on them, as well as stats about the earthquake's damage.

"Heroes of Haiti" ©Susan Shie 2010. fin Feb 7, 10. 18"h x 24"w, acrylic with brush and fabric paint with airpen, on stretched canvas. Purchased by Carol Ohl at the HeART for Haiti auction, now in the collection of Lisa Wagoner.  It is based on several photos by Joe Dore, as well as things I made up, like the line of people waiting to eat and the trees. The man in front is Gilbert Bailly, the driving force of Muncheez Food Drive Haiti, who's headed the efforts to feed over 1,000 people each day, without charge, since the quake.

Above is "Women of Haiti." ©Susan Shie 2010. fin Feb 7, 10. 18"h x 24"w, acrylic with brush and fabric paint with airpen, on stretched canvas. Purchased by Anonymous in England, via online bidding on my Facebook page, for the HeART for Haiti auction.  This composition started with my freehand brush drawing, while looking at a photo Joe Dore had put on Muncheez Food Drive Haiti's Facebook page.  I'm not used to working from someone else's photos, and I deeply appreciate that Joe put the pix online, and that I was able to convert them into works that raised money for the cause of feeding many homeless people.

I'm not used to being able to earn money for really useful causes, beyond my own income.  HeART for Haiti was the first time ever, that what I did really had some impact on improving others' lives. And we have such a long, long way to go.  But I'll keep trying from now on. Although I gave all the money from the above two pieces to a cause, the next piece I'm trying to sell for a cause has to also help me pay my bills:

This is "Racism Did This to Haiti," ©Susan Shie 2010, 18.5"h x 24"h, a quilted painting. It shows children injured by the quake in Haiti, sitting outside a field hospital after being treated. The writing tells about Haiti's already precarious situation of poverty and illness, before the quake, along with some of her history.  The price is $2,500, and $500 of it will go to GHESKIO, the world's first HIV/AIDS clinic, which has given only free care to Haitians with infectious diseases, since 1982. Now GHESKIO also cares for over 6,000 people in a tent city beside its clinic, and needs to move them to higher ground before the rains come. The buyer and I will decide which of us will send the $500 to GHESKIO - as long as we both know it gets sent.

I guess that's all for now. Thanks for reading my blog. Susan