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The Frayed Edges, June 2008 – Natasha Kempers-Cullen’s house!
Sheesh….. the week has evaporated yet again! This week started with a glorious Frayed Edges (my mini-group) day, so I’m going to break it into two posts. Then I got swamped when I realized entries for Houston (IQA) are due June 12th, and my quilt isn’t done let alone photographed and forms completed, so I’ve been quilting like a madwoman all week. I finished the quilt (well, except for the hanging sleeve and label, and they don’t have to be done to photo the front) last night, and will put entry in the mail on Monday. In the meantime… I get to share the wonderful day we had on Monday…
Hannah Beattie, the youngest of us, now lives in Harpswell, which is south of Brunswick, Maine, on a peninsula that has to be one of the most beautiful in Maine, and that is saying a LOT. I believe that Hannah must know and be friends with every amazing artist between New Hampshire and the mid-coast…see she’s one of those people that everyone love! So anyway, over the weekend Hannah writes to ask, would we like to go visit Natasha at her home and studio? Heck YES! As you can see f rom the photo above, when you drive up to the house you know you are in for a major treat… I mean, don’t you want shutters like these? I do! And in the vegetable patch to the left of the drive, look at these awesome garden people (which Natasha makes on commission, too)–that’s Kathy, Hannah and (in her arms) Nina:
For those of you who have come to art quilting lately, Natasha was one of the trail blazers, and has been at the forefront of the art quilt movement for longer than she probably wants to remember (and it also means she started young!). Here’s her website…I encourage you to go look and enjoy (and shop?). Anyway, there was plenty of color and creativity in her home… both in her studio and in the other rooms. Here’s Natasha with one of her works in progress…she began with white cloth, used lots of Shiva paintsticks and more:
and her studio (PS…please don’t blame me for the studio lust you’ll feel)
Repetition was a theme which I enjoyed… her yarn baskets:
Pencils and pens:
The pillows for sale on one table: (Kathy bought one!)
The broken-ceramics tiling she did on the woodstove chimney in the living room:
and close up:
Then there is the jewelry for sale (does natasha ever sleep????):
And tho it isn’t repetition in the same way, I LUST after this bathroom mirror:
OK..I also lust for color, and the time to create….
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Doesn’t that piece just make you want to RUN to the studio and play?
And finally, on the way out….
Next post (or maybe the one after), what we did with the rest of our day….
June 7th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Oh ! I have lusted in so many ways looking t these photographs…and you know what I mean !!! What a great day! Seeing the house makes me homesick – just a bit – for New England too !
June 7th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Talk about living creatively! I don’t blame you for lusting a bit, Sarah! If your life ever slows down a bit I can see you taking up mosaics… Meanwhile, keep quilting for Houston!
June 8th, 2008 at 9:18 am
Oh, how wonderful, thanks for sharing this. I feel like I’ve been on a wonderful little visit. Can’t wait to read about the rest of the day. Good luck with the Houston entry.
June 8th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Thanks for sharing photos of your visit. What a visual feast Natasha’s home and studio are. I could just sit and take it all in and get so inspired!
June 9th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
Wow! What a great entry. What an inspirational artist. Thanks so much for sharing.
September 21st, 2008 at 9:13 am
[…] been in Quilt National, website here), whom Kate, Hannah and Deborah know… I blogged about it here. After that visit, we talked about how fun it would be to do a day workshop when Deborah said she […]