Yesterday I received email from Haus zur Glocke art center in Steckborn, Switzerland, to report that my “living quilt” installed there on the shores of Lake Constance in Switzerland on April 26, 2021, is still blooming, even in November! Haus zur Glocke plans to leave the installation in place over the winter and hope for the wildflowers to return in the spring. It’s wonderful to have this documentation of the continuing transformation of my “living quilts” that are created with handmade paper and wildflowers seeds. Here’s the photo taken by a Steckborn viewer on November 21, 2021.
Introduction to Papermaking workshop on Saturday, Oct. 2, 10AM to 4pm. This class was a great group, and here is a photo from the outdoor papermaking workshop. I will offer more papermaking classes at my Santa Rosa studio in the Fall and Winter. Send email if you want information about future papermaking workshops.
Fall 2021 Exhibitions
Gallery Route One Project Space, “WEAD Extraction Exhibition”, Point Reyes Station, CA, opened Sept. 18 and continues to Oct. 24, 2021, The virtual opening via Zoom was on Sept. 18, and another Zoom program with artists talks about the exhibition was on Sept. 30. For information about this exhibition see www.galleryrouteone.org and www.weadartistslorg
Point Reyes Waterways, 9 feet x 6 feet wall installation
I will also make a presentation for local high school students through the Gallery Route One Artists in Schools Program, about my work in the ”Extraction” show and its relationship to extraction water issues and the environment.
Change – 2021 International Paper Fibre Biennale, Taiwan Crafts Research Institute, Exhibition Hall, Caotun, Nantou County, Taiwan, opens November 2021 and closes April 2022. My work in this exhibition is an interactive sculptural work of handmade paper titled “Scrolls” created during the first 99 days of quarantine in California for the Covid 19 pandemic. For information about this exhibition in Taiwan: https://biennialartpaperfibre.com/2020/09/24/2021-22-edition-of-the-paper-fibre-art-biennial/
Daily Scrolls, 2020, handmade paper and recycled wire grid, 14″ x 14″ x 4″
“Living Quilt for Nestucca”, Nestucca Valley K-8 School, Otis, Oregon, public eco-art installation, created as a visiting artist with the Sitka Center for Art & Ecology, Summer Youth Program. This handmade paper quilt with seeds in the pulp to grow and bloom is sited in the school’s garden and will continue to change over time. Watch for postings in the Spring when wildflowers begin to bloom. Here is the Sitka Center website for more information about the summer youth
“Living Quilt for Steckborn”, on the shore of Lake Constance in Steckborn, Switzerland, created in April 2021, in cooperation with Haus zur Glocke Art Center, Steckborn, Switzerland, www.hauszurglocke.ch
Living Quilt for Steckborn, installed in April 2021 in Steckborn, SwitzerlandLiving Quilt for Steckborn in September 2021, showing blooming wildflowers
“Living Quilt for Sojourner Truth”, Sojourner Truth Park and Community Garden, Sacramento, CA, created as an Artist in Residence for the City of Sacramento Office of Arts & Culture, installed in November 2020 and continuing to change over time. Here is a link for information about the City of Sacramento program: https://arts.cityofsacramento.org/Programs/Sacramento-AIR
Living Quilt for Sojourner Truth installed in Nov. 2020Living Quilt for Sojourner Truth, Sacramento, CA, in June 2021
“Living Quilt for Santa Rosa”, Rincon Ridge Park, Santa Rosa, CA, created in Nov. 2018 with grant from City of Santa Rosa, and continuing to change over time.
“Guns Into Flowers”, South Natomas Community Center Park, Sacramento, CA, created in March 2019 with students at Natomas Charter School of the Arts, and continuing to change over time.Guns Into Flowers living quilt in June 2021Making Blue handmade paper in my Santa Rosa studio for “In Deep Water” project, Oct. 2021
Upcoming Art Project , “In Deep Water”, a collaborative ecoart project with printmaker Jami Taback. This project will explore combining papermaking and printmaking to create a multi-part large scale installation focused on the climate crisis and water. Jami and I are seeking grants and exhibition spaces for exhibitions of the work created during this collaboration and hope to travel the work internationally in 2022 and 2023. Follow my Blog at https://janeingramallen.wordpress.com for updates and other art activities.
My new art installation titled “Point Reyes Waterways” is up now at Gallery Route One, Pt. Reyes Station, CA. This wall installation of handmade paper and thread is part of the Women Eco Artists Dialog (www.weadartists.org) Extraction Exhibition in the Project Space at Gallery Route One, a non-profit exhibition space with a focus on works connected to the environment. This show is organized by WEAD and part of the huge multi-country, multi-gallery project called Extraction: Art on the Edge of the Abyss (https://www.extractionart.org/home).
“Point Reyes Waterways” focuses on Extraction and Water. Extraction is a problem because of how we extract what we extract and how much we take without nature being able to replenish it. We almost have to extract something to make anything and to live. My focus is on over-extraction of water, a necessary element for life. Over-use and extraction of underground water causes land subsidence. Global warming and climate change are causing droughts, flooding, rising sea levels and other catastrophic events involving water. This site-specific wall installation of handmade paper, cotton thread and seeds for blue wildflowers highlights the waterways of Point Reyes, and by leaving the land as negative space makes us more aware of the water.
detail of “Point Reyes Waterways” 2021 at Extraction Exhibition, Gallery Route One, Pt. Reyes Station, CA“Point Reyes Waterways”, 9 feet x 6 feet wall installation of handmade paper, dye, thread, seeds for blue wildflowers
This work and the “Extraction” exhibition will be on view in Pt. Reyes Station at Gallery Route One Project Space, September 18 to October 24, 2021. For more information about gallery hours and the public programs for this exhibition: https://galleryrouteone.org/exhibits/upcoming/
I am happy to announce that my “Living Quilts” are featured in today’s ART NEWS publication. Art writer Julia Travers contacted me recently about writing a feature for ART NEWS about my outdoor public art installations “Living Quilts” that make use of handmade paper with seeds for wildflowers in the pulp to grow and change over time into living blooming artworks. This article talks mainly about my most recent living quilt made in the Summer Youth Art Program of Sitka Center for Art & Ecology, Otis, Oregon (www.sitkacenter.org)
Installing the “Living Quilt for Nestucca” on August 12, 2021, at Nestucca K-12 School Garden, Cloverdale, OR
This ART NEWS article also mentions other Living Quilts I have done in Santa Rosa, CA, with the City of Santa Rosa Public Art Program in 2018, and in 2019 in Newnan, Georgia, with the Newnan Art Rez program.
The first two weeks in August I will be a visiting artist at Sitka Center for Art & Ecology (www.sitkacenter.org) to work with their new Summer Youth Program and create a “living quilt” art installation at the Nestucca Valley Elementary School grounds. My “living quilts” are site specific outdoor art installations meant to change over time and work with nature as a partner. The “quilts” are made with handmade paper in a selected quilt pattern, and the pulp has seeds for wildflowers in the same colors and pattern. The “quilt” is installed on a prepared bed, and over time the paper dissolves into compost to nourish the earth, and the seeds sprout and grow into a blooming flower bed.
For this quilt, we are using a quilt design representing three of the most pressing environmental problems in this coastal Oregon region: salmon preservation, forest preservation and water conservation. Here is a photo of one of the quilt squares I made this week in my Santa Rosa, CA, studio to try out the design for Living Quilt for Nestucca Valley. I will be doing papermaking workshops with the kids during the two weeks, August 1 – 13, and we expect to install the 8 feet x 10 feet quilt on August 12, 2021. We will make 24 of these 16″ x 21″ squares and borders with tree images at the top and bottom and on each side. Keep watching this Blog for updates on the project and photos of the process.
One square of “Living Quilt for Nestucca Valley” Sketch for “Living Quilt for Nestucca Valley” showing the 24 quilt blocks and the borders.
My outdoor art installation in Steckborn, Switzerland titled “Living Quilt for Steckborn” is now blooming well with many red poppies. I created this artwork in my California studio and shipped it to Switzerland for installation in April 2021. The artwork has a handmade paper quilt in the “Peaks and Valleys” pattern with seeds for wildflowers in the pulp to grow and change over time. The installation has grown well thanks to the good care from the staff at Haus zur Glocke, an art center in Steckborn, Switzerland. This project was done with the cooperation of Haus zur Glocke Curator Judi Villiger and the city of Steckborn and installed by volunteers. I participates in the April installation by Internet because travel was not possible during the pandemic.
This photo shows the Living Quilt for Steckborn installation blooming on July 10, 2021. The photo was sent to me by Judit Villiger, Director and Curator at Haus zur Glocke. There are so many red poppies now, and I hope we can see some more yellow, white and blue wildflowers soon. I also put another photo here of how the “quilt” looked when it was installed in Steckborn back in April. “Living Quilt for Steckborn” remains on view in Steckborn, Switzerland, and you can also see some of my other living quilt installations blooming now in Sacramento, California at Sojourner Truth Park, and in Santa Rosa, California, at Rincon Ridge Park.
On this Independence Day in 2021, let’s celebrate our country as we recognize its imperfections and inequalities and strive to improve it. It is continually evolving and still a work in process. Here are images of a few of the many American Flag artworks I have created over the years.
“Blowin’ in the Wind”, 1992, 5 feet x 12 feet, artist-made handmade paper, string, acrylic paint, mylar, commissioned by ASCAP (American Society for Composers, Authors and Publishers) and Morton Gould for the organization’s boardroom at their Lincoln Center headquarters in New York City. Rainbow Flag, 1992, 4 feet x 6 feet, acrylic paint, string, on artist made handmade paper, now in a private collection.Flag in Two Pieces, 1992, 3 feet x 50 inches x 12 inches, artist-made handmade paper, string, acrylic paint, now in private collection.“Living Flag”, 2003, 6 feet x 3 feet, handmade paper, dye, seeds for wildflowers, soil, outdoor public art installation to change over time, created during artist in residency at Delaware Center for Contemporary Art (now Delaware Contemporary), Wilmington, DE, to change over time into living blooming wildflowers as the paper pulp dissolves into mulch to nourish the earth.
Here is a photo taken on June 25, 2021, by Judit Villiger in Steckborn, Switzerland, of my April 2021 “Living Quilt” installation of handmade paper with seeds in the pulp to change over time and produce a living blooming artwork. This photo shows red poppies and yellow gold poppies blooming as well as white wildflowers. Hope to see some blue wildflowers too in a few more days. This art installation was supported by the Haus zur Glocke art center and the city of Steckborn and is sited on the shores of Lake Constance.
Living Quilt for Steckborn, art installation by Jane Ingram Allen, on June 23, 2021, with blooming poppies. Thank you to Judit Villiger of Haus zur Glocke for sending this photo!
My outdoor public art installation in Steckborn, Switzerland, that was installed on April 14, 2021, with Haus zur Glocke Art Center in the town of Steckborn on the shores of Lake Constance, is beginning to bloom! The handmade paper quilt had seeds for wildflowers in the pulp in the same colors and patterns. Tiny white flowers (maybe Baby’s Breath) are showing up now, and there is a lot of lush green foliage for other wildflowers. The different colors of the other wildflowers in this “living quilt” should start to bloom soon. I am happy to post these photos sent by Haus zur Glocke Director and Curator Judit Villliger on June 7, 2021.
I plan to make a slide show that will show the process of the “living quilt” in more detail after all the flowers bloom, maybe by mid summer. I will post the complete slide show on YouTube with a link from this Blog. Also, I will continue posting photos sent by Judit in coming weeks. A very big thank you to Judit and the staff at Haus zur Glocke for taking such good care of the Living Quilt and sending all of this great documentation.
Hope everyone is having a good summer. Now it is very hot and dry here in Northern California, and it looks like my “living quilt” installations in California are maybe finished for this year. They should come back again with blooms and new growth next Spring after our Winter rains.
“Bed” made and filled with dirt on April 12, 2021 for “Living Quilt for Steckborn”Installation of Living Quilt for Steckborn, on April 14, 2021Living Quilt for Steckborn on April 19, 2021Plants starting to grow and paper pulp disappearing as mulch on May 14, 2021Plants growing on May 23, 2021, and all the paper pulp has dissolved into the earth.Tiny white flowers starting to appear on June 7, 2021. Hope to see other blooms soon!
My “Living Quilts” outdoor art installations to change over time are featured in the June 2021 issue of an Australian magazine, TEXTILE FORUM. The living quilts are outdoor public art installations that consist of a handmade paper quilt with seeds for wildflowers in the pulp to sprout, grow and bloom as the paper pulp dissolves into mulch. Each bed also has a headboard and footboard woven of local branches. The feature article about my “Living Quilts” is in the June 2021 issue, and there are many photos of the installations in different places and with different quilt patterns. You can see more about this magazine and the article at this link: https://www.artwearpublications.com.au/product/single-issue-textile-fibre-forum-magazine-142/
Below are some photos of my “living quilts” included in this article.
Living Quilt for Santa Rosa, installed on Nov. 25, 2018, Rincon Ridge Park, Santa Rosa, CA Living Quilt for Santa Rosa blooming in May 2020Volunteers installing Living Quilt for Steckborn in Steckborn, Switzerland, on April 14, 2021.
My Living Quilts are also featured in the latest Bulletin titled “Power” of the International Association of Hand Papermakers and Paper Artists (www.iapma.net) that was published in April 2021. This publication is available at this link: https://www.iapma.info/Bulletin
The article is about my artist-in-residency project during the pandemic and the process of creating “Living Quilt for Sojourner Truth” that was installed in November 2020 at Sojourner Truth Park in Sacramento, CA. This project was part of the Sacramento Office of Arts & Culture 2020 Artist in Residency Program, and because of the pandemic I had to do most of the work in my own studio and involve people virtually. You can see the Zoom programs at this YouTube link about the creation of this “living quilt”:
Living Quilt for Sojourner Truth, installed at Sojourner Truth Park, Sacramento, CA, on Nov. 21, 2020Living Quilt for Sojourner Truth blooming in April 2021 in Sacramento, California
I also had the opportunity to visit the Desert X outdoor sculpture exhibition in the Coachella Valley of California in late March 2021, and wrote a review of this exhibition for SCULPTURE magazine that is in the April 23, 2021, online edition. Desert X includes 9 large-scale outdoor sculpture installations in a variety of media by artists from around the world, and the works focus on the experience and culture of this Southern California desert valley that encompasses Palm Springs. You can read my review of Desert X online at this link: https://sculpturemagazine.art/desert-x-2021/
“The Passenger” by Eduardo Sarabia, featured in my review of the 2021 Desert X Exhibition in SCULPTURE magazine.
Jane Ingram Allen Art Projects 