Get free media promotion of your event or product by learning to write an effective press release–and develop a list of promising publications and editors to which it can be sent. SDA Manager of PR Della Reams tells how. (Guidelines for submitting a press release or story pitch to the NewsBlog can be accessed by clicking on CONTACT in the header at the top of this page)….

Therese May’s mission is to “create art with a healing message and inspire the flow of creative juices in the viewer.” She is recognized worldwide as a leader in the creation and development of the “art” quilt, particularly in her use of embellishment and the spontaneous folk art style of her work. …

“Like many others, I’m concerned about the baggage of “quilt,” Linda Colsh observes. “I think of myself as an artist—no adjectives, no modifiers. If asked to be more specific, I would identify myself as a surface designer, fiber artist, or printmaker. I think the majority of serious studio quilt artists are surface designers and it’s a bit of a mystery why surface design isn’t more widely accepted as a nomenclature for the métier and medium.”
Click below to read more……

Get more information online about the many makers featured in this first SDJ issue focusing on quilts since 1996. It’s been 25 years since the publication of “The Art Quilt” by Penny Morris and the creative synergy between quilts and surface design is more energetic and striking than ever….

Barbara Shapiro’s love of textiles and French language took her on a 7-year journey that ended in the publication of her translation of a card (tablet) weaving text of historical interest. With generous encouragement from the late Peter Collingwood, this early 20th century French book can now be read in English….

Mississippi quilt maker Gwendolyn Magee was recently awarded a 2011 Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts in the “Artistic Excellence” category. Tyler School of Art’s Rebecca Medel recently received an ACC American Craft Fellow award. Learn more about these award-winning members of SDA….

Thanks to SDA member Silvia Piza-Tandlich, I learned about the non-profit textile organization Red Textil Iberoamericana, founded in 2006 in Costa Rica. Their first ever conference, First Encounter of the Iberoamerican Textile Network, was scheduled to take place in San Jose during October 2010. Here are some highlights of my first encounter with Red Textil……

Good student-level work is missing from art shows, galleries, runways and competitions. Why?

We hesitate.
We are afraid.
We don’t make the time to enter.

We have got to be brave!
Here is how and why we should begin looking, creating and entering……

Find out about SDA member Daniella Woolf’s book-turned-catalogue “Encaustic With a Textile Sensibility”. She “wanted to publish something different; not a how-to book, but a gallery between pages. [She] envisioned something that would inspire artists while exploring the breadth and depth that encaustic can provide.” Also check out the stunning book design by Carol Charney….

Let Mickie be your guide to 3 excellent online resources: the Berg Fashion Library, the Textile Museum of Canada and the blog of Temple University/Tyler School of Art’s Fibers & Material Studies program. All are excellent sources of fiber! Also included is a link to Rutger’s Legacy Planning archive of videos from a recent conference on that topic. …