Martha
S. Heimbaugh
The Making of Celebration © 2000
Martha S. Heimbaugh
During the year of 2000, the Kansas Artist Craftsmen
Association, KACA, held its annual juried member exhibit at the Marianna Kistler
Beach Museum of Art on the campus of Kansas State University in Manhattan,
Kansas. The 2000 show displayed a variety of fine craft from its members
and Martha was pleased to have two works in the show. The juror for the
show was Patrick Dougherty.
The show ran from 22 September 2000 to 7 January 2001.
On November 18, 2000, in conjunction with the exhibit, Martha
presented an informal painting workshop and had the opportunity to work with 16
museum patrons. The group included several adults from the community and
surrounding region and children from a local 4-H club. This was no
ordinary workshop, participants used actual high quality artist materials and
did their work just outside the Arch Cafe were everyone could watch and
learn! Participants were directed to paint with either a cool or warm
color group. Participants were free to use their colors in any fashion
they chose, but were asked to stay with a design previously prepared on the
fabric by Martha. Everyone had fun and gained valuable insight into the
process involved in making a painted art quilt.
After workshop participants did their most creative painting, it
was time for Martha to get creative and unite the six paintings that had been
created into one cohesive work of art.
The
end result, called Celebration, hung for several years in the lobby of the
Museum and is currently taking a well deserved rest. Along with a list of
the contributors, the following statement is written on the back of Celebration
and is repeated here for your interest.
"Celebration is a collaborative work between museum staff,
museum patrons, and artist. Celebration is meant to be an educational tool
to introduce viewers to some of the complexities that go into creating a work of
fine craft art. The artist extends a sincere thank you to all the
contributors listed and unlisted who gave time, enthusiasm, or money, to make
this project possible."
Martha also had a wonderful opportunity to work with some very
alert and industrious preschoolers from the University who made their own
version of a painted quilt to take back to their school. Way to go
guys! All in all it was a great experience.
