Cindy Grisdela ~ art quilter

“Chocolate with Sprinkles” was hung last week in the new exhibit at the Conscious Bean coffee shop on Colvin Run Road. The challenge this time for my fellow artists from Great Falls Studios was to come up with an interior or exterior scene of a coffee shop in a format no larger than 16″x20″. It’s exciting to see all the different interpretations of the theme from painters, photographers, a potter and a sculptor in addition to my fiber piece. If you get a chance, it’s definitely worth a visit to the Conscious Bean to have a cup of coffee and see which interpretation is your favorite!

This piece was fun for me to do because it’s such a departure from my usual abstract work. The coffee cup and the cupcake are hand appliqued and the sprinkles on the cupcake are hand beaded. I machine quilted dimensional lines into the applique and wrote the names of popular coffee drinks in the background, like cappuchino, latte, mocha and expresso. Then I used a piece of hand dyed fabric that I made many years ago as a background to stretch the whole piece over an artist’s canvas. The final dimension is 11″x14.”

I’m just back from setting up for the Third Annual Great Falls Studios Spring Art Festival. It’s held at the historic Colvin Run Schoolhouse on Colvin Run Road from 10-5 Saturday, April 25 and Sunday, April 26. I’ll have a variety of art quilts for the wall, bright fun pillows and new casual quilted purses for sale this time, plus notecards with my quilt designs on them.

There will be about 26 artists participating in the Festival including painters, potters, jewelers, photographers, mixed media and paper collage artists. It’s always fun to get together and share our creative spirit with the community. There will be music on Saturday and a prize drawing, plus snacks and the opportunity to purchase an artist made gift for someone special or even for yourself! It’s forecast to be a beautiful weekend, so stop by and see us if you have a chance!

Last week I curated my first Great Falls Studios show at the Great Falls Library on Georgetown Pike. The group has two all media shows in the library each year, one in the spring and one in December. The show runs for the entire month of April. Hours are Monday-Thursday 10-9, Friday 10-6 and Saturday 10-5.

This photo shows two of my art quilts, “Jasmine” on the left and “Ragtime” on the right, hanging next to Linda DeBoer-Wilcox’s painting “Sailboats, Jardin de Tuileries, Paris.” I think the colors look spectacular next to each other.

Great Falls Studios is a consortium of artists who live or work in Great Falls, VA. Our ranks include painters, potters, jewelers, photographers, sculptors and mixed media and fiber artists, among others. It’s a fantastic source of inspiration and artistic support. Visit the group’s website at www.greatfallsstudios.com for more information.  The photo on the right shows two paintings by Meredith Ledford, “Untitled” on the left and “Fruit and Veggie Stand Montmartre, Paris” on the right. It’s a very colorful display.

The show includes 25 two dimensional wall pieces, as well as sculpture and pottery. Stop by and take a look if you’re in the neighborhood!