The one really BIG change was the posting of pictures of the First, Second and Third Place winners. Anyone who has been attending for years knows that cameras are "verboten" but now they have relaxed it a little. Here is the LINK to those pictures.
Another BIG change was the entry form on Woodlawn Site, that's a big step. They had been promising to that and they finally did. Hurrah! FYI: All entries must be by a living person. For juniors, work must be completed within the last year (no such restriction for adult). Commercial includes charted or painted canvas, printed graphs, kits, class projects. We saw every technique displayed. And, canvas work is defined as embroidery stitched through an even-weave canvas (traditional using 1-4 stitches or multi-stitch using 5 or more stitches).
The other newish thing they did is announce the People's Choice award, during the last week of the show. Another words, people that came that last week in March didn't vote, this really seemed odd but also necessary (I really can't decide). The winner this year was a piece by Catherine Jordan. She does miniature work that is outstanding. You can take a look here to see the piece.
However the piece my god-daughter and I thought should win was a beautiful picture of bamboo, done with silk ribbons. Here is a wonderful description of the piece: It is a tall and narrow piece, probably almost three feet tall and perhaps a foot wide, framed in a plain glossy black frame. The design is of bamboo, a large round upright stalk and a smaller curved stalk making a sort of backwards D shape. Both stalks were covered with tiny branching stems and bamboo leaves. The piece was 100% ribbon embroidery. The bamboo stems and leaves were in 5-6 shades of green, ranging from a very dark, almost black, green to pale green for the smallest and newest bamboo leaves. The background was done in upright straight stitches using cream silk ribbon. The stitches varied randomly in length but the overall effect was of either handmade paper or a fabric either painted or stitched in the Japanese style. It was very effective. I think the size helped make this a wonderful piece. The amount of background helped give the silk ribbon embroidery room so that it didn't look crowded and the overall size of the piece helped make the silk ribbon look natural from a distance. This really did give the impression of a Japanese painting on rice paper. Then later someone had contacted the stitcher of this beautiful piece and more has been posted and even a picture.
Remember the bamboo design all in silk ribbon that I admired so at Woodlawn last month? I got a message in the Comments section of that message from the piece's stitcher this morning which tells more about the design and the silk ribbon embroidery.
The stitcher writes:
"Thank you very much for your compliments and the attention to this important piece!! This was very special piece for me to stitch. The canvas was a wedding gift from the designer, Keri Duke of Keri Designs. I used 39 spools (5 meters each) of 100 percent silk ribbon from River Silks, a wonderful company that my Parents started in 2003. This is the only kind of ribbon that will withstand this kind of stitching abuse. Since I have been asked about this piece and have had stitchers interested in stitching it, River Silks will be adding this piece to their arsenal of Kits To Go. Your favorite fiber arts store can order it for you.
For more inspiration and ideas for stitching with ribbon, please visit the riversilks.com and click on "Finished Projects" You will be able to see a wide variety of pieces stitched with River Silks ribbon from First-Timers to Professionals! Can you guess which one is which? After that, please explore the website and learn more about our fabulous ribbons!
Thank you again, please don't hesitate to contact me with questions regarding this piece."
Happy Stitching!
Lynn Krynicki Bayer
"Green Bamboo" stitcher
lynn@riversilks.com
River Silks LTD
Now here are my favorites of the show:
Jan Houtman's Thirty Year Sampler, Stitched by John K.
Another Jan Houtman, by John K.
Jane Rees, stitched by John K.
And finally this original Holloween design, one in Needlepoint. Its such a happy piece. I don't know the stitcher,but I remembered it was a man.
So its on to 2011, I am actually working on two entries.
