Being a bit superstitious, on New Year’s Day I blew the teaspoon of cinnamon over the front doorstep into the house and wished on that; and did the pinch and a punch for the first of the month routine first thing while speaking my first words for the day to my dearly beloved… but three days later he still hasn’t responded with his punch and a kick for being so quick, so I’m not sure if that invalidates the good luck bit, or perhaps it does for him only, so fingers X – as I believe in the power of crossed fingers, too!

We’re only on day 4, but already the trouble spots around the world have been added to and become far more worrying. I read several daily newspapers from Australia, Uruguay and USA, and follow developments through several podcasts I’ve come to rely on for sensible reporting and analysis. Mike and I only have TV news on first thing in the morning, turn it off for most of the day, and watch news and commentary for a couple of hours in the evening, and then we go to Netflix or other entertainment channels. We think that’s a reasonable balance, but I know several people who refuse to watch any TV news at all, and also read very little about it what’s going on “out there”. As citizens of the world, I’ve always believed we all need to pay attention and have opinions on what’s happening at the local, national and international levels of our world. While current events are concerning, nothing stays the same for ever, and the power balances that shape politics all around us are all fascinating: there’s always a ray of hope, no matter the crisis.

Though I’m not a big maker of resolutions, I have made a couple: the first was really before the end of last year, and the other formed in my mind today.

Firstly, I am determined to read more actual paper books for pleasure. It’s wonderful to turn over pages as I read something that is holding my attention. I’ve always had the rule that if a book hasn’t grabbed and held my attention by page 50, I just abandon it – ditch it, and prepare to read another. There are so many books to read and so little time, considering that I also hold needles and threads in my hands for large segments of my waking time.

Secondly, I’ve decided that as far as possible, I’ll only work with fabrics I’ve already purchased; and will seriouly consider recycling fabrics of worn out clothes and household linens where I can, because there’s also the duster bag-cleaning cloths alternative, too. This morning I faced reality about this favourite, classic tailored style button-down long-sleeved Jones of New York shirt that I’ve had at least 10 years. The poplin cotton has just a little stretch, and the rich strong pink my mother called ‘lipstick pink’ has always suited me. It’s been worn and washed so many times though, it was now visibly threadbare along the collar and cuff edges, damage that dabbing with a felt tip pen could no longer help hide. Ignoring the temptation to wear it ‘just once more…’ I cut it up.

Once the buttons are all removed I’ll toss the collars and cuffs in the bin, but the body sections and sleeves will be put into a placcy bag to wait while I think about how to use it. I envisage either a 3D assembly in the Growth series or it would be nice with a strong contrast colour to make a piece for the “Opposites” – old v. new ? My entry’s due by the end of the month… and I need to get pedaling on that now.

I’ve pretty well finished curating my own solo exhibition, for the first time, really. In the past ‘someone else’ organised the venue and everything, and pretty much all I’ve previously had to do was turn up to help with or supervise the hanging… and then grace the opening with my presence 🙂

How things have changed since my last solo, here in Montevideo, 2009 – too long ago, I know. I’ve made many works since then, but though I’ve shown them in juried group shows in Australia and USA, only a few have been seen here in Uruguay. WhenI accepted this solo exhibition opportunity, I then went through a lengthy thought process, reviewing why I create what I do while I updated mywebsite and reworded statements. Everything tumbled about in my mind for several weeks until the phrase ‘elements of landscape’ popped out at me from something I had written. Once that title was settled, and I had seen the gallery and had the dimenstions, it was easier to make final choices. They needed to strongly relate to my overall statement, and because of space limitations with just one exception I chose works younger than 5 years old which includes the new soft sculptures made this year. The one age exception is the 2018 diptych Sweat of The Sun;Tears of The Moon, because those are the Ancient Incas’ terms for the precious metals gold and silver, referencing an important part of this continent’s human history.

The Casa de la Cultura is owned and operated by the City of Maldonado. The director, Ana Guerra, told me that the centre’s team of people will hang the show as I want it; and they have arranged local advertising using material I supplied, which is wonderful. I’ve been distributing my own poster announcement to my personal contacts. Everything is ready to take to Maldonado for the hanging on Monday Dec 29th, and the opening, (vernissage) will be on the evening of January 2nd. The centre handles the opening night, and I expect it will be similar to the Glass+Textile one I attended in January 2024: people wandered through all the other 6 or 7 exhibitions opening that night, while out in the courtyard a string quartet played and someone served non-alcoholic drinks. It was all very pleasant.

With the spread of digital information since my last solo, I’ve used several digital information resources. I will be present at the opening of couse, but won’t be in attendance most of the time the show is up. To help gallery staff with any inquiries, I’ve compiled an information folder containing my contact information, my bio and artist statement (in two languages) and selected resume, plus an illustrated price list, so there’s no confusion about what’s being bought by direct funds transfer to my account. I’ve printed off and mounted on foamcore the title of each work and a sentence or two about their inspiration, in both languages, Spanish and English. These will be attached on the wall near each piece, or on the plinths for the several soft sculptures.

When my friend Virginia Castleton (dec) organised my 2009 solo show, she recommended having 6-sided folding brochures printed, with photos, resume and bio highlights, which was terrific at the time, but when I consider the fate of artist brochures I’ve collected down the years – well, let me say I’m not doing that this time! Just this morning I came across a sheet of paper I picked up at an Australian artist’s exibition in a gallery I visited in 2014. There must have been a heap of these, printed on both sides with artist statement, photo, and bio and resume highlights for us to help ourselves, but all I’d done with that paper was fold it in 4, bring it back in my luggage, and put it with other bits and pieces into a folder on my shelf. I checked this forgotten artist’s website and found she is still producing art inspired by the same themes, but as I don’t care for her newest work, I binned it, which is where most of these things end up, anyway.

So this time, for anyone who really wants to learn more about me, ta daaaaah!!! this QR code with my photo will be up on all walls around the gallery, and using their smart phones, visitors will be taken to the links of my website, (up to date) my blog, a couple of YouTube videos and my social media, Instagram and Facebook.

Nothing replaces going to a gallery or museum and seeing up close what people create, and thinking about what inspired them, why they chose the materials they did, and whether their techniques were appropriate to their theme or intention… those are big questions I have in mind as I wander through any exhibition. Most weekends I browse for an hour or two on Pinterest, which I regard as the digital equivalent of looking though the latest art books and catalogues, and I can glance through so many more different media ‘shows’ than I could possibly visit in real time.

This morning I discovered the mixed media art of Wendy Meg Siegal with whom I resonated on many levels, for her thoughts about creativity and inspiration, and her techniques, some of which I also use. Her work features lots of raw edges that are mostly also frayed to emphasise their rawness 🙂 but what caught my attention was that many of her works include holes and cutouts as design elements. As my regular readers know, I’ve long had a thing for holes and lace, as you’ll see if you visit this Pinterest board htpps://www.pinterest.com/alisonschwabe1/holes/ My followers and collectors know that my inspiration comes mostly from patterning in and on the Earth’s crust, and Wendy’s art was a timely reminder of ‘holes’ everywhere around us – in both the natural world and in man-made objects.

Now that I’ve almost finished curating my January solo exhibition (eeek – hanging day Dec 27th is pretty close!) … the next project I’m self-committed to is make an entry (or three) for the SAQA Oceania Region’s exhibition “Opposites”, entries for which open and close in January. Back in September I began thinking about this, and I’m STILL thinking about it.

This little sample has been hanging round for at least ten years, along with others which have all appeared in various posts on the concept of ‘lace’ (I should date them like Shelley Rhodes – she has an actual date stamp) Recently this and the others have been on my mind, calling me down a path I should explore more. When we think of ‘opposites’, one of the things I myself go to automatically is black v white, and as I’m tipping there will be several entries in black/white designs, I probably won’t go there. But of course it needn’t be so cliched, as the design could be made using colours from opposite sides of the colour wheel, or even any two colours separated only by enough values so that, like the two above, as used they perform the function of ‘opposites’, the success of which would be determined by the actual shapes and their arrangement.

But first, I must choose some materials to work with ! I’d love to do a grid of black squares and the brushed metallic finish gold polyester I’m so in love with just now (here’s that ‘glitter’ thing again) but that fabric melts with the iron… nevertheless, I’m thinking about some way to work with it…

I was delighted this week to learn of my acceptance into the international III Salón Latinoamericano de Arte en Vidrio y Textil. The organisers prefer we not share the complete images until the show has opened – fair enough, so here’s a close detail:

The III Salón Latinoamericano de Arte en Vidrio y Textil opens in the Casa de Cultura, Maldonado-Punta del Este on February 6th, and will be open daily Mondays through Saturdays 10am-8pm until closing on February 28th. Come to the vernissage/opening on 6th if you’re around!

And if that sounds a bit familiar, yes, that is the same cultural centre where my solo exhibition will be the month before – Jan 2nd to 27th. The inauguration’s at 8pm on January 2nd – do come if you’re around!

I made “Maelstrom” for a 2009 exhibition with fellow members of a small group of Australian and New Zealand group of art quilters. Themed ” A Change in The Weather” the works on global climate change opened in Wellington NZ in June 2009, and travelled to Christchurch NZ. for showing there, but the collection was never organised into a showing in Australia, which was a shame, and the quilts were returned to us.

I’ve always loved this piece, even though it always felt an awkward shape we had to make our pieces to, determined by some spatial limitation available to that number of wall quilts in the gallery that agreed to hold our show. So in the next few days I’m going to re-size it to something like 50cm x 70cm, mount it on a white canvas stretcher, and include it in my upcoming January 2026 exhibition.

My inspiration was the cartographic symbol used by weather forecasters to represent the location and progress of those most violent storms we know as cyclones, typhoons and hurricanes in the regions of Oceania, Asia and the Americas. The Earth is represented by the very dark green base fabric. The huge variety of colours translates into the gathering swirl of  information, problems and expert opinions on what needs to be done to help the world deal with and adapt to the changes in climate now taking place at an accelerating rate.  Red is a colour warning of danger, hence my choice for the hand quilted grid pattern. Interestingly, this statement written in 2009 could have been written today; because according to reports from the recently concluded COP30, real change has been slow on climate zone issues.

I personally love things mounted on white or painted stretchers without further framing, but with a standard size, a new owner has the option to add a custom of pre-made frame that goes with their particular decor style, or that matches a colour in their own couch, so to speak 🙂