Thanks to my friend Ellen I found out about a wonderful exhibit here in the valley. It is impossible to keep up with everything that is going on, it helps to have friends in the know who share the information.
The Valley is really coming into it’s own. Occupying a lovely bright space in the Mid-valley, The San Fernando Valley Arts & Cultural Center is making it’s mark. Made up of many smaller groups of creatives, this is a great exhibit space.
Welcome to Uncommon Threads, a collaborations between four fiber arts groups. Surface Art Association, Extreme Quilters, Southern California Handweavers Guild and Frayed Edges, unfortunately I couldn’t find a website for them.
Members of each guild need to sit in the gallery while it is open to the public. So I met Linda Stone, she has quite a few pieces in the exhibit. Being a member of two of the groups helps. 
This quilt was on display at Paducah a few years ago, Linda does realism very well.
She has been branching out into the modern as well. A sign of a good artist, one who keeps on learning.
It’s a good thing Maureen Cox signed this piece, we were friends years ago but then drifted apart. For a few years now she has been staining fabric with rust and then creating the artwork from there.
This exhibit was all by women artists. I am sure many people look upon this as craft and not as art. I am the opposite, I find that the creativity has moved to the craft world and the art world is just busy being either obnoxious, political or down right ugly.
I was there the very first day it opened, so not all the artwork had labels yet. While this is clearly a quilt, it is also a from of collage.
By the same artist, Susan Gesundheit, this is a fabric collage, I don’t see any quilting here. Most of the quilts are considered art quilts, if only because they are small and are hanging on the walls.
This artist used vinyl in a very interesting literal way. For me coming to this kind of show is a real pleasure. I see names of people I have known in the past and see how their art has developed. I see new art I’ve never seen before and I get inspired, not to copy or recreate, but simply to enjoy good textile art.
I LOVE weaving, I did learn how to weave on an eight heddle loom. One has to pick and choose, I can’t do everything so I don’t weave, but I really appreciate what goes into it. 
Like here, a ‘simple’ stole, but look at the difference between the front and the back! The colors really change drastically.
Achieving three dimensionality.
Even a display of scarves makes my heart sing. 
Of course I react to bright colors…
…and three dimensional objects like these birds.
Or this wonderful dancing woman.
By all means, take the time and come out to the valley, you won’t regret seeing this exhibit.
Leah