theresa mARTin and JAMs Challenges

theresa mARTin is very talented fiber & mixed media artist, frequently published, who uses vintage images, hand-dyed fibers, stitching and more when creating. Theresa lives in close-by Arlington, VA, and we are always delighted when her schedule allows for a visit to the store and/or a Judy’s Altered Minds (JAMs) meeting.

In addition to her charming mother-in-law (visiting from Scotland), Theresa brought her finished Box Challenge artwork to the February meeting. (More about the Box Challenge at the end of this post.)

What a beautiful, evocative piece! Theresa used Transfer Artist Paper (TAP) to add a vintage sepia photo to a vintage textile that I had hand-dyed — you can see the texture of the fabric in the dot pattern. (My Hand Dyed Fiber Collage Kits feature such vintage linen pieces: embroidered napkins, textured tablecloths, crocheted doilies and more.)

The portrait was stitched with metallic thread and then topped with a sheet of mica. Theresa used Painter’s Threads products in this artwork, including Silk Eyelash. (The above view also shows the Rusty for Paper and More (a Viva Decor product suitable for a wide variety of surfaces) she used on the sides of the box.

Above, this close up view gives you a closer view of the Web Weave Ribbon (in Sweet Pea) Theresa accented with tiny red seed beads.

Theresa’s blog/website is a visual delight as she shares her beautifully photographed art. We learned that she will be in a four person show (joining Meg Schaap, John Mors and Nancy McNamara) at the Glenview Mansion Gallery in Rockville, MD November 6-23. She is creating a nine piece Icon series for the show; Anton is one. We wanted to share: created with similar techniques, maybe he’s a future descendent of her lovely girl!

Per Theresa: “Anton is 6" x 6" x 2" and is made with a photo transfer onto tea dyed fabric, Naga beads for the coat, a reversed vintage French hat label, Japanese Kimono thread and mica.” (Photograph by Theresa Martin, all rights reserved.)

Another JAMs Challenge

Also at the February JAMs meeting, members were asked to bring a plain brown lunch bag that contained 10 different items, plus a list of those items to participate in the group’s latest challenge. If you bought a bag in, you selected another (contents unseen), and used its contents to create a mixed media artwork, the reveal of which will be the presentation at the May meeting.

Theresa bought in a bag to trade (amazing contents, by the way), and so received one in return. She wasted absolutely no time in getting to work and has already finished her piece (see above; photo by Theresa Martin, all rights reserved).

Theresa wrote a February 25 blog posting detailing her creative thought process, techniques and results that you must read. (The bar for the rest of us in JAMs has now been set very high...)

Above is a photo of the bag Theresa selected. The contents of the bags could be art supplies, household items, found objects... virtually any kind of material or resource. Visit Theresa’s blog for additional photographs and to learn how she used these items in her beautiful artwork.

The only rule for this challenge is that you must use at least part or some of each of the 10 items (groups of things, such as beads, count as one item) in your work. Artists can add materials from their own stash; alter the bag contents as desired, etc. JAMs member Diane Herbort wisely thought to photograph many of the bag contents, to be paired with photos of the finished work — it will be so inspiring to see everyone’s creations!

Theresa is also a designer for Paper Whimsy and regularly creates art with their collage images, Amazing Alterables and more. View Theresa’s projects for Paper Whimsy.

More about The Box Challenge

I’ve mentioned in this space that the location for the Artistic Artifacts brick and mortar store used to house high-performance auto parts, with a huge display wall of product photographs on dimensional wood box frames. These frames, most approximately 5x5 inch square (as pictured) were pulled out of storage and used for the JAMs Box Challenge conceived by Barb Boatman of Cut Sew Create studio.

Members used these surfaces to create small artworks that incorporated products from Artistic Artifacts that they had in their stashes, and/or that they had purchased new.