Sketchbook Project 2011

The Sketchbook Project 2011 goes on tour:


Thousands of sketchbooks are being exhibited at galleries and museums as they make their way on tour across the country. Click here to see the schedule. You can search the collection by theme or artists name. After the tour, all sketchbooks will enter into the permanent collection of The Brooklyn Art Library, where they will be cataloged and available for the public to view.

Just under 10,000 books will be on display. The tour starts February, 2011.

Quilt National

6/13/2011


 I recently returned from Quilt National at The Dairy Barn in Athens Ohio. www.dairybarn.org After submitting for several years, my piece Archeology Series Fragment #14 was juried in!  Any of you who have gone to the big shows know how delightful this can be! My mind is crowded with new acquaintances, new ideas, the overdose of visual input, the joy of seeing my family who is from Columbus, Ohio, and the wonderful time sharing it with them and friends. Achieving this goal has been a dream of mine for years.

I just broke down my show of dog portraits at The Art Bazaar in New York city at 7th Ave and 20th St. It was the third time I have exhibited there. After exhibiting I always need to reassess and redirect. I have showed both my Archeology Series there and my dog portraits. Two completely different markets.

My youngest child  graduates from high school next week and my head is swimming with emotions, and to- do lists, from buying her graduation dress to making college plans. I am thrilled for her but my heart is breaking.

Visual Thoughts: The Art Quilts of Fiber Revolution

June 22 through October 16, 2011
Visual Thoughts: The Art Quilts of Fiber Revolution

Morris Museum
Morristown, NJ
Opening reception June 29, 6:30 to 9:00 PM, reservations required.
973-971-3706
A show curated by Kevan of 19 quilts by 19 artists from the group Fiber Revolution, Kevans Archeology Series Fragment #15 will be on display.
Also showing "On the Hat and In the Hand: 200 Years of Hats and Purses from the Morris Museum Collection," March 31 - September 25, 2011 

Modern Materials

Modern Materials (invitational)
(Artspace) at Untitled
Oklahoma City, OK
July 10 to August 27 2009
Curated by Jill Rumoshosky Werner, featuring some of the best and most innovative contemporary artists working in the medium of quilt art today including B. J. Adams, Mary Beth Bellah, Regina Benson, Linda Colsh, Susan Else, Jean Ann Fausser, Theresa M. Heaton, Marilyn Henrion, Wendy Huhn, Mary Anne Jordan, John W. Lefelhocz, M. Joan Lintault, Kevan Rupp Lunney, Angela Moll, Dan Olfe, Katie Pasquini Masopust, Lori Lupe Pelish, Pam RuBert, Arturo Alonzo Sandoval, Julie John Upshaw, Barbara W. Watler, Kathy Weaver, Jill Rumoshosky Werner, and Elia Woods.

Link to Pam RuBert's photographs of the exhibit on her Flickr site.

Pod, Kevan Lunney, 2004, 60x30x30"

Live your life now

Please: don’t wait to live your life until the right moment arrives, until you retire, until … whatever happens … Live your life now, live your life today, thoughtfully, lovingly … but: TODAY! NOW!

Australian Bronnie Ware has spent many years as a caregiver for dying people. She got to know the very broad palette of emotions that come up in these last moments of life: anger, rage, remorse. From what she saw and heard, she listed the five main regrets of people and has now written them down in a book called The Top Five Regrets of the Dying.
1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me. When people realize that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honored even half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made.
2. I wish I hadn’t worked so hard. This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children’s youth and their partner’s companionship.
3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings. Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were truly capable of becoming.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends. Often they would not truly realize the full benefits of old friends until their dying weeks. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved. Everyone misses their friends when they are dying.
5. I wish I had let myself be happier. Many did not realize until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called ‘comfort’ of familiarity overflowed into their emotions.
Life is a dance, alone, or with beloved persons. Happiness is a choice and everybody has to make this choice on his own. But you have to make it soon! Time is the only thing, once spent, never comes back.

What’s your greatest regret so far, and what will you set out to achieve or change? And WHEN?

shared with you, borrowed from -Marlis Egger | Textile Art marlis.egger@ticino.com 

Newspaper Sculpture

Newspaper Sculpture
I can't believe what got into me!

I have been mulling over sculptural shapes for  2 years now. I would love to be doing bronzes but they are quite expensive and storage is a problem and then there is the concern about how to get them to shows?  Obviously sculptors have answers to a whole world of concerns that fiber artists don't need to worry about. So anyway, I got something out of my head and into reality. It is just crumpled newspaper and masking tape. I should have taken process photos but I was in the flow. At one point it looked more female and she had a flurry of newspaper ruffles flaming from the back of her head. It was really pretty. I will definitely revisit this.

Archeology work mentioned in Botswana news!

Well, the world just keeps getting smaller and more accessible.
 It's hard to believe that my son heads off to Berlin for study abroad this month and that he will have unfettered access to former East Berlin.( I remember my college buddy traveling there and witnessing the wall coming down in 1989. She brought me a piece.)  
It is equally hard to believe that my artwork has traveled to England, France and now several times to Africa. This article mentions one of my pieces! Archeology Fragment #5 . This was designed after the full page of the NY Times which has 5 columns, a space for the fold and 5 more columns. 28 x 28". Following is a detail.

Archeology Fragment #5, 2009, 28 x28" Kevan Lunney, 

Detail Archeology Fragment #5, Kevan Lunney

 Thanks to Cindy Friedman who is a member of Fiber Revolution with myself and 23 others, we all share this remarkable opportunity. Her husband runs an HIV/ AIDS clinic in Botswana with the University of PA. Her travels there have acquainted her with a lovely woman owned business , Kalahari Quilts. The article explains more about the connection and the current show there. Cindy has also arranged to have some of these Botswana- made quilts to travel with ours in the US. You can see pictures of the quilts and gallery at www.Fiber Revolution.com under Past Exhibits.


The full article-
 http://www.sundaystandard.info/article.php?NewsID=13422&GroupID=2
an excerpt-
She said that she was happy that many Batswana were showing some interest in the art of quilting.
She then talked about her colleague’s pieces that were on display. One of the wall hangings was titled “Acheological Fragments”. 

She said that the piece is all about the artist’s imagination on what archaeologists will find when they dig in the land. She noted that the wall hanging  was created from a combination of fabrics and golden leaf.  The piece looks like an Ancient scroll with some unreadable words on it. Only three words have been stitched and can be read when someone is close to the piece.

Currently, wall hangings are available at the ongoing exhibition which  ends today (Sunday) while other products, such as bed quilts, cell phone pouches, pot holders, bags and stuffed animals are sold at their store.