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First Ladies and the White House – Part 2
Please Note – if the images in your blog email are not high resolution – click through to the actual blog to see detailed images! During the Clinton administration (late 90s) I had the chance to tour the White House. It made quite an impression on me. The artwork, the architecture, the history….the ghosts of past administrations….our tour guide gave us a vivid history of each room we visited, and it made me want to learn more. I went from there, to the National Portrait Gallery, Ford’s Theatre, and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. Over the years I have picked up many books about the White House. The…
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First Ladies and the White House – Part 1
As we contemplate the possibility of having our first woman president in the USA, it is perhaps a time to look back on the women who have already served in the White House – the First Ladies. Over the years I have had several connections to the White House. My best childhood friend served on the Clinton Healthcare Task Force. (They were trying to create a national healthcare system, similar to other developed nations.) During those years I did a tour of the White House, which was much more accessible at that time. My architect brother works in Washington DC and his firm did the renovation/redesign of the White House…
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The Children of War – for Sacred Threads
You are probably feeling the same as me – sad and stressed by the state of the world – particularly the wars that are continuing to destroy the lives of innocent children in Gaza, Israel, Ukraine, Sudan, Yemen…and the list goes on. There is no justification for a war that kills and maims children, and destroys their families, their homes….their future. The only way to deal with my frustration is to speak out, and so I’ve planned this piece since the start of the year. I knew that Sacred Threads was the right exhibition to properly share my message. In April I had just started to lay out this 40″…
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Stardust Mothers – Now at DAR Museum
Whenever people see this piece, they have lots of questions about my process, so I thought I’d share the story with some images. I lost my mother in November 2023. On my last day in Houston at the Quilt Festival, I got the call that she tested positive for Covid. That was Friday…I flew back Saturday….she was gone late Tuesday night. She had a long slow decline and was near the end (before Covid took her), so I had a lot of time to prepare. Me & Mom, circa 1968. During the last year of her life, I thought a lot about the generations of women in my family. I…
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Fierce – Protector of the Forest
This small piece of textile art was created for the SAQA Spotlight Auction. It takes place April 12-20 and you can preview and bid from this page. I started this piece on the day Alexei Navalny’s death was announced. I finished this on the day of his funeral. I dedicate this piece to his memory – his courage and sacrifice for the people of Russia who long for Truth and Freedom. I spent 2 weeks in Russia 10 years ago and I have artist friends in Moscow, and artist friends who have fled the country, and then had to flee Ukraine. This war is deeply saddening. I can only hope…
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Rocky Mountain High
I have had a desire to travel the world since I was 12, and fortunately that dream came true. I have visited over 50 countries since I was a summer exchange student to Germany in 1974, and my passion for travel has not diminished. On many of those trips I took a group of quilters, artists and friends along. I was always interested in photography since I was a kid, and documenting the art, design, landscapes, wildlife, culture and people of each new place has also become a passion. In addition to traveling to photograph quilt festivals and special exhibits at museums, I have also enjoyed traveling to Alaska and…
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I Have a Thing For Bears….
I have a thing for bears. I am not exactly sure how it started. Maybe when I was at Rocky Ridge Music Camp at the foot of Longs Peak in 1970, and I met a juvenile Black Bear in the dark one night as I was sneaking from my cabin to another friend’s cabin. As I passed the garbage dumpster, the bear and I got a good look at each other…..seemed to last forever….then he crashed into the underbrush and I ran in the opposite direction. My first up close bear encounter. Maybe it really started when my oldest son transferred to Bear Creek Elementary in 1996, and I offered…
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Life in the Arts
I have identified as an artist as long as I can remember. I was told that I was an artist as a child, and I accepted it as truth, because that is what I loved to do. In school, I was not just doodling in class. I was sketching in class, practicing drawing a wide range of subjects in the margins of my math assignments while sitting quietly, shyly hiding under the radar. I remember feeling competitive in our brief art classes. I wanted to be the best artist in the classroom. By Junior High I had read The Agony and the Ecstasy (biography about Michelangelo) so many times the…
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Day 11 – The Old Orphanage Building – Part 4
After lunch we drove to the old building for the Social Welfare Institute. There are no babies or little orphan children living there now. These days it is an assisted living residence for seniors, and it also houses the older children and young adults who are mentally and physically disabled…who cannot live on their own. We were greeted almost immediately at the gate by a woman in a white lab coat, and she was introduced as Dr Xhang. She was the doctor who gave Sophie her first physical exam when she was first found and brought to the SWI. She gave Sophie all of her exams, until she left to…
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Day 11 – The File – Part 3
Returning to the orphanage is the highlight, and the whole point of a Heritage Tour back to China. We did not realize that this would include a very formal re-opening and review of Sophie’s file from when she lived there. The brown file was tied up with a ribbon, and when it was brought into a conference room in the administrative building, about an inch thick of papers were pulled out from this file. We were offered hot tea, and fresh local tiny oranges and kumquats. Another big screen on the wall had the colorful greeting – “Welcome Sophie QinXin Rubin”. Another lovely lady came in to join us. She…