Hollis Chatelain - Textile Artist

Many people ask me what I am working on, where my work is being exhibited and how I am spending my time. This is a new addition to the website that will be updated monthly with the latest things that are happening in my life.

Wow, April went fast!!! It was a busy month between teaching, the exhibit at Duke University and working in our garden. The grass finally looks green and full. Our flowers and bushes are blooming. Even the palm trees are flowering and have produced seed pods. We really enjoy sitting out in the evenings now.

The exhibit at Duke University is over and was very well received. Click here to see some of the pieces hanging in the naves of the Chapel. Click here to listen to the podcast of the discussion between Dean Sam Wells and myself that took place April 5th.

If you know of a museum, art institute, university or another venue that you feel would be interested in hosting this exhibit, please click here.

I have the drawing finished for my next piece and am starting to paint it now.

When I dreamed Baobab Forest in 2003, it originally was much wider. I shortened it because it just didn’t seem practical to make it as wide as it was in my dream. Well, now I’ve decided to make it wider by adding a piece to each side. But instead of having it be just like the original piece which is now Baobab Forest, I am making it into a timeline. It will eventually be a triptych that will measure approximately twenty feet wide by two feet high. The first piece, which is the beginning of the timeline, will be the West African rainforest. The last piece will be what will happen if we don’t pay attention to save our environment. I am now painting the rainforest piece.

The exhibit "Hope For Our World" was taken down April 15^th. We had many positive comments and were very pleased with the reaction to the work and the messages. Click here to read an article about the exhibit from Duke’s student newspaper “The Chronicle”.

This exhibit will eventually travel and will be called “Imagine Hope”. Check out our website www.imagine-hope.com

Once the pieces were taken down from the Chapel, two of them went directly to The Museum of the American Quilter's Society in Paducah, KY. I was thrilled to have both "Hope For Our World" and "Exodus" exhibited there for two weeks.

I will be showing “Hope for Our World” and “Exodus” in Portland , Oregon next month when I speak at the Northwest Quilters 34th Annual "A Festival of Quilts". Contact Janice Jones for more information.

“Exodus” will then travel to San Diego where it will be shown in the exhibit “Figuratively Speaking” at the Visions Art Quilt Gallery from August 9^th – October 5^th, 2008. Click here for more information .

The exhibit “Creative Force: Masters”, which was curated by Martha Sielman, will be shown at the International Quilt Show in October 2008. The works of forty artists from the book "Masters: Art Quilts" will be shown in this exhibit. I will be represented by “Blue Men” (thank you Sally Davey for lending it).

The book "Masters: Art Quilts" is now available. Forty artists were selected worldwide and are presented in an 8 page mini-retrospective, showing approximately 10 artworks from each person.
The book is available on the SAQA website and on Amazon.com

The two Drawing I workshops I taught at the Avila Retreat Center in Durham last month were just great!! We were 15 minutes from my studio so we visited there and also went to see the exhibit “Hope For Our World” at Duke Chapel. The students were very enthusiastic and we had a fun couple of days together.

April 28^th- May 2^nd I traveled to Paducah, KY to teach a 5-day dye-painting/quilting workshop at the Museum of the American Quilter's Society. The students were also a wonderful and talented group.

In June I have been invited to speak at the Northwest Quilter’s annual quilt show in Portland, OR. June 7^th I will be presenting my lecture “Influences of Africa” and showing some of my larger quilts along with my exhibit “From Antiques to Abstracts”. For more information contact Janice Jones.

We have a new sculpture in our garden. A couple of years ago, my husband and I went to a scrap metal junkyard and purchased a pickup truck full of scrap metal. Little by little we have been sandblasting and painting the “found sculptures” we got and placing them in the garden. Click here to see our latest and some of the others that have been integrated into the garden. We are having fun playing.

We have giclee prints of “Exodus”, “Hope For Our World” and "The Gift", the two winning quilts in Houston in 2007. There are also prints available of “The Grandfather”, “Sahel”, “Ecuadorian Girls”, “Captured”, “Precious Water”, “Fatima’s Son”, “School: It’s Never Too Late to Learn”, “Nature’s Gift”, “Blue Men”, “Burkinabe Mother” and “Untold Secrets", and they are all beautiful. Click here to check out all the prints and to learn more about giclee prints.

All of the threads that I designed for Superior Threads are for sale on the website. Living Colors and Nature Colors are sold in packs of 25 because I have found that quilters use threads in a more unique and exciting way when they have the opportunity to “audition” a number of different colors (just like we do with fabrics) before making their final choices. Click here

We have a secure system where you can order thread, fabric, prints and my artwork directly on line and pay by credit card or Pay Pal.