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.

August was the hottest and driest month in North Carolina’s history. We had many days with three digit temperatures and no rain whatsoever in Hillsborough. The only plants thriving in our garden are the palm trees, yucca plants and agaves. It has been a tough summer.

My time has been spent in the studio finishing up “World of Tuaregs” and the work for “Antiques to Abstracts”.

Enclosed you will find the September newsletter. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me.

“World of Tuaregs” is finished and now hangs in its new home.
The Tuareg people are nomads who live in West Africa. They traditionally carried the goods from North Africa to sub-Saharan Africa on their camels. With the tremendous droughts that have struck Africa in the last 20 years, many nomads have been forced to settle down because they have lost their beautiful herds. Theirs is a lifestyle that is disappearing. This piece has imagery typical of the Tuareg traditions. Click here to see several pictures of it.

The work for “Antiques to Abstracts” is almost finished. All of these pieces are machine pieced and machine quilted. Click here to see some of them.

The Tim’s Art Quilt Gallery in La Veta, Colorado is hosting a show called “Figuratively Speaking” that features art from Pamela Allen, Marilyn Belford, Lori Lupe Pelish, Joan Sowada and myself. This is an invitational show featuring the human image in quilts. The opening takes place Friday August 31^st, from 6-8 pm and the work will be up from August 31^st – December 1^st, 2007. Click here for more information.

Turchin Center for the Visual Arts at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC has invited me to do a solo exhibit October 5, 2007 – January 19th, 2008. The exhibit is called “Antiques to Abstracts” and will show 12 abstract pieces based on photographs of antiques that my son took. This is the first time in twelve years that there has been a show of my abstract work with all new pieces. The opening reception will take place October 5^th, 2007 from 7:00 - 9:00 PM. Please come!! Click here for more information, and click here to see some of the pieces.

Two of my pieces have been accepted into the International Quilt Festival in Houston, TX. They are "Hope For Our World" and "The Gift". This show takes place October 31^st – November 4^th, 2007. Click here for more information.

August was spent working in the studio, but the busy fall season is about to begin. I will be traveling quite a lot in the next two months. In September, I will be teaching a color class in New Hampshire. Email Michele Koppelman for more information.

October will take me to Boone, NC, Berkeley, CA and Houston, TX. Click here for more information.

We now have dates for the new five-year art course in Raleigh. There will be two time slots available. The dates are April 7^th-9^th and April 14^th-16^th, 2008. Click here for the contact person

Drawing is my passion and I have been teaching how to draw for 17 years. It started when I lived in Africa. My students have been from all nationalities and from ages 7 to 86. If you can write your name and have a desire to learn to draw, I guarantee that you will learn to draw in my classes. We started these classes eight years ago here in the states, and it has been growing ever since.

Once a year I go to an area and teach a workshop that lasts from 3-5 days (we now have groups ongoing in Berkeley, Cape Cod, & San Antonio, but I have also taught groups in Los Angeles, Montana, Wyoming, Indiana, Illinois, Atlanta, & Oregon). The first year is three days of drawing, second year is again three days of drawing, third year is three days of drawing-portraiture, fourth year is five days of color, and fifth/sixth years are four day design classes where everyone works independently creating quilts (based on a challenge from me). We don’t even touch fabric until year #5.

These classes are organized by individuals (not guilds or conferences) and have a maximum of fifteen students. They are intense and you really learn. They are my favorite classes to teach because they give students the confidence and skills to move forward and do what is in their hearts.

If you are interested in joining one of these courses, please check my website. We are going into our second year in San Antonio (it is possible to join on year #2), click here for the contact person. Also click here for the contact person for the Raleigh course.

Don’t hesitate to write quickly to the contact people because the classes fill fast!

Note to students who have already contacted Charlotte in San Antonio:
Her computer crashed and she has lost all her Inbox. She has asked me to request that anyone who contacted her, please email her again.

We now have giclee prints of “The Grandfather”, “Sahel”, “The Gift”, "Ecuadorian Girls", "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. They 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.