Music and The City Art Exhibit Starts August 1st

Tom here: So cool! Maureen's fiber art piece Up and Down the Music Tree is featured on the poster for Art and the City!

There is a reception in the Event Center at the new City of Independence Civic Center on August 6th from 4 to 7pm.
We'd love to see our friends and family there

Check Out Tom's Guitar Blog

If you are interested in guitars and other stringed instruments, check out Tom's blog at http://www.erhardtstringedinstruments.blogspot.com/

Tom will be posting all sorts of guitar-geek stuff, notes and photos from lutherie classes, photos and details from projects he is working on, musings on G.A.S. (guitar acquisition syndrome), guitars in pieces, friends with guitars, grandkids with guitars, mandolins with guitars, guitars with ukeleles... you get the idea.

Visit soon, visit often, sign up as a member if you're so inclined.  See you there!

Turntable Muse

When Tom's 1970's Panasonic stereo gave up the ghost, Maureen wouldn't let him toss it in the trash, at least not before removing the parts she wanted for her multimedia art projects. The tuner display became the body of this piece, the Turntable Muse.  She painted it with alcohol inks, gave it a handmade ceramic face, and through some kind of artistic alchemy, gave it a vibrant red halo and a siren's soul.  Though Maureen has tried to sell this muse, Tom's fervent prayers have won out, and it remains in his personal collection to this day.

Artist's Journal for Steve

Here is an artist's journal Tom created for his
buddy Steve, a highly respected and in-demand Oregon luthier (stringed instrument builder/repairer).  This wrap-around cover is based on Steve's business logo - a stylized guitar which Tom has filagree'd into the cover, finished in handmade paper and superimposed over gold foil. The book block is a hand sewn codex made up of plain white, printed grid, and accounting ledger papers.  The cover closure is magnetic.

Close Up of "Up and Down the Music Tree"

Here's a close up of the daytime side of "Up and Down the Music Tree."  Since the full quilt is 20" X 96" you have to look closely to realize that it's made up of dozens and dozens of different music fabrics.

Up and Down the Music Tree

Maureen's fiber art piece "Up and Down the Music Tree" will be on display at the City of Independence (Oregon) "Art and the City" exhibition at the Civic Center on Main Street.  This juried show runs from August 6th through January 5th.

"Up and Down the Music Tree" was first displayed at Oregon State Fair 2010 in the Quilted Forest Display. It has since been displayed at Quiltopia 2010 (Mission Mill in Salem, Oregon), the Oregon Gardens Quilt Show 2010 (Stayton, Oregon), and the Sisters Quilt Show 2011 (Sisters, Oregon).  It is actually two quilts placed back to back. 
 
Maureen's Story on this Quilt:  Loving 'music fabric' can lead to quite a collection!  So... all this fabric inspired a music tree.  A song I love to hear my husband Tom sing is by Tim O'Brien and Darrell Scott: "The Music Tree."  It was a great inspiration for this quilt.  Days are filled with lots of activity, so a busy daytime quilt was made, fitting the line from the song "All God's children need time to play."  Nights are calm and dreamy! Another line from the song says "The moon is singin' in harmony."  I had great fun making this quilt and listened to a lot of great music at the same time!