Submission for Scrapel Hill Art Competition

Please consider this blog post my on-line submission for the 4th Annual Scrapel Hill Competition and Exhibition.

Name: Susan Lenz
Address: 2123 Park Street
Columbia, SC 29201
(803) 254-0923 and (803) 606-9804
email: mouse_house@prodigy.net
Website: www.susanlenz.com
Resume: http://www.susanlenz.com/bio.shtml

General Artist Statement: Using a needle and thread for self-expression, I work to create art that reflects my interest in the concept of time. Memory, universal mortality, and personal legacy are central themes. Vintage and recycled materials are combined with meticulous handwork. Stitched text and free motion machine embroidery add visual and emotional layers. Work is often exhibited in an installation format in order to better communicate message through an accessible atmosphere. I am drawn to textiles for their tactile qualities and often make work that is meant to touch and be touched.

Letter of Intent: I am not proposing a potential project but submitting three previously completed pieces. Each was made from recycled materials. My work has included repurposed materials for several years. The three "R"s (reduce, reuse, recycle) are part of my daily lifestyle as well as my creative impulses. Sharing works with this concept is an important part of my artistic message.

I am not, however, opposed to creating new work for Scrapel Hill. I would truly enjoy a public art project similar to "LOOKING FOR A MATE". I conducted this project with the assistance of the Conagree Vista Guild. Underneath the image of the project's prototype is a list of blog links ... including one to the original proposal. I am known to be rather fearless and willing to tackle just about anything ... so ... if there's a way to make this happen ... GREAT!

Below are my three submissions. Each image can be "clicked on" for enlargement. Once enlarged, the image can be saved. The file names are correctly labelled according to the Scrapel Hill guidelines ... but the image can be enlarged much bigger than required.


(Above: Two Hours at the Beach, art quilt. 2011. 51" x 38". Two hours worth of beach trash, recycled packaging felt, repurposed bridal veil, thread; hand stitching. Click on image to enlarge. This piece was accepted into the national juried Lowell Art Quilt 2011 exhibition.)

For a blog post written when this piece for finished, CLICK HERE.
This unique art quilt inspired a window installation at the Tapps Center for the Arts. Two more hours worth of beach trash were combined with the quilt for an anti-litter statement. To access a blog post with images of this installation, CLICK HERE.


(Above: Two Hours at the Beach, detail. Click on image to enlarge.)


(Above: Looking for a Mate, art quilt. 2010. 48" x 42". "Mateless" socks donated by the public on recycled packaging felt, thread; hand stitched. This was the prototype for a public art project in Columbia, South Carolina. It was sponsored by the Conagree Vista Guild, a downtown business/neighborhood association. The guild paid for a series of newspaper advertisements inviting the public to bring their "mateless" socks to the annual Vista Lights art crawl where I was demonstrating and starting another art quilt. This prototype was on display during the public collection and stitching. The art quilt made from the socks collected that evening were stitched into another, larger art quilt which became the Guild's property. The Guild donated it to City Hall where it now hangs in the lobby.
Blog post for the original project proposal, CLICK HERE.
Blog post where this "prototype" was finished, CLICK HERE.
Blog post for the public donation site and stitching during Vista Lights 2010, CLICK HERE.
Blog post showing a local school taking up the challenge, CLICK HERE and for a Flickr! set of photos from the school, CLICK HERE.
Blog post of the public art quilt hanging at City Hall, CLICK HERE.

(Above: Looking For a Mate, detail. Click on image to enlarge.)


(Above: Wasted Words, Global Warnings. 2009. Fiber vessel made from assorted yarns and strings filled with ripped-and-stitched or ripped-and-rolled pages from World Book Encyclopedia's Yearbooks, 1962 -75. The pages were articles on conservation, pollution, and other ecological issues. This piece was most recently exhibited at the National Textile Museum in Washington, DC in an invitational show called Green: A Color and a Cause. Click on image to enlarge.)

For a blog post written when this piece was completed, CLICK HERE.


(Above: Wasted Words, Global Warnings. Detail. Click on image to enlarge.)