I’m pleased that Salimugundi was accepted to the December 2020 exhibit at the Art League gallery, and won an Honorable Mention award!

The exhibit will run from December 4, 2020 – January 3, 2021 at the Art League gallery located in the Torpedo Factory Art Center, 105 N. Union St., Alexandria, VA. It’s exciting that my wall quilt got accepted and won an award, since this is a fine art venue that usually features more traditional mediums like painting and photography.

This is an in person show, but there will be a virtual reception. Visit the Art League at https://www.theartleague.org/gallery/exhibits/ for details as they become available.

Salimugundi 16″ x 20″ – Cindy Grisdela

Salimugundi is 16″x 20″ mounted on painted black canvas with a wire on the back for easy hanging. It’s part of a series of Improv designs featuring focus blocks set asymmetrically on a background, and enhanced with dense free motion stitching to add texture.

Putting colors together intuitively, I use fabric the way a painter might use paint to engage viewers from a distance, yet invite a closer look.

For the focus block, I wanted to experiment with a combination of Improv Curves and Improv Log Cabin blocks in two sets of complementary colors – orange and blue and purple and yellow, with a bit of lime green for accent.  I like the contrast between the open curves and the busy activity in the Improv blocks.

The negative space in cool blues is broken up with narrow insets to add interest to the composition. Stitching lines add texture in the plain areas using a variety of motifs, including fans, spirals and paisleys.

So what’s with the weird name, you might ask? This design includes several of my favorite improv blocks–including Improv Circles, Insets and Improv Blocks–so I named it after a composed salad that was popular at one of my favorite restaurants in college. Plus it has a cool sound to it!