20 years of (ABPH)Art
Update: Thank You Thank You Thank You! Together we raised over $3000 for The Dove Center, Garrett County’s domestic violence shelter. I am so grateful for all of your support!
20 years ago (Early November 2023) I was setting up for my first ever art festival, the Mountaineer Week Craft Festival in Morgantown, WV. Yep you read that correctly, my business is TWENTY YEARS old! It just doesn’t seem possible. I was a year out of geology grad school and was making paper out of old paper. In my kitchen. My former advisor found it extremely amusing when I recycled old drafts of my master’s thesis into my first “paper quilts”. As I sat on my living room floor, hand sewing my recycled papers into crazy quilts I never thought that 20 years later I would be supporting myself with my art.
I’ve gone round and round about how to celebrate this milestone. A party? Eh, not my style. A give away? Eh maybe but not very inspiring. A fundraiser? Winner winner chicken dinner! I am partnering with my local women’s shelter, the Dove Center to raffle off a piece of art. Since the pandemic Dove Center is overwhelmed with numbers that have skyrocketed, and ever increasing complexity of client needs. They are always in need of continued fundraising and donations (even after grant funds, they still must raise over $100,000 per year to make ends meet).
I hope you will help me help the Dove Center. For every $10 donated you will receive an entry to win “Wildflowers”. This is a set of framed, original ABPH Art quilted collages. Each artwork is 7″x27″, in a 13”x31” frame, and have a total retail value of $1390. I am donating the frames, artwork, and shipping or delivery (within the continental US). This means that every dollar donated will go to the Dove Center.
About the Artwork and Artist
*Colors may vary from what you see on your screen. I do my very best to take great and representational photos, but all screens are different. I find that invariably they look better in real life.
Wildflowers are ORIGINAL hand made paper art by Annie Simcoe. They are layers of my own hand made cornhusk paper and the lines are “drawn” with my sewing machine using needle and thread using free motion quilting techniques.
I make all of my papers using materials I grow in my garden, collect from friends gardens, or gather from the fields and woods near my home in Western MD. The papers in this piece are made from heirloom Bloody Butcher corn husks and a fiber called abaca. To achieve the vibrant colors, I dye the papers with fabric dyes while I make them. Once the papers are dry, I piece them together (using glue) and stitch them using free motion quilting techniques. I often describe the result as “quilted collage”.
I began making paper in 2003 while studying Geology at West Virginia University. For several years I worked as both geologist and artist collecting inspiration and paper-making materials from the Appalachian landscape of northern West Virginia and Maryland. I have been a full-time paper artist since 2009.
Rules
- For each $10 donated you will receive one entry. IE: $10 = 1 entry, $20 = 2 entries, $30 = 3 entries
- Entries will be assigned a number in the order they are received. The winner will be selected using a random number generator by the Better World fundraising platform.
- Mom and Dad, you may donate if you choose but you are not eligible to win. (you have enough of my art). Same goes for siblings and in-laws.