Flat Out Under Pressure Competition

Every year in June the Metropolitan Arts Council hosts the Flat Out Under Pressure competition for local artists. It’s a fun thing the community looks forward to every year. We bring our surfaces to get stamped the morning of the competition, then have 24 hours to complete the work. This year, due to the COVID19 pandemic, the whole thing is virtual. Instead of getting our surfaces officially stamped at the MAC office, we signed and dated the blank piece before starting.

The last 2 years I have summited a needle felted wool landscape, but this year I changed things up just a bit. Since MAC is the whole reason I learned rug hooking last year (thanks to a continuing education grant) I thought it would be cool to show them what I have been doing with my new skills!

This year’s piece includes needle felting, rug hooking, and punch needle techniques. I used over 40 materials and colors, and 8 different tools for the 3 fiber art mediums. It’s SO much fun to combine materials like this! Here’s a look at my progress from yesterday - I took photos every few hours to show how the piece was coming along. It was really slow going at first. I only covered a few inches of my surface in the first few hours, but I kept at it and 12 hours later, I was happy with my finished piece. I did take a few breaks during the day so I think all in all I spent about 10 hours on the 16x16 piece.

The Flat Out Under Pressure exhibition will be virtual this year, and will begin on July 1. The winner of the competition will be announced Monday by noon, and of course all the runner’s up as well (which is also a pretty big deal!). There are quite a few other “winners” and they’ll get a cash prize plus the honor of having their work prominently displayed on one of Greenville’s recycling bins downtown.

My finished piece, plus 2 other test pieces I did prior to try out ideas and see how large I could go for the 24 hour competition, will all be available for purchase soon. I’m so glad I found out I couldn’t finish a 20x20 in the amount of time aloted BEFORE it was the actual competition. That would have been a pretty frustrating thing to learn when it mattered most.

My wrists are sore, but I’m so happy I was able to participate in FOUP2020 this year, even though there will be no big party to announce the winners as before. Even still, this has been a bright spot in my week!

American Made Finalist

I was finishing up lunch with my husband at our favorite Indian buffet when I got the email informing me I was a finalist for the 2015 Martha Stewart American Made Awards. I read the email several times through before the words truly sunk in. Once they did, I got lightheaded and my hands started to shake. I never expected my delicious chicken makhani to come with a side of such incredible news.

Thousands of talented makers are in the pool of nominees each year, and just small percentage make it this far. The program puts the spotlight on emerging makers, those who have dedicated their lives to their craft, and are striving to succeed as creative entrepreneurs. It’s a huge honor to be a finalist in the Style / Jewlery category this year, regardless of what happens next. Being recognized in a national competition of this caliber is a pretty big deal for a little business like mine. These things don’t happen everyday!

Because of my big big news, I was lucky enough to be featured on Studio 62 with Jamarcus Gaston recently, and share about my media experience in a blog feature with the ever-so-informative Academy of Handmade. I was also able to share my story on local talk show Your Carolina. 

Martha Stewart and her panel of 16 judges have gotten me this far, but the rest is entirely up to voters like you. Would you please take a moment to send some votes my way? We set up an easy-to-remember sub domain that takes you directly to my nomination: www.vote.onceagainsam.com and once you create a login on the Martha Stewart American Made page, you’ll be able to vote up to 6 times per day until October 19th. Winning something like this would change my business forever, in so many fantastic ways.

Thanks a million!