Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Decision Portrait Series - Pat Albiston

Today I'm proud to introduce you to my friend, Pat Albiston, of Seattle who is featured as "volunteer" with her stitched self portrait in Susan Lenz's Decision Portrait series here . Susan recruited people from all walks of life to tell their stories regarding a particular decision they made.

Some months back someone told me about this project and when I read the list of decision-makers who were still needed my eyes lit on "volunteer" and I just knew that Pat would be the perfect representative of "volunteer". She contacted Susan and the result is this lovely work. Pat volunteered 4 to 5 hours a week (and probably a lot more) for 31 years at the Henry Gallery's textile collection, identifying, recording, and eventually computerizing all the embroidery stitches (hundreds) in their immense collection of textiles from around the world.

Another friend, the late Virginia Harvey, designed the storage system for the collection, a marvel of drawers and tables which stores and displays the textiles in such a way that they are protected from excessive handling and exposure to light, yet be available for textile research.

Congratulations, Pat, for a job well done.


2 comments:

  1. Hi!
    There is a "self portrait" in the Decision Portrait Series. It is of me! It includes the words: I quit my job to pursue ART. I was thrilled to stitch the piece of Pat and am thrilled that you recommended her. The long hours and years she put in at the Henry Art Gallery resulted in a fabulous Internet resource for all the enjoy.
    Susan

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  2. Katie Albiston10:21 AM PDT

    Pat is my mom and I am so proud of her. Her decision to volunteer, and to stick with it for over 30 years, is just one example of her commitment and tenacity when she puts her mind to a project. Her house is filled with wonderful fiber art and paintings she's done over the years between raising two daughters are running a household. She taught me to look at the world around me with curious eyes -- you'll never know what you'll discover.

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