Exhibits – Page 4 – Artquiltmaker Blog

Amish Abstractions at the DeYoung+

Mom and I had museum day last Friday. We first went to the DeYoung and saw the Amish Abstractions exhibit. This is an exhibit of Amish quilts from the Stephen and Faith Brown collection.

I could look at Amish quilts for years and never get bored. I went to the Esprit exhibit at the DeYoung back in the Dark Ages and I even demonstrated handquilting during one of their free evenings through a quilt class I was taking at the time. That was in the old museum building and before they charged extra for the special exhibits. Times definitely change!

I really tried to look at each quilt for more than 30 seconds (which my mother tells me is the average time that someone looks at a piece of art in an exhibit.

I liked all of the quilts. The ones that particularly stuck in my mind were a small crib quilt with two vertical rows of 3 Jack’s Chains* and a small 6 block crib quilt using a block I had never seen before. I am calling it the “Shutter quilt.” Do you know the name of the block?

The hidden complexity (quilting) in the simplicity (piecing) fascinates me. The piecing designs are often (not always) relatively simple. As the viewer gets closer, s/he can see the complexity of the quilting designs. Many of the quilts had feathers quilted into the border. A quilt using the Bars design had a feather wreath in the middle surrounded by an octagon of straight line quilting design with little quilted clamshell stitching accenting the octagon line. This detail was invisible unless I got up very close to it.

One thing I particularly noticed this time was the deft use of their limited color palette. They use certain colors, which I knew. The glow that I have noticed in some of the quilts comes from the colors and how they were put together. This must seem obvious to you, but somehow it struck me as I was comparing some of the quilts that had this glow to the more subtly shaded pieces. I noticed that the more subtle quilts did not use the salmon, turquoise and lavender colors. I think, based on this quick trip, that this is the case.

I was drawing the shutter piece block from the crib quilt when my mom sat down on a bench nearby and began talking to the lady next to her. My mom talks to everyone. They were talking about a 9 patch quilt made partially from 4patches when I heard the lady said “oh this is the man that owns the quilts.” A nice looking, white haired man in his mid fifties to early sixties wearing a blue Oxford shirt was standing there. Of course, my mom started talking to him!

She started in asking him how long he had been collecting (since the mid-1970s) and how he stored the quilts at home (acid free boxes) and did he display them at home (no). I decided to mention the Jack’s Chain, which was listed as “pattern unknown”. I have had that pattern on my to do list for years and originally saw it at a shop in the East Bay as a class. Even then it was called Jack’s Chain. He said that he would look it up and made a note. This made me think that he provided all the information about the quilts and the museum didn’t do research. I don’t know for sure, however. Then my mom asked me to give him my quilt business card. No, I do not have a quilt business!, but I do have a card that lists my blog address. He actually looked at it and commented on me having a blog!

Marie over at Z Quilts had a long review of the quilts and the exhibit catalog in which she posted some photos. My favorite, though I liked all of the quilts, is the one mentioned above I call the Shutter quilt. The pattern had no name according to the card next to the quilt. I want to look it up in Barbara Brackman’s book, or int he new Jinny Beyer block book, but haven’t yet. Stay tuned for that info.

I overheard some guys commenting that it looked like the shutter of a camera closing or opening. It is the 5th image on Marie’s page.

The museum had a boatload of stuff in their regular gift shops and they had a full shop right outside of the exhibit. One of the items that really drew me were wooden boxes with quilt designs inlaid on the top. They were form Quiltboxes.com (about $125) and were absolutely gorgeous. I liked the one with the Dutchman’s Puzzle design.

After the DeYoung, we went over to the Legion of Honor and saw the Cartier and America exhibit. This was a jewelry exhibit. I enjoy seeing different types of art and craft exhibits because I enjoy seeing the commonalities with quiltmaking. I also enjoy getting inspiration from other media. Of course, the jewels were fantastic. There was one stone that over 143 carats. Can you imagine? This type of jewelry is so out of my realm of possibility that I just looked at the designs and admired the artistry. There was one tiara of which I wish I could have taken a photo. The swirls would have made excellent applique’ designs. That tiara was in the exhibit catalog, which I didn’t buy. I may buy it later and if so, I will show it then.

I was also very interested in the historical aspect of the exhibit. The exhibit cards said who bought the piece, who owned it and, in some cases, whether it was purchased for a gift. Some information mentioned changes to designs with the times. The meager information made me think that such an exhibit would be a good way of getting people into the history of the era. There were obvious changes in the jewelry designs as times changed. Flappers, for example, didn’t need stomacher broaches.

It may be that pieces for the exhibit were selected for their relevance to SF, because there were a lot of pieces owned or purchased by prominent people in local history.

I did, finally, learn what a pave’ diamond setting was. Apparently Ms. Wallis Simpson loved pave’ settings for her panther broaches.

Some of Princess Grace’s jewels were there as were Elizabeth Taylor’s. Sadly, I was very tired after all this visual stimulation, so I didn’t look and read as carefully at these as I would have liked.

I was very annoyed and disappointed with the selection of postcards. None of my favorites were available as postcards. It was probably a good thing as the postcards were poor reproductions anyway. Not the high quality to which I am accustomed. The exhibit catalog was wonderful, but times are tough so I didn’t buy that either. It is on my list. I think you would enjoy it as well!

*No affiliation with this site; I just think the picture of her Jack’s Chain is a good example of the pattern.

Back Porch Redux

I meant to write about this sooner, but it just didn’t happen. I saw this Flowering Snowball quilt when I went to Back Porch in October.

I have to admit that I was shocked, because I thought that nobody was making that pattern except for me and here was a semi-local quilt shop teaching a class. I have to admit that I was disappointed, because I thought I was doing something unique. Call Back Porch if you want to sign up for the class.

When I went to the Kaffe Fassett lecture, we also went to the shop, where we bought a few things.

I wanted to restock up on the Lonni Rossi fabrics. The line was long and as we stood in line, I saw this quilt on the wall.

I know TFQ will like it, but I also like the cheerfulness of it. I think the background is dots.

Showing Off, pt.2

Yesterday, I wrote half a post for you as I got called away to do boring stuff.

For a long time, at least 4 years, Spiky Stars hung on my office wall. I love this quilt. It is one of my, if not my absolute, favorite(s). I made it using a technique I learned and modified in a Doreen Speckman class in the mid-nineties called Interlocking Triangles. She never did anything with this technique, probably because it is pretty labor intensive. I used templates to make this quilt and a lot of the patches are on the bias. I have a lot of designs to make additional quilts in this series. They just haven’t made it to the top of the list yet.

Seeing Red now graces my office wall. It is also a bullseye quilt. It started out as a round robin block exercise with Julie Zaccone Stiller and Adrienne Acoba. The exercise was inspired by a different bullseye project done by the Quilt Mavericks quilt group. We sent each other squares of red fabric and proceeded to add circles to them in the bullseye pattern. The interesting thing about this pattern is the way one can play with color. It is interesting to see the colors change as additional layers of fabric are added. When the blocks were complete, we cut the squares up and kept some of each block and sent other parts to the others, so the quilts are truly ‘sister’ quilts. The arrangement of the blocks is my own design. Julie and Adrienne arranged their blocks differently. Colleen Granger did a masterful job quilting Seeing Red. The project, as I mentioned yesterday, has expanded to the point where we are working on creating a bullseye quilt for each of the rainbow colors. Feelin’ Blue was the next in the series and, again, as I mentioned yesterday, Purple Passion is in process.

We actually hung the quilt twice. The first time, it was much higher up. We were outside my office (there is a glass wall in the front) looking at it when one of the name partners walked by. We must have looked odd, because he stopped and looked and told us it should be lower. He was right! We moved it down out of the shadow of the sofit (sp??) and I think it looks better.

One of the good things about putting up a new quilt is that I am actually seeing it. I had gotten to the point, I realized later, of not even seeing Spiky Stars anymore. I need to remember that and change the quilts out more often.

Seeing Red is a much smaller quilt than Spiky Stars, so it startles me a bit when I walk into my office. There is just a lot less fabric and a lot more wall. I don’t know if I will keep Seeing Red up, but it will be there for at least a week. Nobody has commented yet, but I will be interested to see who notices and what they say.

Showing Off

I am racing to get you some content before I head off for, essentially, a week and half of work travel, and (YAY!!) vacation. I won’t be able, probably, to post much during the work travel as I will be in a conference all day and then enjoying good food and drink with friends. We’ll see how the Internet connection is in the conference center this year. Perhaps I’ll be able to post some clips.

I have been thinking of viewing artworks in every day life and surrounding myself with artworks, lately. I looked at the back wall of my office this week and said to myself “huh! that quilt has been there for 4 years; time for a change.” Then I went into my Assistant Librarian’s office, saw two more quilts and decided that one of them also needed to be changed out.

This quilt has been on her wall for awhile and she really likes it. She says it has a calming effect on her. It is the second in a series of quilts in the JAJ Bullseye Project. In each round, the three quiltmakers, Julie Zaccone Stiller, Adrienne Acoba and I each makes one quilt in the agreed upon color scheme. In this case, blue. This quilt was shown at 2005 Marin Quilt & Needle Arts Show.

You can read more about how to make a bullseye quilt here. I am sure there are other directions on the web and in books. You can also see my most recent attempt, a quilt top (not a quilt yet), in the series here.

Feelin' Blue, on display — Feelin’ Blue, on display

This is the quilt on display in my A.L.’s office. You get to see the trappings of our (well, her in this case) work. I could have cropped them out, but thought you might enjoy the quilt in context.

Here is the full view of FOTY 2008 (although I think you have seen it 12 times in the past 2 weeks, right?) hanging in my A.L.’s office. She has a much bigger office than I do, and I have my degrees hanging on the only other available wall for art, so she gets two quilts and I get one.

Here is the quilt in context. I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me to change out the quilts sooner, but it didn’t. My quilts were rejected for display in the public parts of the office, because the Art Committee couldn’t get past the ‘craft.’ Instead they chose some baby puke brown paintings that I wouldn’t hang on my street much less in my house. I am probably bitter and don’t understand the concept. 😉 Now the quilts are up on walls I control and on display for all to view. I am happy.

I have to run off and do some stuff, like laundry, so I will post the quilt in my office later or tomorrow.

PIQF 2009: First Impressions

I went to the preview for the Pacific International Quilt Festival 2009 this evening. It was only 1.5 hours long, so I didn’t get to see everything. Some first impressions:

There were a lot more bolts of fabric than in previous years, as opposed to kits and fabric packs. I was pleased to see that I would be able to buy some yardage, if I want. There were still fabric packs.

Many of the vendors from past years were there and I saw a couple of new ones. I was nervous that the vendor hall would be empty because the Quilt Festival in Houston is on at the same time.

People didn’t seem to be buying much and I heard a vendor say that most people just look on the preview night. I bought one FQ. 😉

I went to the preview to take photos when it wasn’t busy. I intended to take as many as possible, but I started taking them and just felt depressed about it, so I stopped and, then, only took pictures of quilts I really liked. I still managed to take a few hundred pictures. One thing I learned from this experience was that I need to make quilts – at least show quilts – that are interesting. I need to make quilts that people haven’t seen before. That is if I want to show quilts in the future. That is not to say that I have to show my quilts and that I can’t make any kind of quilts I want. I think if I am going to show quilts they have to be special and interesting.

Lots of landscapes and realism type quilts. There was one with a castle (Rheingau?), a triptych of big leaves, another of redwood trees, an Italian Piazza, etc.

The colors used in the quilts are a lot brighter; the quilts are not as depressing as they have been in the past. A few tree quilts, but not as many as last year.

The World Quilt Competition Quilts were very interesting as usual.

Reef Quilts/Patterns (not sure of the name) has some tote bag patterns that I want to look at more closely. They look like they are large, have plenty of pockets and interesting detailing without being too strange.

There was beautiful machine work again, especially sheer types of embroidery. I am not sure of the name, but it is the kind of embroidery that the newer model machines do.

Pamela Allen's Cinderella Making her Getaway

Pamela Allen had a Cinderella quilt, which I thought was great.

There are some pretty Christmas fabrics with fun motifs in non-traditional colors such as turquoise, soft green cream and a light pinkish red.

FOTY 2008 was there and it didn’t look like I thought it would.I like the location where they hung the quilt. That wave on the bottom makes me crazy. Perhaps I am just nervous about having two quilts there? I didn’t see the Nosegay yet.

Remembering September 11

Tomorrow is Sept. 11. I was thinking about the event more than usual this year. No sure why. One thing that came to mind after Sept. 11, 2001 was the phrase “what if?” As a result, the desire developed to write about the quilts I made after that notorious day. I thought I would give you a mini tour of two of my older quilts.

What Comes Next is the quilt I really wanted to make for the America From the Heart quilt project, which was put together by Karey Bresenhan for the 2001 International Quilt Festival exhibition. I couldn’t process my thoughts and feelings fast enough, much less construct this quilt, to make the deadline. Once I sent off Fireball I could relax a bit. Not having the pressure of a deadline helped me come up with the design for What Comes Next. I can definitely finish a quilt under pressure, but not design a quilt.

The message I wanted to communicate with the quilt is that people are people and I would like them to treat each other better. I stamped words like consideration, kindness, caring, etc on the quilt. Pretty obvious method rather than being oblique, but I didn’t want there to be any ambiguity with what I wanted to say.

Fireball the quilt that went to Houston and is in the book, is part of a series of woven quilts that I have been making on and off over the years. It was fast to make on short deadline. I chose the colors – they were a fat quarter pack – because they looked like fire, smoked and charred wood. This was one of the first times I used dotted fabrics.

Fair Visit

I went to the San Mateo County Fair on Saturday. I was really pleased to discover that The Nosegay had won a 3rd place ribbon.

Third place isn’t first place, but I am so happy that I won something. It has been awhile since I won a ribbon. I couldn’t have done it without Colleen of Sew Little Time Quilting. She is a fabulous longarmer. She also sells fabric, teaches and designs patterns. Her longarm work is out of this world.

Anyway, I am reinspired to enter this quilt somewhere else. We’ll see if I can get my act together.

In general the Fair was fun. I ate two, yes 2, frozen, chocolate and nut covered bananas. I love them so much!! They just say fair to me. We saw fireworks, got free ice cream, watched hucksters and hawkers, and some people rode rides. I didn’t have as much time with the quilts as I would have liked, but got some nice pictures and will have some time to look at them carefully later.

SFMOMA and the 1000 Journals Project

I have been slack about posting my various holiday adventures, but, with this post, will try and redeem myself. One of the great things I did on my break over the holidays was go to the SFMOMA with friend Julie. My goal was to see the actual journals from the 1000 journals project in person. Julie has posted a great set of narrated photos about our adventures.

The 1000 Journals project has, for some reason, captured my imagination. Faithful readers will know that I have posted about it, gone to see the film and have been trying to get my hot little hands on one of the journals. The film depicted a lot of back and forth with the SFMOMA about this exhibit because Someguy wanted to allow people to add to the journals. A great idea, but the curators aren’t used to allowing people to touch the art. I was really happy that they finally were able to work everything out.

They ended up putting the project in the Koret Education Center. There are people there to watch you, somewhat, working on the journals, so it probably made them feel ok about touching.

Stupidly I didn’t plan ahead and bring an art kit like I had planned, so I rummaged through my purse to see what I had:

an old temporary drivers’ license
breast health center “how to get your results” sheet
pink pen
Golden Gate Ferry schedule from 1997

With the pencils, glue sticks, pens, etc that the SFMOMA provided my theme turned into bureaucracy. I was able to make a page with which I was pretty satisfied. As Julie said, it was hard to make art standing up. Not very comfy. Other viewers of the exhibit also have a different sense of personal space than I do, so I had to glare at some people who were just too close, and ask them to step back.

I was disappointed to see that some contributors had basically defaced the books with a message of anger and hate of their own. If I had had colored paper, I would have glued it over those messages, which, I guess, is defacing the books as well, in a way. There was a lot of 13 year old boy potty humor as well. Sad to think that people aren’t enlightened enough to think up something that they would be proud to have endure through the ages. Perhaps I am just being a snob because what they wrote doesn’t fit my idea of ‘good’.

I had fun. I found that I actually can do a visual journaling piece. It made me think that, perhaps, I have too many options at home.

I am happy that I got to spend the day with Julie (no children/young adults=freedom) and that I got see and write in the journals. I feel like I made a contribution. The journal I wrote in was number 754.

PIQF 2008 Day 3

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Originally uploaded by jlapac
As I mentioned, the quilts were much more cheerful. I don’t think there were enough of them to think of ‘cheerful’ as a theme. However, I did notice two themes: leaves and hexagons.

I would say there were at least 30 quilts that incorporated leaves – full leafy leaves, colored Autumn leaves and thin, spiky leaves. I found most of the leaf (and by association, tree) quilts to be quite calming.

After breakfast and before we headed back to the show, we went to visit the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles. They had three exhibits on. he major exhibit was a group of Radka Donnell quilts. Many of them were from the 1970s and had been used. They were all bed sized and I think it was hard for me to appreciate what she had accomplished, because there was nothing to compare them with. Many of them look like the backs of quilts I make now. They were all best viewed from far away and that is the good thing about the new-ish space. The galleries were large and enabled us to stand back. My favorite was So Bubbly and Clear. TFQ liked some elements of The Pool of Nazzissos. The other gallery had quilts from a variety of artists including Faith Ringgold (prints) and Laura Wasilowski. A log cabin quilt by Terrie Hancock Mangat kept our attention for a long time as there were lots and lots of interesting fabrics. Finally, the last gallery had 8 Double Wedding Ring or wedding quilts. Most were the normal DWRs, but one looked like a cross between the Winding Ways and the Flowering Snowball. I wasn’t able to find a reference for it yet, but will post it when I do.

Back at PIQF, another theme I noticed was that many quilts used a hexagon shape. I don’t remember any of the traditional Grandmother’s Flower Garden type layouts. I saw one that used the hexagon shape for the base of a Crazy quilt and one that used hexagons to make flowers.

It was really interesting to see themes pop out.

We visited the vendors. I did buy a few fabrics, but passed many of them up. Best vendor award goes to: Erica at In Between Stitches from Livermore. She was friendly, funny and willing to have someone bring us Moda swatch packs of the Fresh Squeeze fabrics from their store. I love vendors who don’t complain and have a great attitude about customer service.

PIQF 2008 Day 1

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Originally uploaded by jlapac

TFQ and I went to the PIQF Preview tonight and it was wonderful. Apparently, most people who attend, attend to shop. I saw two ladies leaving with Jem Platinums! We have started to attend the preview in order to take photos. I barely looked at the quilts, but just shot photos (http://www.flickr.com/photos/artquiltmaker/sets/72157608068541986/) so I wouldn’t have to worry about the crowds. It was great! And I know I will be much less cranky tomorrow when I can just look at quilts.

I am thrilled to say that people entered cheerful quilts. Not exclusively, but my overall impression is cheerful. I am so happy, because after EBHQ and APNQ, I was getting worried about the state of quiltmakers’ psyches. There are also a lot of quilts with a ton of details on them, so I think people have just been sititng in their studios for the past four years waiting for Nov.4. I didn’t look much at the vendors, but will work on that tomorrow as well.

Eddie’s Quilting Bee is about 2 miles away. We went there before the show opened and looked around. I bought an 8.5″x4.5″ Creative Grid ruler and a pattern for a tote bag from Gail Abeloe for Tracey Brookshier Design Studio. It is similar to the Eco Market tote, but has a square bottom and no side panels. It will be interesting to try it out.

The tree quilt above is called Leaves on a Tree and it is, coincidentally, by Gail Abeloe. Gail is the owner of Back Porch Fabrics in Pacific Grove. Nice work!

Weird and Wonderful Wearables

Deirdre sent me a link to these weird and wonderful “wearables”. They are really creative and inventive, but I don’t think that they are truly wearable. I really admire people who think outside of the box in such a way that they can come up with an outfit for a sumo wrestler type. Enjoy the inspiration!

clipped from www.worldofwearableart.com

County Fair Quilts

I love going to see quilts at the various county fairs in our state. I have been to a number of them, but I would still, someday, like to say that I have been to all the county fairs in the state. One thing I like about visiting county fairs is that I am reminded of how much creativity is going on nearby.

Not only do I enjoy the quilts, but I also enjoy seeing the tatting, the crochet, the tole painting, etc. I am really inspired by seeing the preserves, artistic cakes and the table setting displays.

Last weekend I was fortunate enough to be able to visit the Los Angeles County Fair. As I have mentioned previously, I dislike the way they display the needlework. They are all behind glass cases and they often have dress dummies placed right in front of the quilts, which makes the work really hard to photograph. Most of the photos I took are more fragments of quilts rather than the entire thing. Enjoy anyway!

Mollie McNeil Collage Artist

Here is an ad for an art exhibit that looks interesting.

From: ACCI GALLERY [mailto:muse@accigallery.ccsend.com] On Behalf Of ACCI GALLERY
Sent: Friday, October 03, 2008 6:45 PM
To: jaye@calalum.org
Subject: Mollie McNeil Collage Artist

Mollie McNeil

“Pretending It’s a Love Letter I”

Artist Statement

“Japanese Tea Party”

“Of Gargoyles and Snails”

“Rose”

Join us for the opening of “Resuscitation: Breathing New Life Into the Rejected“, Friday, October 10, 6-8pm.

Along with artists Clayton Bain, Cordelia DeVere, Donna Duguay, Mirto Golino, and Zach Pine, this exhibition features the work of collage artist, Mollie McNeil. Scroll below for a glimpse of Mollie’s complex work.

October 10 – November 9, 2008.

-Lisah Horner, ACCI Gallery Director

“Pretending It’s a Love Letter I”

Mollie McNeil
Artist Statement

Combining an eclectic mix of archival and ordinary materials with a careful, architectural style, Mollie McNeil creates narratives and playful juxtapositions in her collage series, “Graphic Dreams.” French etchings, antique book jackets, vintage postcards, and 19th century Italian calligraphy add up to romance in McNeil’s storytelling mind. Contemporary Greek poster scraps, 1960’s paperback covers and sculptures from antiquity all make the same suggestions. In the spirit of Kurt Schwitters and William Dole, McNeil makes harmonious designs from unlikely sources. McNeil draws on her training in graphic design, art history, and literary studies for inspiration. Her artistic process includes scavenging flea markets, antique bookstores and gutters when she travels.

“Japanese Tea Party”

“Of Gargoyles and Snails”

“Rose”

ACCI Gallery
(Arts and Crafts Cooperative, Inc)
1652 Shattuck Ave
Berkeley, California 94709
510-843-2527
www.accigallery.com
muse@accigallery.com

HOURS
Monday – Friday 11am – 6pm
Saturday 10am-6pm
Sunday 12 – 5pm

Map

ACCI Gallery | 1652 Shattuck Ave | Berkeley | CA | 94709

NEQM

I went to the New England Quilt Museum yesterday. There was an exhibit of antique quilts from the Gerald Roy/Paul Pilgrim collection. Many of the quilts were Amish style-solids in patterns such as Ninepatch, row quilts with elaborate quilting. The quilting was gorgeous. Lots of complicated feathers.

Sadly, there weren't very many quilts shown; 30-40 at the most. The lighting was really low. Too low, actually. We could barely see the quilts to be honest. Very sad. I hope this is a brief lapse.

Blue Alchemy

The current exhibit at the Textile Museum (near DuPont Circle Metro) is called Blue. It is all about indigo. They have a variety of examples, but no quilts so far. The film they are showing as part of the exhibit is fantastic! I especially like the words of the indigo composter. He says he ”is having a conversation” with the compost. He also says that ”something cared for with this much love and affection” should last forever. I think that is a beautiful thing to think about your work. Film is from New Deal Films-www.newdealfilms.com. Perhaps it is posted to YouTube?? Look for it.