Friday my small art group met down in my neck of the woods. I did a brief demo of how I'm constructing my own stretcher frames, then we went to the Springville Art Museum quilt show, an annual event sponsored by the Utah Valley Quilt Guild.
Utah is known for its conservative politics, and Utah county, where I live, is one of the most conservative urban areas in the state. That also applies to quilts; when we moved here, I didn't even bother to check out the guilds, I knew I wouldn't fit. And that conservatism is reflected in this show. The vast majority are traditional; some very well executed, some not so. There were three Dear Jane quilts exhibited, all of them included nine patch blocks made with inch squares. That's one inch BEFORE piecing! I got a headache just thinking about it.
Photography was allowed, but there were very few that moved me to want to take a picture. One of our members had, Jalaine, two pieces exhibited, and they definitely stood out. I love the colors in this one, makes me think of Cinco de Mayo.
The second has neat contrast between sparkle and subdued. I thought the red backdrop set it off well.
Of all the traditional ones, this is the only one that appealed to me. I like the shape and the colors.
My friend Sandra Starley from Moab has two small pieces; you can see them here.
This quilt of aspens was interesting, and probably the least traditional one to get a ribbon.
Hands down, the most magnificent quilt there was this one of a moth. The detail was astounding, her use of fabric and stitching to create the wing patterns was amazing.
Seeing the show provoked a lot of discussion over lunch on quilt shows versus art shows, and how we can best get our work out there. Don't think we came to any consensus, which probably about describes the lack of consensus in the fiber art world!
5 comments:
These are great, Beverly! Thanks for sharing them. It looks like people are open to contemporary, with the one getting the ribbon. I live in a traditional quilting area too, southern Illinois.
that moth is amazing!
i can't quite wrap my mind around the process of waxing but i do have all the supplies and am just waiting for rayna's book to arrive from amazon to give it a try.
Really nice pictures, Beverly. Like karoda said- the moth is freakin' awesome (I'm paraphrasing). I somehow inhereited a book on creating dragonflies out of multiple medias- fabric, felts, beads, etc. There's a name for the technique but with less than two cups of coffee I'm pretty much useless at remembering anything. Anyhow, the moth quilt reminds me of said forgotten technique- all the detail and care. Thanks for posting those pictures!!!
Stumpwork!
Guess the second cup has finally started kicking in.
Bev,
Thanks for the mention. I try to put something in the show each year, those were two journal quilts. I think they need to restore the miniature quilt category.
My friend Susan made the aspens, she does beautiful work.
The lady who did the tile quilt was in my antique quilt class at annual.
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