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Quilt National ’15 opens on May 19th

The Dairy Barn Arts CenterQuilt National ’15, 19th biennial juried exhibition of innovative art quilts, will open on May 19th at the Dairy Barn in Athens, Ohio.  The exhibition will be open to the public May 23th through September 7, 2015. Visitors will see an eclectic collection of never before exhibited works from talented fiber artists representing 33 states and 8 foreign countries.
More than 6,000 visitors are expected from all over the world to see Quilt National ‘15. Although parts of the collection will travel to museums and galleries throughout the country until late 2017, the Dairy Barn Arts Center, located in Athens at 8000 Dairy Lane, is the only exhibition venue where visitors can view the complete collection.
The exhibit hours are Tuesday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. There are also extended hours on Thursdays until 8 p.m. Admission costs include $10 for general admission, $8 for students and seniors, and free admission on sponsored Thursdays between 5pm and 8pm. Visitors will also be able to take home unique mementos of Quilt National. The Dairy Barn Gallery Shop will feature items hand-crafted by the Quilt National exhibitors and by other regional artists.
Quilt National ’15 is produced by the Dairy Barn Arts Center with sponsorship from the Ohio University Inn & Conference Center; Quilts Japan Magazine/Nihon Vogue Co., Ltd.; the Athens County Convention and Visitors Bureau; Friends of Fiber Art International; the James Foundation; Nelsonville Quilt Company; the Ohio Arts Council; Studio Art Quilt Associates; eQuilter.com; and many generous individuals.
“All of us who work in the realm of quilts want them to be accepted as art. This is the reason for the existence of Quilt National: to prove to the larger world out there that quilting is an art form on a level with traditional fine art mediums.” said Judy Schwender, one of the jurors for this year’s competition.
For a full list of participating artists and works in the exhibition.
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Lorie McCown Lecture in Fredricksburg

Lorie McCownLorie McCown will be speaking at the Fredericksburg Area Museum & Cultural Center, on Dec. 9th at 9 am in conjunction with the Quilt National 2013 exhibition.  The lecture is part of FAMCC’s breakfast with the curator’s series. Join the Fredericksburg Area Museum & Cultural Center (FAMCC) for coffee and a light breakfast during its Breakfast with the Curator series.

My Grandmother's Dresses by Lorie McCown

My Grandmother’s Dresses by Lorie McCown

This series is proudly sponsored by Lewis Insurance Associates. Lectures are FREE to the public, but limited space is available. RSVP to Anne Marie Paquette at 540-371-3037, ext. 400, or apaquette@famcc.org. For more information on additional programming information, please contact the Museum at 540-371-3037 or visit www.famcc.org.

The mission of the Fredericksburg Area Museum & Cultural Center is to collect, interpret and present the history of the Fredericksburg region and community.

 

 

 

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Dairy Barn Unveils Quilt (R)evolution

by Kathleen Loomis

Quilt (R)evolutions exhibit at the Dairy Barn Art Center

Quilt (R)evolutions exhibit at the Dairy Barn Art Center

I’m just home from Athens, OH where I visited the Dairy Barn for its current show, an exciting collection of work from most of the people who have served as Quilt National jurors over the 35 years of that exhibit.  It was special because the participants were asked to send three pieces: one from their earliest work, one of their work at the time they were jurors, and one of their current work. And most of them actually sent exactly what was requested!

The too-clever title of the show, “quilt (R)evolution” is silly but accurate, because the quilts do clearly mark the evolution of the quilts-as-art genre.  Several of the oldest ones are only a step or two away from traditional — and Ann Johnston’s 1979 piece could have easily been made in 1879.

I’ve been obsessively following Quilt Nationals via catalog since 1983 and in person for at least 20 years (can’t remember exactly which one I first attended) so it’s not a surprise to me that quilts-as-art started so close to its traditional roots and took a few years to escape the conventions.  But it’s fun to be reminded of how the famous names we’re all familiar with started out, and how they got going in their own directions.

California II by Joan Schulze

California II by Joan Schulze

For instance, Joan Schulze started by making a big quilt that was the California winner in the big Good Housekeeping Quilts of America competition in 1976 — I remember that, even though I wasn’t much of a quilter at the time.  After it was photographed for the book (I think I have the book, too) her quilt and others were destroyed in a warehouse fire but after a long period of grieving she decided to remake it.  The design was original, with a batiked landscape in the center, but its wide border is composed of the traditional Road to California blocks (she did shock the viewers by making them in different colors to extend the landscape — blue for the sky, brown for the earth). Subsequently Schulze developed her signature style of using images appropriated from the media in collage-like photo-transferred and screenprinted compositions that remind me of Robert Rauschenberg.

March Study by Nancy Crow, 1979

March Study by Nancy Crow, 1979

Nancy Crow started with huge symmetrical quilts that were meticulously planned and intricately pieced from templates using commercial prints.  Subsequently she found that improvisationally free-cutting shapes from hand-dyed fabrics and building her compositions gradually on the wall was a more satisfying approach.

Heavens Reach by  Katie Pasquini Masopust, 1981

Heavens Reach by Katie Pasquini Masopust, 1981

Katie Pasquini Masopust‘s early quilt was a daring pentagon but executed in impeccably traditional craft from teeny calico prints.  Subsequently she started incorporating easel-painted canvas into her quilt constructions.

Other jurors went in different directions.  Michael James, after years of strip-pieced curves, embraced digital photography cranked out on a huge-format printer.  Yvonne Porcella started by making functional kimonos, then went flat (but kept her signature palette, brights with black-and-white).  Jan Myers-Newbury started by hand-dying solid gradations, then discovered arashi shibori and never looked back.

Practically all of the early pieces were hand-quilted, but as the years progress most of them switched to the machine.  Practically all the early ones were carefully pieced or appliqued with no raw edges, no messy craftsmanship of any kind, but as the years progress we see fusing, raw-edge applique, phototransfer, non-cloth materials and any number of experimental techniques emerge (for instance, Tim Harding’s latest work is “quilted” with staples).

For those of us who have been tuned in to the quilts-as-art movement for a long time, the show is a great walk down memory lane.  Fortunately all the pieces in the show still look fine (although Ann Johnston‘s, used on the bed for decades, has faded dramatically into the muted colors of vintage quilts).  For those of us who aren’t that familiar with the olden days of our little niche of the art world, the show will be an eye-opener: how far we’ve come in such a short time.

Unfortunately the catalog doesn’t reproduce the artist notes that appear on the walls of the Dairy Barn.  So, for instance, readers will probably think that Wendy Huhn‘s extravaganza of female fairies perched on irons is about the drudgery of housework, when it’s really about a lethal disease that causes too much iron to build up in one’s blood vessels and joints.  (I know how easy it is to leap to that conclusion, because I eavesdropped on two young guys explaining to one another quite solemnly how women’s work is never done, etc, before one of them thought to read the sign.)

The show remains up at the Dairy Barn through November 22 — see it if you can!

Kathleen Loomis retired from a career in journalism and corporate communication and now makes quilts and other forms of art from her home in Louisville KY.  Her work has been accepted into four Quilt Nationals and won the Quilts Japan Prize in QN ’09. Follow her blog at artwithaneedle.blogspot.com

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Ruth De Vos announces an exhibition in Perth, Australia

Aspects of Kings Park exhibit in Perth, Australia by Ruth De Vos

Ruth De Vos exhibition at Aspects of Kings Park Festival in Perth, Australia

Ruth De Vos is showing a collection of her botanical textile art at the Aspects of Kings Park Festival (Perth, Western Australia) during the month of September. The Festival celebrates the wildflower season and is the perfect excuse for a day out in beautiful Kings Park. Pop in to Aspects, and then enjoy a coffee or lunch next door, after a leisurely walk through the beautiful parklands.
There are a number of larger artworks on display, as well as more than 40 smaller artworks.

De Vos will be in the gallery on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays for the next two weeks (4-6 Sept and 11-13 Sept), between 11am and 3pm, demonstrating the quilt making process.

De Vos was included in Quilt National 2009. To see more of her work go to ruthdevos.com or Online shop

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