Michael James’ quilts explore changes in “every aspect of daily life” by L. Kent Wolgamott | Lincoln Journal Star Reprinted with permission from the Lincoln Journal Star. First published June 6, 2015.
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ourteen quilts hang in the center gallery at the International Quilt Study Center & Museum, powerful abstract pieces that evoke nature and movement, rigidity and order, and introspection and reflection. They come from Michael James, the internationally exhibited and collected studio quiltmaker, who, since 2000, has called Lincoln home. The exhibition is titled Ambiguity & Enigma, a perfect description of James’ digitally printed quilts that can combine realism — images of flying cranes, leaves, and Nebraska skies — with reedlike black marks, dots and ovals,
Ambiguity & Enigma: Recent Quilts by Michael James on display at the International Quilt Study Center & Museum at Quilt House in Lincoln, Nebraska. ©Michael James Photo by Larry Gawel
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and large color passages, all in rectangular panels arranged into complex, yet coherent quilts. Because of the long-term scheduling required for major exhibitions, the show’s title was chosen in 2013, shortly after James began making the quilts. If it had been named a year later, James said he would have called the show “Every Aspect of Daily Life.” That is because the quilts reflect the last five years in the lives of James and his wife, Judy, who has Alzheimer’s disease, which, as the unused title states, impacts every part of their lives every day.
