SAQA
Studio Art Quilt Associates, Inc.
art quilt collector
Issue No. 6
Museums and art quilts Have you ever wondered whether museum curators and their boards value art quilts? I decided to do some research to answer that question by surveying museums in the U.S. (Going global would have been far beyond my personal resources of time and energy.) In addition, SAQA conducted a survey of its juried artist members, and 110 responded. Not only did their answers report quilts in little-known local museums that I had not considered, but also quilts in a few museums that had already answered me as having no art quilts. When I presented the survey results at a quilt art symposium earlier this year, the audience of collectors, curators, and artists was so involved in the topic that the discussion period following my lecture had to be truncated to have time for the next speaker. It’s obviously a timely topic. Pieces of artwork in numerous museum collections signify widespread acceptance of that medium by curators and board advisors. If you are as curious as I was about whether this stage in the development of art quilts is happening, and not exclusively in quilt museums, take the time to read my article, Contemporary art quilts in U.S. museums. You may be surprised. — Dr. Sandra Sider, Acting Editor
Contents Contemporary art quilts in U.S. museum collections. . . . . . . . . . 8
Studio Art Quilt Associates, Inc. (SAQA) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote the art quilt through education, exhibitions, professional development, documentation, and publications.
The care and display of art quilts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
©2016 Studio Art Quilt Associates, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is strictly prohibited.
International Quilt Festival Collection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Artists to Watch Lenore Crawford . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Denise Labadie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
SAQA Art Quilt Collector is published quarterly by Studio Art Quilt Associates, Inc., a nonprofit educational organization. Publications Office: P.O. Box 141, Hebron, CT 06248. ISSN 2379-9439 (print) ISSN 2379-9455 (online)
Susan Lenz. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Managing Editor: Martha Sielman Designer: Deidre Adams
Laurie Swim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
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Gallery— Wish You Were Here. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 SAQA exhibitions: Turmoil and Tranquility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Collector’s bookshelf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Subscribe online: SAQA.com>Store Cover: Paula Nadelstern, Kaleidoscopic XVI: More Is More 64 x 64 inches, 1996. Collection of the American Folk Art Museum (New York, NY). Photo by Karen Bell. see story p. 8
International Quilt Festival Collection by Sandra Sider
F
or nearly four decades, Karey Bresenhan, president and CEO of Quilts, Inc., and her cousin Nancy O’Bryant Puentes, executive vice president of Quilts, Inc., have been acquiring quilts for their corporate International Quilt Festival Collection. They discovered many of these works in exhibitions at the Houston International Quilt Festival. These two quilt enthusiasts are also co-founders of the Texas Quilt Museum in La Grange, Texas, a non-collecting museum featuring exhibitions from worldwide sources. Of the more than 600 quilts in the IQF Collection, approximately one-third are categorized as art quilts, ranging from 12- by 12-inch works to monumental quilts. Bresenhan asserts that her collector’s eye is inspired by color: “I am personally very affected by color in the quilts we collect: intensity, saturation, contrast, depth, use of color to convey design, etc.” She and O’Bryant Puentes don’t recall making a conscious effort to include art quilts in their rapidly expanding collection of traditional quilts during the early 1980s. O’Bryant Puentes explains, “I don’t think it was a conscious decision, but more a natural progression as we saw more and more wonderful art quilts that appealed to us being made…. That stirred the acquisitive instincts of natural-born collectors!” Artists in the collection include SAQA past presidents, Houston prizewinners, and emerging quilt artists. Bresenhan and O’Bryant Puentes have a knack for supporting young talent, both foreign and domestic, that later make a name in the quilt world. This article showcases a representative sampling from this worldclass collection of contemporary quilt art. The first quilt here is Dianne Miller’s Sconset Girls (1994). Located at the eastern tip of Nantucket Island,
Dianne Miller Sconset Girls 74 x 66 inches
Sconset Beach epitomizes the freedom of open sea, clean air, and pristine beaches. With a beautifully muted backdrop of sky, sea, and sand, the artist has captured a happy moment in the lives of these three young women, symbolized by the bright, jaunty scarf that flutters among them. This quilt was the Massachusetts state prizewinner in the 1994 Lands’ End All-American Quilt Contest. SAQA Art Quilt Collector | 3
Yvonne Porcella Heavenly Days in Angels Camp 46 x 60 inches
Linda Levin Central Park West II 61 x 50 inches
Angels Camp is an old gold rush town in the California mountains. In her Neo-Pop Art quilt, Heavenly Days in Angels Camp (1995), Yvonne Porcella (d. 2016) imagined a narrative in which several of her iconic images sprouted wings and played at being angels—the dog, frog, rose, Sunbonnet Sue— appliquéd over her complex geometric background. Checkerboard patterning in various sizes was Porcella’s signature motif for many years, with the stark graphics of black and white usually commanding the surface, as we see here. This work was the first studio quilt commissioned for the International Quilt Festival Collection. Much of Linda Levin’s recent work has been based on twisted, tilted grids of hand-dyed fabric. Central Park West II (2007) resonates with the urban landscape along the west side of New York’s Central Park. This artist gives us an idea of the dizzying buildings that dominate the park’s border, fashioning them in a Cubist style so that they faintly resemble trees inside the park. The liminal zone between park and architecture is here expressed as a memory of trees impressed upon the buildings, with Levin using color and con4 | SAQA Art Quilt Collector
trast in a “push/pull” manner to create an impressive sense of depth. Judith Content, a past president of SAQA, is known worldwide for her expertise in the arashi shibori hand-dyeing technique. As in Linda Levin’s quilt, Content’s Precipice (2007), evokes a sense of place, an imaginary cliff dropping off into the fog near San Francisco. Using discharge on black fabric as well as hand dyeing, Content pieced and appliquéd abstract scenery rich in saturated color, with vertical panels of varying width producing a stately rhythm across the surface. (Her quilt is pictured in “Photo Finish” on the back cover.) In addition to having exhibited her work in all the major quilt art competitions, Judith Larzelere was the 2006 winner in the category “Fiber: Pieced/Quilted,” awarded by Niche Magazine. She works in strip piecing, using purchased hand-dyed fabric, then stitches her quilts by machine. Her Veiled Color: Darks (1986) produces double rhythms between its undulating background and the staccato vertical and diagonal movement in the thin strips.
Ita Ziv A Delicate Weave
Born in Poland and raised in Israel, where she lived until her death in 2015, Ita Ziv is one of the international artists in this collection. Full of exuberant color yet delicate texture, A Delicate Weave (2003) emphasizes the physical structure of its quilted surface. Ziv stated that for her, “making a quilt is a celebration,” and playfulness was an important aspect of her quilts throughout the artist’s career. Several quilts in the collection have themes pertaining to nature and natural forces, including Dream of Autumn (2002) by Ricky Tims. The sinuous design we see here was drawn to scale onto freezer paper and then pieced. This quilt illustrates how brilliantly variegated hues in hand-dyed fabric can be used to develop dramatic movement around the surface. The quilt’s design, resembling antique medallion quilts, increases its visual excitement with the addition of black sawtooth motifs in the triple borders and trapunto in the appliquéd elements.
51 x 51 inches
Judith Larzelere Veiled Color: Darks 55 x 53 inches
Ricky Tims Dream of Autumn 84 x 84 inches SAQA Art Quilt Collector | 5
Hand-dyed and painted, with all the curves machine pieced, Aquarium #1: Fish Tails (2001) is one of Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry’s enlarged semi-abstract studies of natural forms, such as feathers and plants. She intertwines organic shapes, changing tonal values in the colors to bring bright elements forward and pull darker motifs into the background. The artist’s rhythmic repetition of dense shapes helps the viewer’s eye explore her composition. Cynthia St. Charles, a fourth-generation native of Montana, grew up on a ranch surrounded by domestic horses. Observing a herd of wild horses thundering across the open range, she associated the sound of their hooves with actual thunder and was inspired to create this quilt depicting ethereal horses running through misty clouds. The artist produced her background via resist and hand-painting, then used materials of different densities for the appliquéd horses, so that some of them appear to be in the foreground,
Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry Aquarium #1: Fish Tails 60 x 44 inches
Cynthia St. Charles Thunder 51 x 82 inches
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some in the middle ground, and a few in the background—as they would be seen in an actual herd. The lively movement of Thunder (2006) is emphasized by “lightning” of metallic silver braid couched with metallic threads and driving “rain” in the lines of quilting. Quebec artist Helena Scheffer currently handdyes, over-dyes, and paints her fabric, excited by the serendipitous results. Her original color inspiration many years ago was the deeply saturated solids in traditional Amish quilts, and Scheffer considers herself a colorist. She constructed this quilt with Marion Perrault in a collage process by fusing appliquéd fabric. The central panel is an over-dyed vintage damask tablecloth, and other fabrics include vintage silks and men’s shirting. Origins (2006), with its spirals extending into space, symbolizes the potential of all new beginnings. Recent acquisitions in contemporary art include quilts by Betty Busby, Maya Chaimovich, Virginia Greaves, Melody Johnson, Inge Mardal and Steen Hougs, and Scott Murkin. Each year during Festival, Bresenhan and O’Bryant Puentes savor the many works on display, carefully selecting quilts that catch their eyes and their hearts as they continue to build the IQF collection.
Helene Scheffer and Marion Perault Origins 51 x 51 inches
With the founding of the Texas Quilt Museum in 2010, co-directed by the collectors, they decided to begin sharing their corporate collection via traveling exhibitions to benefit the Museum. Curated groups of the traditional quilts as well as studio art quilts are currently available for museum venues. Contact Dr. Sandra Sider: curator@texasquiltmuseum.org.
Virginia Greaves White Raven 32 x 40 inches, 2013
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Contemporary art quilts in U.S. museum collections Is there a trend? by Sandra Sider
W
e can celebrate the fact that United States museums own more than 1800 art quilts. As you might expect, nearly 75 percent of these quilts are owned by nine quilt museums across the country, ranging from more than 400 each at the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, Kentucky, and the International Quilt Study Center and Museum in Lincoln,
Nebraska, to five at the Virginia Quilt Museum in Harrisonburg. Other museums also have art quilt collections, including more than 50 pieces in the American Folk Art Museum (New York City), Illinois State Museum, National September 11 Memorial & Museum (NYC, 80), Montgomery Museum of Fine Art, and the
Faith Ringgold Church Picnic 72 x 72 inches, 1988 Collection of the High Museum of Art (Atlanta, GA), Faith Ringgold Š1988
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Teresa Barkley Sweat of the Sun, Tears of the Moon 64 x 64 inches, 1989 Collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Renwick Gallery (Washington, DC). Photo by Karen Bell
Museum of Arts and Design (NYC, 103); and more than ten each in the Baltimore Museum of Art, Newark Museum, Racine Art Museum, Renwick Gallery (Smithsonian, 35), and the Tennessee State Museum. According to my research, 81 other non-university museums also own art quilts (see full list in sidebar), but most of them have only a few, and some have only a single quilt.
Research project I began this project in an attempt to quantify information about art quilts in non-university museum collections. While I used a few online collections of images to gather information, the vast majority of reports came from museum professionals and artists whom I contacted by email with a questionnaire. Altogether, I gathered collection information for 140 museums in the United States. I hope that this article might prompt research concerning museums outside the United States. My census had a secondary goal — to explore whether the term “art quilt” is recognized nationally as a collecting area. My survey gave no definition of the term, but it certainly succeeded in arousing the curiosity of curators across the country. Quite a few wrote back to ask for a definition or explanation.
Carolyn Mazloomi The Family 55 x 46 inches, 1992 Collection of the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art (Hartford, CT). Photo courtesy of the museum.
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Michael James A Narrative of Space, of Time I also sent a survey to SAQA juried artist members requesting a reporting of their 21st-century art quilts accessioned by museums as separate from earlier quilts. My intention was to determine whether museums have a current interest in the field. I asked for 1970 as the earliest date because I used that date for the museums. While there certainly were art quilts produced earlier than 1970, I was concerned that many museums might be overwhelmed by my request if I failed to give a terminus date. Also, most curators of contemporary art are charged with material produced in the 1970s and later.
What to call the art form Most museums use computerized databases, and registrars and curators find it difficult to acquire property 10 | SAQA Art Quilt Collector
46 x 49.5 inches, 2008 Collection of the Museum of Nebraska Art (Kearney, NE). Photo by Larry Gawel.
that cannot be pigeonholed into their database. If the artist or collector describes artwork as “fabric collage” or “stitched textile” or “manipulated cloth structure,” it may become buried in collections of decorative art or textiles. If the art quilt is mostly painted, it could become subsumed within a large paintings department. You may ask: “Why does that matter? All I care about is that my collection/artwork is in a museum.” It matters because, in general, there is less and less funding in this country for today’s museums to acquire art, and fewer staff members to catalogue it and care for it.
U.S. museums owning contemporary quilt art* Allentown Art Museum (Pennsylvania)
Museum of Geometric and MADI Art (Dallas TX)
American Folk Art Museum (New York, NY)
Museum of Modern Art (New York, NY)
Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center (Alaska)
Museum of Nebraska Art (Kearney)
Art & Cultural Center of Hollywood (Florida)
Museum of the Mississippi Delta (Greenwood)
Bainbridge Island Museum of Art (Washington) Ball State University Museum of Art (Muncie, IN)
Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists (Boston, MA)
Baltimore Museum of Art (Maryland)
Museum of York County (Rock Hill, SC)
Blanden Memorial Art Museum (Fort Dodge, IA)
National Quilt Museum (Paducah, KY)
Boston Children’s Museum (Massachusetts)
National September 11 Memorial Museum (New York, NY)
Brigham City Art and History Museum (Utah)
Newark Museum (New Jersey)
Coral Springs Museum of Art (Florida)
New England Quilt Museum (Lowell, MA)
Currier Museum of Art (Manchester, NH)
Neville Public Museum (Green Bay, WI)
Denver Art Museum (Colorado)
Norton Museum of Art (West Palm Beach, FL)
Fine Arts Museum of the South (Mobile, AL)
Philadelphia Museum of Art (Pennsylvania)
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco: de Young (California)
Phoenix Airport Museum (Arizona)
Fuller Craft Museum (Brockton, MA)
Phoenix Art Museum (Arizona)
High Museum (Atlanta, GA)
Quilters Hall of Fame (Marion, IN)
Holter Museum (Helena, MT)
Racine Art Museum (Wisconsin)
Honolulu Academy of Art (Hawaii)
Renwick Gallery of the National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution (Washington, DC)
Illinois State Museum (Springfield) Indianapolis Museum of Art (Indiana) Institute and Museum of Fantasy and Play (Princeton, NJ) International Quilt Study Center & Museum (Lincoln, NE) La Conner Quilt & Textile Museum (Washington) Lancaster Museum of Art (Pennsylvania) Latimer Quilt & Textile Museum (Tillamook, OR) Maine State Museum (Augusta) Memphis Brooks Museum of Art (Tennessee) Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum (Arizona) Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, NY) Mint Museum of Craft & Design (Charlotte, NC) Missoula Museum of the Arts (Montana) Montana Museum of Art and Culture (Missoula) Montgomery Museum of Fine Art (Alabama) Morris Museum of Arts and Sciences (Morristown, NJ) Museum of Arts and Design (New York, NY) Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago, IL) Museum of Discovery & Science Young at Art Children’s Museum (Davie, FL)
Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum (Golden, CO) Saco Museum (Saco, ME) San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles (California) Scottish Rite Masonic Museum (Lexington, MA) Shelburne Museum (Shelburne, VT) Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska (Lincoln) Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York, NY) State Museum of Pennsylvania (Harrisburg) St. Louis Art Museum (Missouri) Tacoma Art Museum (Washington) Tennessee State Museum (Nashville) Tucson Museum of Art (Arizona) Worcester Art Museum (Massachusetts) Wyoming State Museum (Cheyenne) Virginia Quilt Museum (Harrisonburg, VA) Visions Art Museum (San Diego, CA) Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art (Hartford, CT) Wyoming State Museum (Cheyenne) Zanesville Museum of Art (Zanesville, OH)
Museum of Fine Arts (Boston, MA) Museum of Fine Arts (Houston, TX)
*not including university and library collections
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Judith Content Marisma (Salt Marsh) 60 x 64 inches, 2000 Collection of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (San Francisco, CA). Photo by James Dewrance.
Acquisition committees can be quite demanding, and museums have limited budgets specifically reserved for various mediums. When an artist, collector, or dealer attempts to sell or donate a quilt to a museum, the acquisitions committee usually asks the curator, “How does this work fit into our collection? How would it fit into an exhibition or publication?” That curator needs to be able to come into the acquisitions meeting with solid information about other works in the same medium, and she or he hardly ever has enough time to make an exhaustive foray into the collection. While we might argue that the term “art quilt” is not perfect, I appeal to everyone collecting and creating quilts as contemporary art to consider using “art quilt” as the main descriptive term. Having a standard term will clarify the medium for curators. It is my opinion that we need to have “art quilt” as one of the standard boxes in museum databases. Another troublesome problem for this research is the lack of time that most museum staff members can give themselves to deal with inquiries such as the census I was attempting. Several curators kept writing me, promising to send information, apologizing for not 12 | SAQA Art Quilt Collector
finding a few hours to do the work. They could have done the work in ten minutes if the term “art quilt” were in their databases.
Statistics and trends My survey inquired about quilts owned by museums dated after 2000. The total was nearly 25 percent of all art quilts in my survey—very good news for quilt artists and collectors. Almost all of the museums answering my inquiry are interested in acquiring 21st-century quilt art, with the quilt museums enthusiastically interested. The Virginia Quilt Museum, for example, recently committed to building the art quilt collection and will soon be contacting regional artists to that effect. When I spoke on the phone with the director about this initiative, she explained that they consider their region as extending from the Mid-Atlantic States down into the South. For most museums, an artist or donor must go through a fairly long waiting period while a quilt is considered for possible acquisition by one or more committees. With the Virginia Quilt Museum system, quilts will be pre-selected. If the art-
ist or collector agrees to the terms of acquisition, then the quilt will enter the collection with no delay. What does “the terms of acquisition” mean? You may have to be willing to donate your art. If you are an artist, perhaps a collector who has purchased your work would be willing to donate a piece. A few institutions hesitate to accept donated works directly from the artist, but there is no rule saying that the “collector” cannot be a friend or relative. Quilt museums encourage quilt makers and collectors to offer their work for possible acquisition. Appended to this essay are the names and email addresses of the contact person at each of the nine quilt museums mentioned above as owning art quilts. Most of the art quilts owned by museums were donated. Only ten percent were purchased, and many of these were purchased with special one-time funding from grants or from a private donor. Even some of the most successful quilt artists have been known to donate a quilt when another one is purchased. The annual acquisition budgets of museums comprise a small pie that has to be divided into many pieces, and museums have to focus on the art forms they already own. To my mind, the only way to accomplish a major change in the attitudes of museum curators is to flood them with the possibility of establishing art quilts as an exciting collecting category. If we can manage to get enough of our work into museum collections within the next five years or so, the door could open for significant acquisition funding for our particular niche in the art market. Art quilts are created with high standards of thought and craft. Lena Vigna, Curator of Exhibitions at the Racine Art Museum, certainly would agree: “New iterations of quilts extend a rich and fascinating history of making. Playing with design, composition, and objecthood, contemporary quilts offer new perspectives on a venerable tradition, blending something intimate and familiar with personal vision…. Because quilts have the potential to resonate beyond the wall and to operate metaphorically as well as aesthetically, they offer a dynamic and compelling approach….” (email to the author) Let’s make it easy for more museums to welcome art quilts into their collections, without immediate con-
cern for “market values.” With enough momentum from curators as well as from collectors who donate art quilts to museums, the market eventually could develop itself. I would like to thank all of the SAQA members who filled out the SAQA survey concerning this project. A total of 110 people responded, and that was a huge help. Sandra Sider is curator of the Texas Quilt Museum, a noncollecting institution. She has been a quilt artist since 1975, and her work is owned by four museum collections.
Contacts for quilt museums in the United States International Quilt Study Center & Museum Dr. Carolyn Ducey, Curator cducey1@unl.edu Latimer Quilt & Textile Museum Carol Weber, Board Chair latimertextile@centurylink.net La Conner Quilt & Textile Musuem Kathleen Kok, Curator kathleen@laconnerquilts.org National Quilt Museum Judy Schwender, Curator jschwender@quiltmuseum.org New England Quilt Museum Pam Weeks, Curator curator@nequiltmuseum.org Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum Karen Roxburgh, Executive Director karen_r@rmqm.org San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles Nancy Bavor, Curator nancy@sjquiltmuseum.org Virginia Quilt Museum Gloria Comstock, Curator curator@vaquiltmuseum.org Visions Art Museum Beth Smith, Executive Director beth@visionsartmuseum.org
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The care and display of art quilts by Kate Lenkowsky
C
oncern about the longevity of quilt art is sometimes given as a reason for not collecting it, but this concern is not justified. Museum experience shows that when environmental controls are in place and care is taken with the way quilts are stored, they can last a lifetime and longer. Conservators at The Textile Museum in Washington, DC, and the International Quilt Study Center and Museum (IQSCM) in Lincoln, Nebraska, recommend that the ideal environment for displaying quilts and other textiles provides indirect lighting, a consistent room temperature between 65 and 72 with adequate air circulation, and humidity between 50 and 55%. Seasonal rotation (resting a quilt periodically) helps to protect any type of textile art. While achieving these environmental conditions may not be possible continuously, you can take measures to greatly reduce the risk of damage or deterioration: • Do not mount a quilt above heating vents, radiators, or air conditioners. These locations will expose it to high heat and excessive humidity and make the quilt susceptible to mold and mildew. • Do not expose unframed quilts to kitchen fumes or smoke from any source, including cigarettes. • Keep indoor lighting indirect and do not allow direct sunlight on your quilts. Florescent lights emit ultraviolet rays, and incandescent lamps generate heat in their immediate vicinity, both of which cause damage. Fading caused by ultraviolet rays in natural light can be minimized by covering windows with a transparent, flexible UV filter. Close the curtains or blinds if the room is unused. If the quilt is to be framed, use museum glass or acrylic with
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a UV filter. Remember that the fading and weakening of fibers caused by heat and light may not be evident for many years. Longevity also depends on proper display. When you buy a quilt, ask the artist or gallery for mounting instructions. If the quilt is large, the gallery may provide this service for you. If you purchase directly from the artist, hardware may be included with the sale. Make sure that you understand how to use it for installing. Quilts should be supported across their entire width when installed. Most artists stitch a fabric sleeve (tube) to the top back to hold a rod or slat that is then attached at each end to the wall. D-rings or eye screws can be attached to the rods, or holes drilled through them, to accommodate picture hangers or nails. Slats and rods may be metal, acrylic, or wood. Wood slats should be sealed with polyurethane because the acid in wood discolors fabric. If your quilt comes without a sleeve, you can have one sewn on or do it yourself, leaving ¾ inch at each side so that the hanging device will be invisible. Also, attaching the hanging device so that the back of the quilt does not touch the wall helps prevent damage should the wall become wet. Mount the device on a sealed board attached to the wall or use long screws with a wingnut, creating a space between the quilt and the wall. Frail or light quilts, such as those made with silk panels, also need full support across the top. If a quilt seems to need support to maintain its shape, a strainer — a rectangular wooden frame over which pre-washed fabric has been stretched — could be used. The artwork is stitched invisibly to this fabric in a way that provides balanced support. Framers experienced
[left to right] Most quilt display devices require a wide sleeve or tube sewn to the back of the quilt near the top, leaving a one-inch space between the end
of the sleeve and edge of the quilt. A micro-vacuum like the Miele pictured here is useful for cleaning textiles, with a large piece of nylon screening placed over the surface of the quilt or a piece of cheesecloth fastened over the vacuum nozzle. The wingnut shown here is an easy way to install a quilt so that it hangs slightly away from the wall. The screw extends into the wall while the wing nut creates a space between the wall and the quilt’s hanging rod.
with textiles know how to do this without damaging the textile. Frames are advisable for heavy quilts that are to be displayed for an extended period of time; otherwise, gravity will distort their shape. Frames also provide maximum protection for small works. The quilt is mounted on an archival mat board covered with prewashed cotton or cotton blend, with the quilt stitched invisibly through the fabric. Again, an experienced framer may be required. Spacers placed between the quilt and the glass allow for air circulation and should prevent mold or mildew. If the framer uses museum glass, the viewer can appreciate more of the tactile characteristics of the artwork than is possible with ordinary glass. Anti-reflective museum glass, which includes a strong UV shield, has excellent clarity. While maintaining a suitable environment and displaying quilts properly extends the life of any textile, caring for your quilts begins at the time of purchase. Ask the artist or gallery for instructions and a list of materials and processes used to make the object. This information facilitates professional cleaning or restoration. Wash your hands before handling your quilts. To clean a quilt, remove it from the wall and vacuum both front and back through a length of vinyl or nylon window screen obtained at a hardware store. If you do not have a micro-brush for your vacuum cleaner, use
a rubber band to fasten a piece of cheesecloth over the end of your upholstery brush. Examine the quilt carefully for insects or signs of mold or mildew. If you find this kind of damage, or if the quilt remains soiled after a vacuuming, consult a conservator for an evaluation and advice. Never wash an art quilt or attempt spot cleaning with water or dry cleaning chemicals. Quilts should be stored at the same temperature and humidity described above. If possible, store them flat and layered on a bed in a darkened room, covered with a sheet and then a plastic drop cloth. Use acid-free tissue paper to separate those with embroidery, embellishments, or other surface design elements. If space is limited, quilts can be rolled with tops facing outward, but be sure to wrap the tube with acid-free tissue paper first. Avoid folding and do not allow any contact with raw wood. By exercising good judgment about the care and display of your contemporary quilts, you will not only receive a lifetime of pleasure from them, but also leave a legacy to be enjoyed by others for many years. Kate Lenkowsky is the author of Contemporary Quilt Art: An Introduction and Guide (Indiana University Press, 2008). Earlier versions of this article were published on the website of AmericanStyle magazine and in the SAQA Journal. SAQA Art Quilt Collector | 15
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Emma in the Looking Glass, 53 X 39 inches, 2016
artists to watch
Lenore Crawford Midland, Michigan Lenore Crawford is from the Midwest, but her colorful works depict France and French architecture as someone who has taken the culture into her soul. Here there is a country back road where bicyclists race, there a garden walk. A lake at sunset gives peace. Villages abound. Yet her love for change takes her down new paths. One of her newest pieces, Emma in the
Looking Glass, embraces her love of flower gardens and introduces the aspect of portraiture into her work. Previously working in science, Crawford now has only to walk upstairs to begin her day in her attic studio. There her quilts transport her to a place where beauty reigns.
Inspiration My inspiration comes from the years I spent in France, beginning when I was 16. I love the country’s architecture and gardens. The ancient buildings with their interesting decorative elements lend themselves to this medium. Using fabric to recreate them gives the designs great texture and warmth in a unique way.
Breaking ties that bind My full-time job used to be working at the Dow Chemical Company in the research lab. During that time, I also created fabric art and sold it through my website. My lab partner, who was a woman a year older than me, had had breast cancer. When the cancer returned three years later, we researched clinical trials and other options for treatment. When
one of the tumors wrapped around her heart and she died, I talked to my husband about quitting my job and doing my art full time. It was my passion, and I wasn’t getting any younger. He agreed, and I quit two weeks before 9/11 happened. Not a great time to quit a good-paying job with great benefits! But I was so happy every day. What I’ve learned from being a full-time artist is that you don’t get to do a lot of actual art. The job includes invoicing, teaching, marketing, sales, accounting, etc. I have also learned that I can’t make a full-time living just selling my art. I teach and sell products to supplement my income. My typical day begins on my computer doing all the business stuff — getting out orders, answering email, updating my website, paying bills. Usually by mid- SAQA Art Quilt Collector | 17
afternoon I’m finished with that and can focus on being creative. If I have too many other tasks to do, like getting out large pattern orders, I may never get to the fun. I am currently getting ready to begin a new piece and have to decide what it will be. That can take days or months. Traveling to teach takes a lot of my time, so the days when I’m gone I look forward to returning to the studio to work.
The rhythm of creativity My art quilts are mostly made using the same technique: raw-edged fusing. I developed this process to make going from a photo to an art quilt fairly straightforward. But sometimes a certain area of a piece is a bit of a construction challenge: What to put on top of what? Then it takes time to determine how best to get the look I want. My favorite piece so far is the one I just finished, Emma in the Looking Glass. I don’t normally do people, so that was a challenge. When I was young, I used to do only portraits in acrylics and pen and ink, so I’ve been enjoying doing landscapes for the past few years. For Emma, I created the stones first because I was anxious to see how they would come out using my many Stonehenge prints from Northcott Fabrics. That was fun. Then I worked on the concrete pots. Normally I go from section to section where one butts up to the next. I continued construction that way. I searched for the perfect fleshtone fabrics for
above left: Port of Cassis
48 X 52 inches, 2010 left: Pont en Royans II (Bridge in Royans II)
66 X 54 inches, 2012 18 | SAQA Art Quilt Collector
Emma but couldn’t find any that matched my picture. This section of the quilt was created with fabric paints to get the colors and values I needed, and I changed the colors of her clothes and hat to work with the background. I dyed the fabric for the water and eliminated the trees that were behind her along with their reflections in the water. In my stash I found a beautiful garden fabric that worked perfectly. The big challenge of this piece was the stitching. I hadn’t stitched on images of people, and I was afraid I would ruin the whole piece. My favorite thing about my process is the design stage. Watching a piece grow and seeing my ideas realized is very rewarding. Deciding what to do is the most difficult aspect of a project. Sewing has to be done and so becomes the work part of the project.
New direction, end goal I have been thinking about changing my style of work. I don’t know exactly how yet, but the idea has been swirling around in my head. I love creating architecture in fabric and adding the fine detail with fabric paints to make it more realistic, but I am a person who loves change. After doing the same thing for a long time, I need something different. The world is so full of beauty that I want to capture and share with others. My art is a celebration of the world around me. When an artist isn’t present to interpret his or her artwork, the works should speak for themselves.
above right: Afternoon Delight
34 X 28 inches, 2010 right: Spanish Port Lafranc
52 X 40 inches, 2014 SAQA Art Quilt Collector | 19
artists to watch
Denise Labadie Lafayette, Colorado Denise Labadie takes us on a journey to ancient Ireland with multilayered images that vibrate a timeless energy in her interpretive contemporary art quilts. Spend a few moments with them and you will be tempted to step back in time. The stone circles, portals, forgotten cemeteries, and the landscapes in which they reside are forged mysteries and discoveries. Denise brings these elements together through the approachability of cloth. Her careful composition and her process for creating her works make her an artist to watch.
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Journey’s first step Many years ago, I was inspired to recreate these sites after my husband, Allan, gave me a book entitled A Moment in Ireland. When I first opened it to a photo of the Piper Stones in County Wicklow, chills went through me. I had to see that stone circle in person. I started planning a trip to Ireland shortly thereafter. Knowing that I wanted to start making art quilts, Allan strongly suggested I come back with an idea for a quilt, and that was it: my first Piper Stones-inspired “stone quilt.” I was addicted to the stones, and still am. As I work on my quilts, I feel as though I’m communicating with the stones, or at least their history. My portals, in particular, are designed to make people want to actually go through them, to see what’s on the other side, to revisit times past, to appreciate and remember the people who built the stones, the worshipers and their ceremonies, the generations of families and clans that revered them.
Over the years I have learned a lot about Ireland’s stones — particularly their stories and lore — and I am now reasonably well-informed about my subjects before even beginning a new quilt. Nevertheless, my Irish friends and quilting associates have told me for years that I must have Irish in me (my great-grandmother came from County Donegal), because the stones clearly talk to me and help guide many of my design decisions. When I learn more about them after finishing a quilt, that information typically confirms and reinforces what I already chose theme-wise. I have never been “wrong” about a site. My stones wouldn’t lie to me!
Touring the stones I knew nothing of the megalithic stones until I visited Ireland. I wanted to share my love for them and associated insights. These quilts invoke feelings of belonging and continuance, of permanence, of stability, and of the importance of family and clan. Scores of generations and thousands of years may have passed since the stones were first created, but they are still there, more glorious than ever.
Eightercua Stones 39 x 40 inches, 2009
Uragh Stone Circle 30 x 47 inches, 2015
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Poulnabrone Dolmen 32 x 63 inches, 2008
Poulnabrone Dolmen — creative process My original photos of the dolmen, which I used for initial composition and design, had no shadows due to the cloudy Irish skies on the day they were taken. In this case, the use of deep shadowing — along with making the sky almost indistinguishable from the land — plays a central role in helping create the piece’s overall moodiness (Poulnabrone means “well of the sorrows” in Gaelic). I had taken photographs of the actual dolmen from all angles and was thus able to create a true-to-scale
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3D miniature dolmen clay replica. Photographing the clay model from the same viewing angle as the quilt itself, I used a flashlight to create shadows for the applicable light angles. I selected the best photo of the shadowing, and then I photographed the almost-finished quilt. I composited the two images in Photoshop. Digitally removing the clay model gave me a virtual rendering of my quilt complete with shadows. Using Setacolor paint, I handtransferred the digitally-cast shadow
boundaries onto my quilt. To keep the shadows from becoming too dark, I started with very diluted paint. As the paint dried, I could determine the right shading, repeating the process up to three times to get the correct effect. The quilt is machine pieced, appliquéd, and quilted. All the fabric was hand painted and then stripped in. Additional landscape textures were created with couched-in yarns and flosses. My website, labadiefiberart.com, includes a pictorial summary of my process.
The quilts highlight, and perhaps reflect, emotions and needs our increasingly frenetic lifestyles have diminished or caused us to forget. My quilts make visible universal themes that are often left behind. People seem to react to my quilts on a strongly emotional basis, regardless of their culture or geography. When I see someone stand before my artwork with tears in his or her eyes, or when people travel to Ireland to see the stones after viewing my quilts, I know I have succeeded.
Future challenges Each new piece I work on is a new challenge. I want to continue to document more sites. I can’t get enough of the stones. I was in Ireland again this fall to hunt for more stones and ruins. People are surprised that I am still doing stone quilts after 20 years, yet each one uniquely challenges me with different stories, different landscapes and compositions, different emotions. These quilts also constantly push my limits regarding perspective and shadowing, the two areas that have challenged me the most as an artist since the beginning. I very much doubt that this sense of challenge, and the depth and degree of fulfillment associated with my fiber-based storytelling, is going to diminish. As noted above, my quilts often invoke strong feelings. Several of my quilts have been purchased as meditation tools, as catalysts for healing.
and fabric painting area that allows me this ad hoc freedom to have lots of unfinished tasks going on at the same time. I get distracted easily, and it’s a constant struggle to stay focused. That said, my primary guiding principle is to do my work as a stonemason would, working from the bottom up. This I never compromise on or get distracted from. I think the fact that I build a quilt as a stonemason would build a wall or arch is important. This process highlights my use of appliqué and the need to create many complementary stone pieces (usually fat quarters) of painted fabric. I create colors and textures that best mimic or represent the stones, and I use background material as mortar. All this is central to me as an artist. Each stone, no matter how large or small, is an individual object on its own, contributing to the greater composition.
Personal fulfillment I most enjoy trying to manage the relationships among stones, landscapes, and skies. I also love being able to solve perspective and shadowing problems. Finally, I love using my experience to discover new ways of making my quilts — different appliqué techniques, different uses for yarns and ribbons, and different fabric painting challenges. I also enjoy just working with fabric. I sew on my home machines, a Janome and a Viking, and I love being at my machine doing even the simplest tasks. I have very little organizational structure and am not by nature a strong planner. I tend to jump all over, from task to task, not necessarily fixing the squeaky wheel but focusing on whatever piques my interest at the moment. Luckily, I have a large and flexible studio
St. Kevins Monastery ll 66 x 55 inches, 2007 SAQA Art Quilt Collector | 23
artists to watch
Susan Lenz Columbia, South Carolina Susan Lenz collects discarded items and puts them together, magically it seems, to focus attention on what’s important in life. Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but sometimes we all need a little help to see the viability of society’s remnants. Susan works to articulate the accumulated memory inherent in discarded things. From grave rubbings to discarded thread spools, Susan creates installation pieces and individual works of art that speak in bold terms. Whether making a statement with centuries-old gravestone epitaphs or reusing objects from more modern times, Susan creates artwork at once individual and universal.
A
rtists are required to write many types of statements — for various series of work and for individual pieces, and all sorts of other forms of explanation, documentation, and inspirational messages with word counts from 100 to infinity. I have dozens. One statement, however, seems to address the emotional impetus for my creative endeavors. It comes from hope of a spiritual place on the world’s timeline. That statement is: I am old … middle-aged … past the days of turning heads … past days of fertility … past the days when my art might raise eyebrows in the circles of those looking for tomorrow’s new, great, up-and-coming artist, the
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one who might shake up the world with cutting-edge work. I just work. I ply an age-old needle, pulling timeworn thread through layers of vintage fabric. I work like so many women all over the world from every century since the dawn of time. There’s nothing new about a straight stitch. Repetitive … pierce and pull … hour after hour … day after day … year after year. My sewing machine hums with near-constant activity. My fingers are nimble and quick. Productivity is in my blood. Finished pieces stack up on out-of-the-way shelves, begging to be noticed, ready for the chance to hang on an exhibition wall. I don’t hold my breath. I just work.
These truths are always with me: I am a woman lacking an academic arts education in a male-dominated world bent on high-brow approaches to art-making underscored with critical words written by trained professionals. I am a postmenopausal woman with years of experience and mountains of visual expressions. I work and will continue to work because I have something to say in spite of the many obstacles. I work with the faint hope that “something,” perhaps just one little work of art, might be kept through coming generations, cherished … admired … remembered … regarded as “quality” … something to mark my existence on this planet. I work because … I am not invisible.
Planned presentation I generally work toward an intentional presentation of individual pieces within the context of an installation. In the case of my grave rubbing art quilts, I want viewers to sense the peace and contemplative atmosphere of walking through a cemetery while thinking about their own futures and the time they have left on earth. I have had the good fortune to exhibit Last Words a number of times. In each site-specific installation, I try to invoke thoughts of mortality and remembrance of ancestral loved ones. To do this, I have a series of chiffon banners on which I have free-motion stitched collected epitaphs. These suspended sheers have a ghostly presence around which my Grave Rubbing art quilts hang. Artificial flowers collected from cemetery dumpsters line the walls, adding a touch of the actual ground from a graveyard. Image transfers of angelic sculptures reinforce the effect of walking among tombstones and markers of the dead.
A creative choice
photo by Jeff Amberg
In 2001 I declared I wanted to be “an artist when I grow up.” I was 42 years old and without any academic training or even the first piece of art under my belt. It was, at best, a hare-brained idea that put my
top right: Born an Angel
42 x 26 inches, 2010 right: Our Baby Beloved
34 x 33 inches, 2016 SAQA Art Quilt Collector | 25
entire family’s income at risk. By 2003, I managed to downsize my custom-picture framing business and get a studio. I still hadn’t made much of anything and was relatively sure I had made the biggest mistake of my life. Nonetheless, I went to work ... hating everything I made but still searching. I have no idea why I wanted to work with a threaded needle or why I thought doing so would constitute “art making,” but I kept at it. My journey changed significantly in 2006 through Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way, a 12-step program for overcoming artistic blocks. It wasn’t until 2008 and a six-week art residency at the Robert M. MacNamara Foundation on remote Westport Island in Maine (now no longer offering residencies) that I accidentally fell into quilting. I credit Duncan Slade, the MacNamara Foundation studio manager, and Jeanne Williamson’s book The Uncommon Quilter (which I bought while in Maine) for turning my attention to art quilting. My journey has been on an uphill course since that time.
A day in the life I am still working at Mouse House, Inc., a limited custom picture framing business I own with my husband, Steve Dingman. Mouse House occupies the first
Last Words exhibition Gallery 80808, Columbia, South Carolina, Feb. 2010
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floor of our downtown home/business in Columbia, South Carolina. My typical workday is a juggling act between clients’ demands and my creative process. My day often starts with a sentence to Steve regarding what I hope will be accomplished before bedtime. We work hard to see that it happens regardless of what walks in the front door.
Exhibition opportunities I have primarily used the Internet as a tool for finding exhibition opportunities. Yet, I found SAQA while in line at Jo-Ann Fabrics the day after Black Friday 2009. I am not much of a shopper and don’t have a giant stash of fabric. In fact, I pretty much hate shopping, even at fabric stores. Thus, I had no idea that the day after Black Friday was as much of a madhouse as the actual traditional shopping day. I went on my moped wearing my black leather jacket to buy a bolt of Wonder-Under, and I didn’t have a coupon. A lady I casually knew took pity on me and handed me a coupon. I knew she quilted. I asked if I could join her group. She said, “Susan, we are art quilters. You are too far out there. You probably should join SAQA.” I’d
photo by Jeff Amberg
Today I Walk in the Great Outdoors 28 x 17 inches, 2016
opportunities have occurred and one of the common factors has been exposure via SAQA.
New horizons Lift and Tuck 44 x 20 inches, 2013
never heard of SAQA, but I wrote down the letters and Googled it that night. I shared the website with my husband. We decided that peer review was a good idea, but neither of us could figure out how to apply for PAM (Professional Artist Member, today’s Juried Artist Member) status without first joining. I had no desire to join without peer review. I sent an email and learned there was no other way. My husband and I thought about it for a couple days and decided to go for it. I applied for PAM immediately and was accepted in January 2010. Of course I was glad I did as soon as I saw the additional exhibition opportunities. Since that time, invitational
I am at work on a new exhibition proposal called Anonymous Ancestors and hope to gain exhibition opportunities to share this work. This is only one of my long-term goals. Other goals include becoming self-supportive with my artwork. I am currently represented by the Grovewood Gallery in Asheville, North Carolina, one of the country’s leading fine craft galleries, and elsewhere. Increasing representation, exposure through highend craft shows like the American Craft Council Baltimore and Atlanta shows, as well as this year’s acceptance into the Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show, plus a few more workshop teaching engagements, are guiding me further in this direction. I look to exhibitions in museums, universities, and/or art galleries that include a stipend to cover more than expenses. SAQA Art Quilt Collector | 27
artists to watch
Laurie Swim Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Canada Laurie Swim’s community-based projects not only tell a story, they bring together volunteers whose combined efforts find healing in creativity. The stories are a testament, a public memorial. Her latest collaborative work, Hope and
Survival: The Halifax Explosion Memorial Project, builds on the experience Laurie has had with earlier projects. The quilt marks the path of tragedy and rebuilding in Halifax 100 years after the town experienced the largest manmade explosion prior to Hiroshima.
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Collaboration matters My original intention was to create a connection to a community by creating collaborative public art, but my interest grew over time as I researched subjects that revealed our ephemeral nature. Historical records and oral accounts begin the process of my understanding a situation outside my own experience; then they find their way into my work. People join me on this journey and contribute their ideas, which enhance the work and enrich the final outcome. By sharing this creative experience with volunteers, and eventually the viewing public, I can produce visual art that becomes a powerful vehicle to convey a story and generate awareness for social change. Through these art projects, one can understand the lasting consequences of a tragic incident. Breaking Ground, The Hogg’s Hollow Disaster, 1960 commemorates five men in Toronto, Ontario, who died digging a tunnel under dire circumstances. The accident led to improved safety regulations on construction sites throughout Canada. Family members and rescuers who had never met came forth after 40 years to be part of this work’s process. The same thing happened with Lost at Sea, 1961, created for the millennium in 2000. That piece commemorates 17 men who drowned in a horrific Atlantic storm, leaving behind 16 wives and 65 children in Lockeport, Nova Scotia, my hometown. I was 12 at the time, and many of the children who lost their fathers were my friends and
Breaking Ground, The Hogg’s Hollow Disaster, 1960 7 x 20 feet, 2000
neighbors. The men were the area’s most experienced fishermen; their loss triggered an economic decline.
Catalyst for latest project In the summer of 2000, I traveled by train from Nova Scotia to Toronto, where I was residing. For reading material on the two-day trip, I picked up Janet Kitz’s Shattered City, which began my immersion into the explosion that took place in Halifax on Dec. 6, 1917, when a Norwegian relief ship, the SS Imo, collided with a French munitions ship, the SS Mont Blanc, in Halifax Harbour. Almost 2,000 people were killed and 9,000 were injured, including 200 who were blinded. In the middle of winter, 25,000 souls were left destitute, half the population of Halifax at the time. Conveying this event through art was an irresistible challenge. In the 14 years during which I researched and thought about the Halifax explosion, I took on two
more projects, The Canadian Young Workers’ Memorial, commemorating 100 young workers killed on the job, and the Lunenburg Heritage Story. When it came time to design Hope and Survival: The Halifax Explosion Memorial Project, I knew from the beginning that Braille would be a component. This decision began a collaborative effort with volunteers from around the province. The Scroll of Remembrance, the list of those who perished, was translated into Braille dots and printed on transfer paper. The names were heat transferred to 172 sheets of fabric, each 11 in. x 8.5 inches, stained to reference the shrouds that covered the victims. The sheets were distributed to volunteers to bead the Braille dots, with approximately 400 people participating. Often those who undertook the beading told me it was a meditative process that allowed them to honor and remember the victims.
Lost at Sea, 1961 10 x 10 feet, 2000
Canadian Young Workers Memorial Quilt 9 x15 feet, 2003
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Accompanying this scroll is the center piece, approximately 8 x 10 feet, that I’m creating in my studio in Lunenburg. This piece is primarily in indigo blue with sepia tones and accents of red. The indigo refers to the scars people were left with when a carbon-saturated black oily rain coated them after the blast. I used snow-dyed fabric to symbolize the horrendous snowstorm that followed the day after the explosion, deterring rescue efforts. I depicted scenes using my research, which included oral stories from descendants. I also wrote a story from a child’s perspective based on accounts of the explosion that will be published as a trade book. Some of the images I created for the center piece will also appear in this book. I would like Hope and Survival to tour Canada and the New England states before being permanently
installed in the Halifax Stanfield International Airport in Nova Scotia. Nova Scotia sends a huge Christmas tree to Boston every year, and Boston was the first non-Canadian responder to the disaster, readying a train full of medical supplies, doctors, and nurses within a day. It would be wonderful to share this memorial as a reminder of the human kindness that was shown to Nova Scotia by Boston 100 years ago.
A lifetime as an artist As I grow older, I find I work more slowly but more accurately. I give myself permission to develop the work organically, letting it evolve at its own pace. In working with textiles, I am always discovering innovative new ways to realize a subject.
Eye Snatcher 24 x 16 inches, 2014
Hope and Survival: The Halifax Explosion Memorial Project in progress
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I also have found that good things come to those who wait — if you work persistently while waiting. Longevity in the field contributes to my success with being noticed by collectors. Getting your work in front of the public and consistently building a reputation for yourself as a professional is important. As a full-time artist for more than 40 years, I have found that financial rewards can be feast or famine. I’ve come to realize that no one has complete stability in wealth or health. What I have is work I like to do. There is no retirement age for me. As long as I have my health and aspirations, I will have something rewarding to do. Fortunately, early in my career, my quilt Eve’s Apple was awarded Best in Show in the 1976 Nova Scotia Designer Crafts Council Show. The juror was the renowned Canadian artist, Alex Colville, whom I had long admired as a painter of high realism. Recognition by such an artist gave me the confidence to proceed with the quilt as a fine art form. Eve’s Apple, acquired by the NSDCC Permanent Collection, was my first work shown in public. Moving to Toronto in 1978, I hoped to pursue a career creating large-scale quilted works for corporate spaces. My first opportunity was a 64 x 4-foot commissioned piece, Equinox, for a new bank. Equinox and two other works became part of the Scotiabank Corporate Art Collection. This success gave my work great exposure, and throughout the 1980s I supported myself with commissions while continuing my own personal work. In 1980 I met my future husband Larry Goldstein, who worked in book publishing. During our courtship, he suggested creating a book of my work. The Joy of Quilting was published by Viking Canada in 1984. It was the first book showcasing the work of an individual quilt artist published in Canada. The book established my career as a professional artist. Since then, I have written Quilting, published in 1991, and Rags to Riches, released in 2007. In 2002, the Museum of Arts and Design in New York invited me to contribute a piece to its Six Continents of Quilts exhibition. Emma’s Delight is part of MAD’s collection and is included in a catalog produced for the exhibit.
The artist today Since moving back to Nova Scotia in 2004, I have concentrated on the rugged landscape with references to
It’s No Fish Ye’re Buying 14 x 14 inches, 2007
the culture and its heritage as inspiration. There have been more private collectors interested in recent years. Del Mano Gallery in Los Angeles represented my work from 2007 to 2015. Attending the solo show of my work at Del Mano, Lloyd E. Cotsen, former CEO of Neutrogena, commissioned It’s No Fish Ye’re Buying for his collection, Textile Traces. The Nova Scotia Art Bank acquired a work in 2007. We also made a decision to donate two works to the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia a few years back. They were appraised as part of the process. We have been able to use those appraisals as a basis to price my work. I have received numerous awards and grants throughout my career that add credibility to the work I do. In 2013, I received Nova Scotia’s highest art award, the Portia White Prize for culture and artistic excellence. My husband and I set up our gallery featuring my originals and photographic prints of my images in 2005. Lunenburg is a UNESCO World Heritage site and brings in many visitors from around the world during the summer and fall months.
The future My challenge is to keep working, probably on a smaller scale as I get older. I want to do more drawing and painting, as well. I started out as a painter in art school, so to come full circle in my art career would be satisfying. Just the same, I don’t foresee ever giving up working in textiles. All that texture is just too delicious.
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gallery wish you were here
Teresa Shippy 1967 VW Bus – Front View 20 x 19 inches, 2015 www.teresashippy.com
Kay Liggett Rio Mio 43 x 20 inches, 2015 ridgewaystudios.org
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gallery | raising consciousness
Regula Affolter Golfersynapsen 42 x 27 inches, 2014 www.regaffolter.ch
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gallery | wish you were here
Ellie Kreneck West Toward Home – Where Buffalo Roam 40 x 34 inches, 2015 www.kreneckstudios.com
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gallery | wish you were here
Karin Lusnak Getting THERE From HERE 12 x 55 x 3 inches, 2016 www.karinlusnak.com
Melody Randol Moored 31 x 52 inches, 2016 www.melodyquilts.com
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gallery | wish you were here
Michele O’Neil Kincaid For the Ladies 45 x 72 inches, 2015 www.fiberartdesigns.com
Linda Gass Cooley Landing: Life in Water 19 x 19 inches,2015 www.lindagass.com
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gallery | wish you were here
Betty Ann Hahn Safe Harbor 47 x 48 inches, 2014 www.bettyhahnfiberart.blogspot.com
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Tranquility Artists throughout the ages have perceived the environment around them as both inspiration to act and as raw material to mold and remold. Selected for excellence in design, craftsmanship, and use of material, the 50 artists featured in Tranquility and Turmoil are attempting to make sense of their physical, as well as social and cultural environments, by creating art that shares narrative stories of time, absence, location, and representation. The exhibition concept for Tranquility charged SAQA member artists with creating thought-provoking artworks that set a serene mood. Chosen works demonstrate a quality or state of being highlighting notions of quiet, peacefulness, and mindful practice — a stillness that leads to the path of personal enlightenment. — Kate Lydon, juror
Aileyn Renli Ecob Succulents 41 x 24 inches, 2015
Maya Chaimovich A Window Into Spaces 51 x 39 inches, 2015
Erika Carter Ponderings IV 38 | SAQA Art Quilt Collector
42 x 39 inches. 2015
Frances Holliday Alford Flowers of the Vine 48 x 40 inches, 2000
Kathy York The Deep End 60 x 24 inches, 2014
Jette Clover River View 37 x 32 inches, 2009 SAQA Art Quilt Collector | 39
Turmoil Harmonizing the aspiration to solitude with the interplay and influences of chaos, discord, imbalance, and tumult, Turmoil features art quilts that depict personal interpretations of confusion and uncertainty, bitterness, anger, or the chaos of an over-scheduled life. Representing themes of aging, displacement, and the power of nature, selected artists share expressive works that speak to memories robbed by disease, dysfunction, and grief; witness displaced people, borders crossed, obstacles faced, and disempowerment through war and unrest. These quilts sensitively address the delicate relationship between humanity and nature that seems lost to our fast-paced culture facing unsettling issues of global warming and environmental destruction. — Kate Lydon, juror
Deborah L. Runnels Ukiyo — The Sadness of Life 43 x 32 inches, 2016
Sandra L. Branjord Breathing On Your Own … #5, Roses for Sandy series 46 x 33 inches, 2016
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Jeanne Marklin Marklin Nebula 34 x 35 inches, 2016
Sandy Gregg Crossings I 40 x 31 inches, 2016
Holly S. Altman The Flames They Left Behind 39 x 27 inches, 2016
Vicki Conley Flying Geese 30 x 40 inches, 2016
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t h e co l l e ctor ’s b o o k s h e lf Contemporary Quilt Art: An Introduction and Guide by Kate Lenkowsky Indiana University Press, 2008 978-0253351241
Reviewed by Deidre Adams
First published in 2008, Contemporary Quilt Art is a classic that deserves a place on every art quilt collector’s bookshelf. Beautifully designed and lavishly illustrated with large full-color photographs, the book is a visual feast and an important reference to some of the most important work being done at the time as well as historically. Lenkowsky’s long-time interest in quilts and other textiles began when she
Inc. Associates,
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Portfolio
Quilt Studio Art
sourcebook The art quilt
was at home with her young children in the early ’90s. Recognition for her work soon followed, and in 2004, she was invited by Indiana University Press to submit a book proposal. Her proposal was accepted and the book published, and it received Foreword Magazine’s Gold Award in the Art Category of the 2008 Book of the Year Awards. The book begins with an introduction explaining why some artists choose to work with cloth and quilts. Lenkowsky says, “Cloth has an ancient and intimate association with humans, with their needs and their activities. In the artist’s hands cloth becomes a metaphor for human touch, memory, time, or family; for warmth, passion, the bed.” The artists portrayed in the book
Be inspired. Be motivated. Be prepared to be captivated. This beautiful full-color volume is available now. Go to saqa.com to order Portfolio 23, the art quilt sourcebook. 92
Portfolio 23 | Studio Art Quilt Associates, Inc.
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Portfolio 23 | Studio Art Quilt Associates, Inc.
Betty Ann Hahn
Cherrie Hampton Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA 405-826-5892 | Cherrie.Hampton@gmail.com | www.windsongquilts.blogspot.com
photo by Water 4
Sun City, Arizona, USA 623-972-2329 | bghahn49@aol.com | www.bettyhahnfiberart.blogspot.com
Safe Harbor 47 x 48 inches (119 x 122 cm) | 2014
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Woman at the Well 27 x 26 inches (69 x 66 cm) | 2015
have chosen the quilt as their medium because its physical structure — layers, seams and stitching, texture, color, and dimension — coincides with their interests and intention. Part One of the book provides a brief overview of the history of art quilting, beginning with its roots in traditional quilting and the most common working methods: whole-cloth, appliqué, and piecing. The art form has endured in no small part due to the ease with which it can be pursued — requiring the simplest of materials and tools, it can easily be done in the home by just about anyone. The story continues with the ebb and flow of quilting’s popularity over the years, as well as how it has been influenced by various art movements from the 1800s and onward. In the 1970s, quilting experienced a
newfound resurgence and for the first time began to be taken seriously as an art form in its own right. Part Two focuses on individual artists including Liz Axford, Pauline Burbidge, Elizabeth Busch, Dorothy Caldwell, Nancy Crow, Nancy Erickson, Michael James, Jan MyersNewbury, Risë Nagin, Joan Schulze, and others. Each artist is given an in-depth essay including biographical information and notes on process and concept. Each includes several beautifully reproduced photographs of the artist’s work. Part Three of of the book is titled “A Guide for Buyers and Collectors.” This section is an invaluable nutsand-bolts resource for anyone interested in collecting and caring for art quilts. Topics include appraisals
and insurance, working with art consultants, commissioning a new work, notes from and about other collectors, and educational resources. There are detailed, bulleted lists of suggestions for buyers in general and beginning collectors in particular. The chapter on displaying, caring for, and storing quilts includes a comprehensive discussion of how to hang a quilt, including an illustrated description of using Velcro with a wooden slat as recommended by the chief conservator of The Textile Museum in Washington, D.C. The book concludes with a glossary and extensive listing of resources. A well-integrated combination of history, inspiration, and technical resource, Contemporary Quilt Art still stands as an important addition to a collector’s library.
For nearly twenty years, members and officers of SAQA have encouraged my critical writing as well as my art. Without their support and positive criticism, I would never have found my way as a quilt artist and curator. SAQA has greatly enriched my life, and including our organization in my will makes me very happy — a little bit of me reaching into the future, contributing to SAQA’s exciting initiatives after I’m gone. — Sandra Sider Past President, Legacy Circle founder
Is SAQA in YOUR will? SAQA Art Quilt Collector | 43
Photo Finish
Judith Content Precipice 70 x 66 inches International Quilt Festival Collection
