committee
Linda Stern
NJ + NY REGIONAL REPRESENTATIVE
Jean McCreary & Jo Thomas
byCONTRAST EXHIBIT COORDINATORS
Cynthia Busic-Snyder
byCONTRAST DESIGN & PRODUCTION
Cathy Miranker
byCONTRAST EDITING & PROOFING
From Our JUror
I THOROUGHLY ENJOYED JURYING the SAQA regional New Jersey + New York exhibition by CONTRAST. The submitted works evidenced a broad array of conceptual interpretations, techniques, and aesthetic results. It was a challenge to narrow down numbers for an exhibition when faced with so many compelling entries but a challenge marked by constant visual pleasure.
To begin, I evaluated works according to three main characteristics. First, I looked for visual appeal. I took note of graphic qualities such as color, form, and line as well as surface texture and stitch. Second, but of equal importance, was the strength of the applicants’ relationship to the theme of byCONTRAST and their piece’s underlying concept. The artists’ statements provided a window into individual interpretation and allowed me to hear unique voices. Third, I considered whether I was drawn into deeper engagement with the work. Did I feel a desire to observe more closely, were my emotions evoked, was I trying to figure out how the artist created the work? In addition to these three categories of evaluation, I added positive notes when I could decipher how makers used interesting and/or challenging methods of patchworking, embroidery, applying color, and creating pattern on cloth. With several works, I noted and appreciated makers’ social-justice messages as an expression of care for others and the world around us. Overall, artistic talent, personal expression, and skilled craftsmanship rang out loud and clear.
As is true for all jurors, I called upon both objective and subjective responses to select this exhibition. As an artist, I apply and am judged by jurors and receive acceptances and rejections of my work. To those I did not choose, please know I thought your work was beautiful and skilled, just not specifically appropriate for this exhibition. I hope you will continue to put yourself out there so your work can be seen and appreciated. To those whose pieces I selected, congratulations on being included in byCONTRAST enjoy your success and keep up the good work!
– Merill Comeau merillcomeau.com
View Arts Center
Sept 30–Nov 25, 2023
Opening Reception Oct 6 5–7 p.m.
Opening Reception April 5 5–7 p.m.
Broome County Arts Council
April 2–April 27, 2024
Opening Reception April 5 5–7 p.m.
Bethany Arts Community
July 12–August 4, 2024
Opening Reception July 12 6–8 p.m.
CONTRAST IS A POWERFUL TOOL used by artists to enhance the visual impact and overall quality of a work. By juxtaposing elements of obvious difference or concepts of striking dissimilarity, contrast creates visual interest, drama, emphasis, and adds depth to a composition. Contrast makes the artwork more captivating and engaging to the viewer.
byCONTRAST is the first exhibition for SAQA NJ+NY.
It was juried by mixed-media artist, Merill Comeau (merillcomeau.com), and features quilts created by 33 textile artists. It will be on display at three New York venues.
Works by Selected Artists
Anthony Bowman
Communities of Pride NYC (detail)
Technique: Machine pieced and quilted. The pride flag is composed of overlapping geese, my original modern traditionalist design that riffs on traditional geese, herringbone, and chevron patterns.
Materials: Front is cotton hand-printed by the artist. Back is commercial cotton. Batting is bamboo.
COMMUNITIES OF PRIDE NYC is part of an art and quilt pattern series that combines two symbols of community—a pride flag and a map. The pride flag in this design adds additional colors to the traditional rainbow flag to bring symbolic representation to those who identify as people of color and/or transgender.
Early lesbian and gay advocacy was led primarily by white, middle-class individuals, and was built on assimilationist politics requiring conformity to genderappropriate characteristics and roles to gain societal acceptance. This more inclusive pride flag serves as the earth under the city, and the quilted lines that create the rivers and mimic the city’s streets have been sewn into this foundation. The island of Manhattan is the focal point and the location of the Stonewall Riots that ushered in a new era of activism that has become more and more inclusive in recent decades. Together, these two symbols ask us to imagine what it would be like to live in a community where everyone is full of pride for all their LGBTQIA+ neighbors, a notion that is in stark contrast to reality.
Brooklyn, NY anthonyquilts.com
“When overlaid together, a community’s map and the pride flag posit what it means to live in a community where everyone is full of pride for their LGBTQIA+ neighbors.”
–Anthony Bowman
Alice Brody
Technique: Machine pieced, stationary machine quilted.
Materials: Cotton batiks, vintage Yukata cottons, cotton batting.
THE TERM CONTRAST evokes a diversity of ideas for me. In working on this piece, I explored contrast of size, color, intensity, and arrangement. Thanks to Swiss artist Paul Klee for my inspiration when seeing his exploration of similar ideas in his painting, Flowering. The shift from smaller black and white rectilinear shapes to larger, darker shapes evokes growth. The contrast in size, value, and color creates an illusion of expansion.
New York, NY
“There is no such thing as abstract art, or else all art is abstract which amounts to the same thing. Abstract art no more exists than does curved art yellow art or green art.”
–Jean Dubuffet
Homage to Paul Klee
39 inches x
Homage to Paul Klee (detail)
Cynthia Busic-Snyder
Inside Complements Outside (detail)
Techniques: Machine piecing, machine quilting, hand quilting, hand appliqué.
Materials: Cotton fabric hand-dyed by the artist, cotton fabric hand-painted by the artist, cotton, polyester, and mylar thread, wool blend batting.
CONTRAST IS THE DEGREE to which elements vary from surrounding stimuli. Increasing contrast allows us to identify and distinguish between stimuli—opposites attract attention and permit comprehension. The use of complementary hues (red-green, blue-orange, and yellow-purple) results in a whimsical and bold yet harmonious composition.
I selected an academic approach to the theme: the contrast principle. This phenomenon results in our perception of a greater difference between subjects than may actually exist.
In the best-known version of the Ebbinghaus Illusion (an illusory contrast of size perception), two circles of identical size are placed near each other where one is surrounded by large circles and the second is surrounded by small circles; the first central circle then appears smaller than the second central circle. In my configuration, the flowers represent the circles in the Ebbinghaus Illusion. All of the flower petals are the same red color and shape, surrounding purple flower centers of the same color, size and shape. Because of the size and distance of the petals relative to the purple centers, viewers perceive the purple circular pistils as different sizes.
Morrisville, NY
“Art does not reflect what is seen, rather it makes the hidden visible.”
–Paul Klee
Nike Cutsumpas
Exurb (detail)
Techniques: Collage, hand stitching, machine stitching, couching.
Materials: Commercial fabric, parchment paper, cording thread, embroidery floss.
OUR WORLD IS FULL of contrasts.
There is a sense of anonymity and isolation within an urban landscape.
The aura of tranquility and familiarity in a suburb offers a feeling of comfort and warmth.
As an artist I have described these dissimilarities through creative fabrication to demonstrate the world we live in.
Danbury, CT
“You cannot use up creativity. The more you use the more you have.”
–Maya Angelou
Photography by Still River Editions
Barbara Danzi
(detail)
Technique: Machine piecing, machine quilting, improvisational design.
Materials: Cotton fabric, cotton batting, cotton thread.
Santa Monica, CA
barbaradanzi.com
INSPIRED BY RIVERS and shifting tectonic plates, I wanted to piece really deep curves in one piece. The dark and light backgrounds add meaning and depth and an extra challenge keeping the straight line straight while piecing such deep curves.
I love orange in quilts and added two different types of rifts in bright orange—a smooth curvy subtle rift. And a super sharp very pointy rift.
There is an environmental message here. With fracking and human-caused climate change, the Earth is reacting.
The quilt is entirely pieced—there is no appliqué. I quilted it free motion to emphasize the curves and points.
NJ+NY Regional Exhibit
Joan Diamond
Maplewood, NJ
joandiamond.art
Possibilities (detail)
Technique: Bojagi, originally, was used to create wrapping cloths for items of preciousness. Expanding upon this, the technique captures both the novel experience of a traveler as well as the weight of history.
POSSIBILITIES IS A PIECE THAT SPEAKS to big and complex ideas, yet “by contrast” is rendered with the utmost simplicity of near monotonality.
This piece was inspired by a trip to Morocco. Bojagi technique renders finished seams on back and front. These seams, with the shadows that they cast, blend into a kind of network. When the piece sways in a breeze the quivering roadmap patterns of cloth and shadow feel appropriate to convey a sense of shifting possibilities when visiting a place for the first time.
While visiting Morocco, I learned about the concept of “bare requirements” necessary to build community. These basics are: a community fountain, oven, bath, madrassa (school), and mosque. They are represented by the five more opaque areas. The dominant hue is a nod to the magical light I experienced there. The black and white lintel and doorway “border,” sourced to an aged tiled frame on a crumbling building discovered on my last day, alongside the absolute past, present, and future constancy of the amazing near-white light, become a kind of portal to eons of time ago when the great medinas of Fez and Marrakech evolved.
Materials: Commercial organza was chosen for its sheen, in mimicry of the magical light I experienced in Morocco. Netting with its openness is metaphor for exchange. Opacity in materials is for (conceptual) stability. Possibilities 48
Photography by Jean Vong
Gabriele DiTota
Comparatively (detail)
Technique: Itajime shibori, Nui shibori, raw edge appliqué, free motion quilting.
Materials: Hand-dyed and overdyed fabric, fiber reactive dye, commercial cotton, yarn, cotton thread.
THE WONDER AND SURPRISE of manipulating and dyeing fabric never grows old. The yellow fabric against the complementary purple fabric delivers maximum contrast. The squared and linear design of the purple stands in sharp contrast to the curves. The yellow suns are representative of our rising temperatures as the world gets comparatively warmer. When will we awaken to the need to mitigate our actions to aide our planet?
Melbourne, FL
NJ+NY Regional Exhibit
Eileen Donovan
Changing Climate (detail)
Technique: Black lines drawn in Procreate, digitally printed on cotton, hand-colored using procion dyes, hand and machine stitched.
Materials: Cotton fabric, procion dyes, cotton floss, cotton quilting thread and commercial stamp.
THIS PIECE WAS CREATED to show the contrast that climate change is making on our planet, in this case our water. I chose black and white to show the starkness of this change. The blue of the sky and water contrast sharply with the earth’s color.
I watch the world around me. Sometimes nature and humanity are spectacular or sometimes solitary and quiet. I try to convey the sentiments and feelings that nature and humanity evoke in me through my photography and art quilts. To me, my art is a mirror of my feelings, my understanding of a subject, and it is this blend that inspires me and the materials and techniques I use. Photographs printed on fabric, dyes and paints are some of the techniques used to create my images.
Queensbury, NY
eileen-donovan.com
Tamar Drucker
Ossining, NY tamardrucker.com
Drift (detail)
Technique: English paper piecing, raw edge appliqué collage, free motion quilting, hand quilting.
Materials: Cotton fabrics, cotton and polyester threads, cotton batting.
THE VIEW FROM MY WINDOW brings peace as I watch a snowy landscape at dusk. It is winter. Light is vanishing. Soon it will be dark and cold outside. Yet indoors I am warm and surrounded by light.
I thought about how to use contrast to tell a story. Snowflakes in nature are unique, complex, six-sided forms. In this piece, snow is an abstraction of simple hexagons I stitched together using English paper-piecing while the rest of the piece is collaged in artful raw edge appliqué.
Color emphasizes temperature and sense of place: beyond the warm golden yellows of the interior are shades of cool whites and grays in the distance. Bright snow against the dark red barn creates a focal point. As the piece was constructed I noticed the difference between quiet hand work and the noisy machine work: a distinction between random, uneven lines and controlled, straight lines; the intentional softness and unintentional stiffness as I forgot to remove some hexagon inside papers.
I hope the viewer is reminded of simple pleasures and feels the tanquility I hoped to represent with intentional use of contrast.
“Art should be something that liberates your
–Keith Haring
40 inches x 59 inches
Sue Erdreich
The City Never Sleeps (detail)
Technique: Machine piecing, machine quilting.
Materials: Cotton batiks and hand-dyes, cotton thread.
This quilt is a study in color and value, and how they can be used for graphic impact. The contrast is meant to evoke the feeling of a city where night and day are interchangeable. Having lived in a city while working nights, I was always surprised and delighted by the amount of activity going on in the wee hours.
My penchant for using a multitude of tiny fabric pieces in my quilts is evident here, and effectively represents city lights. The continuous spiral quilting further conveys the idea of ceaseless activity in the city.
Berkeley Heights, NJ
quiltcrochetcolor.com
Kathleen Mary Garrant
Rochester, NY quiltcrochetcolor.com
Empty Bowls (detail)
Technique: Hand and machine stitching of fabric. Print on cotton fabric of a drawing of face, tears, and written words. Hand embroidery and stitching of all buttons.
Materials: Variety of fabric with subtle colors to create a sullen mood used in borders and binding to assemble bowls on fabrics received.
HARD TRUTH. In this land of abundance, 34 million Americans including 9 million children experience hunger each day. Like fresh air and clean water, access to food is a basic human right. Yet … teardrops of struggle, to find nourishment, drip into Empty Bowls. Uncertainty, chaos, and confusion can surface when hunger blocks decisions as to how or if bowls will be filled for individuals and families.
I believe that ART can change the world by raising awareness and there is power in numbers. I reached out to people who shared my passion about the injustice of hunger, asking them to create an empty bowl on a piece of fabric. These swatches received became the building blocks of my quilt.
Empty Bowls sends one message through many voices. The abstracted face with tears and text provides visual elements of unmistakable suffering. Colorful and quaint, the bowls delineate a bitter irony to the injustice they suggest. The quilt’s asymmetry and irregular shape evoke a sense of stigma, difference, shame, and uncertainty.
My hope is that awareness of hunger in our country will be raised so we can change the future for anyone challenged by food insecurity.
Denise Giardullo
Early Spring Rain (detail)
Technique: Machine pieced, machine appliqué, hand embroidery, domestic machine quilting.
Materials: Commercial fabrics, bias seam binding tape, embroidery thread, buttons, ribbons.
IN RESPONSE TO THIS CHALLENGE , I decided to explore my impressions of walking in the rain. As I walked one day in early spring, I became intrigued by the bright, yellow green of new leaves and grasses, starkly contrasting with the dark, rain-drenched branches of the trees, as well as upon the surrounding pavements and buildings. Improvisationally piecing my bright yellow-green fabric with the black and grey fabrics from my collection enabled me to discover my subject. Beading, buttons, ribbons, and hand-embroidery, as well as the grey circles and striped, black fabric, helped me to depict the rain. The tension and contrast between the dark and the light fabrics answer the call—byCONTRAST.
Stone Ridge, NY denisegiardullo.com
“Who shall hear of us in the time to come?
Let him say there was a burst of fragrance from black branches.”
–from Love Song by William Carlos Williams
Spring Rain
inches x 31 inches
Judith Gignesi
Chaos (detail)
Technique: Using my design wall, I used many shapes of black and greys. I used a ¾-inch strip of bright yellow. I spent lots of time placing the different shapes, framing in the yellow. Quilted chaos.
AS I WATCH THE DAILY NEWS, so much of it is so depressing. Constant worry about our country. Constant worry about the violence across the world. And the bickering everywhere, on and on. Doom and gloom.
But sometimes there is a sunny day. A ray of sunshine, and I have hope. Chaos, but hope …
Together we can share hope. More hope means more light and less darkness.
Katonah, NY
NJ+NY Regional Exhibit
Materials: Commercial black and grey fabrics, yellow fabric, overall quilting.
“Life is a Journey.”
–Ralph Waldo Emerson
Robin Cowie Green
Fret (detail)
Technique: Fret was machine-sewn using a combination of improvisational and template piecing; it was then basted and quilted by hand, in a loose-grid pattern.
Materials: Cotton fabric, batting and thread.
FRET DEVELOPED OUT OF MY Stripe Construction series, in which I typically begin with striped bands or blocks and then connect them in various ways. The resulting works have a dynamic quality and remain staunchly legible—a viewer can rebuild the work by careful looking, see how it came together. In Fret, I dropped the originating stripes and only pieced the connections. A strong contrast between light and dark establishes a kind of lattice or screen, but any illusion of depth is minimized by the shared tones and the all-over quilting grid. The piece retains the rhythmic, striped logic that was the source of its construction, but that logic is a bit more hidden here.
Hamden, CT
robingreenstudio.com
“ ‘Things’ in themselves are only events that for a while are monotonous.”
–Carlo Rovelli
Robin Cowie Green
Primary Support (detail)
Technique: Primary Support was improvisationally pieced by machine, then basted and quilted by hand. Wood slats were cut to size, painted to match the fabric, and prepped with hanging mechanisms/sleeves.
Materials: Cotton fabric, batting and thread; wood slats, acrylic paint.
QUILTS ARE THE ARENA in which I build relationships. My quilts are two-dimensional sculptures, rather than images. They are constructions informed by action, not design: scaffolding, stacking, bridging, branching … I am interested in inadvertent structures forms which arise due to practical considerations or physical limitations. Inspiration strikes in both natural and constructed environments branches that bend in unexpected ways beside a stream, stacks of pallets or logs in industrial landscapes.
In my Stripe Construction series, I work improvisationally, building a quilt that balances repeated forms with offset rhythms. This organic growth—like the stripe itself—can go on indefinitely. Primary Support plays on the extension of the stripe’s boundaries beyond those of the quilt by incorporating the hanging bars into the artwork. The quilt’s pieced stripes are also in conversation with the printed stripes of the fabrics.
Hamden, CT
robingreenstudio.com
45¾ inches x 45 inches
Laurel Izard
Points Were Made (detail)
Technique: Hand-printed and discharged cotton fabric using screen-printed thickened dye paste and discharge paste. The fabrics are intuitively machine pieced and quilted.
Materials: Thickened Procion dyes, discharge paste, muslin, Kona cotton fabrics, cotton batting and backing fabric, cotton machine quilting thread.
THE TITLE , Several Points Were Made, is a reference to the arrowlike elements pointing in multiple directions in this quilt and a playful allusion to the idea of being “on point” in traditional quilts. Admittedly, this intuitively pieced quilt is far from being a traditionally styled one and could be considered a contrast to pieced quilts. The colors, values, and patterns are a wild ride into the design possibilities of these elements. The discharged black fabric provides a dramatic value contrast to the brightly colored shapes and drawn elements in my dyeprinted fabric.
While I tend to work on narrative and figurative compositions, working abstractly offers possibilities to take a deep dive into my use of color, texture, shape, and value. Creating intuitively pieced quilts made from my own fabrics is an expression of freedom, passion, and the excitement I feel finding recombining a limited number of hand-printed fabrics into a cohesive narrative. The versatility of printing and painting with thickened dyes is so much fun it could be an end in itself. I love experimenting while printing with thickened dye paste and playing with screen-printing and stenciling techniques. If printing fabric doesn’t have enough happening, then I can try removing dye with discharge paste for new results.
Photography by John Spomer
Christine Janove
Perseverance: Muddling Through (detail)
Technique: Machine pieced, appliqué, machine quilted.
Materials: Hand-dyed and batik fabrics, all cotton.
PERSEVERANCE WAS NEEDED throughout the pandemic, so that we might come together after being apart. Although the gray of misinformation and the darkness of death surrounded the globe, a hopeful, colorful world seems possible once again as we connect in person. Muddling through is sometimes the way to emerge from personal problems, creative dilemmas, and individual crises. This piece pays homage to both large world issues and to the personal obstacles in our day-to-day existence. Lives lost due to political struggles and war, the suffering of refugees and immigrants, the devastation of climate change encircle us and call us to go out and actively participate for the good of all people. At the same time, the bright color opposed to the darkness reflects hope in our private lives.
Brooklyn, NY
“Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.”
–Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Perseverance:
Denise Kooperman
That Jazz (detail)
Technique: Wet felting of wool roving and mulberry papers in the ancient Korean art of Joomchi. Hand-stitching with linen and other threads.
Materials: Wool roving, hanji or mulberry papers, linen and other threads.
I AM A FELT ARTIST and make my own fabrics out of felted wool and papers. By wet felting, fragile materials such as wool roving and papers can be made strong and durable. With the current emphasis on creating more sustainable art, I have been using up my scraps of felt and also transforming old compositions by cutting them up and handstitching them into art quilts.
In responding to the exhibit theme, byCONTRAST, these materials provided a distinct variety of color, shapes, pattern and texture. My title All That Jazz seemed to fit the composition, jazz being a musical form that uses improvisation, syncopation, a complex mix of styles, and discordant notes. The effect is both jarring and yet pleasing in its overall energy.
My fiber art is often improvisational as I start off with a loose idea for a composition but allow the process to define the result.
Trumansburg, NY
“Let everyone else decide if it’s good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.” –Andy Warhol
Photography by Fernando Llosa
Liz Kuny
Breakthrough (detail)
Technique: Machine pieced, machine quilted, air-brushed.
Materials: Commercial and hand-dyed cotton fabric, textile dye.
I BEGAN WORK on this piece primarily focused on the visual aspects of contrast.
These are likely to be what’s noticed at first glance, especially the contrasts of color, value, and texture. But it’s the contrast between the one small curved area and the rest of the piece that is the most meaningful. That small spot symbolizes the moment of inspiration that finally breaks through after much hard work and coming close a few times. It is both the focal point and the story of my work process.
Morristown, NJ
lizcuny.com
NJ+NY Regional Exhibit
Breakthrough 19 inches x 25½ inches
Judy Langille
I (detail)
Technique: Freezer-paper resist with silkscreen and thickened dyes, machine stitched.
Materials: Linen, MX dyes, thread, flannel.
THE CONTRAST IN Structure I is the difference between the white or light area and the large, many-layered colorful structure. The white intersecting the large form allows even more contrast to penetrate the composition. There is also contrast between shapes, size of the elements and their complexity that are seen in the composition. My interest in elements of architecture is what inspired this piece.
Kendall Park, NJ judylangille.com
Photography by Peter Jacobs
Helen Nash May
CONTRAST IN QUILTING can take many forms. I find that the exploration of colors, shapes, and their intertwined relationships create the most vibrant and fascinating contrasts. Odd Man Out, part of my Color Studies Series, uses complementary colors, repetitive shapes, and the contrast between monochrome and color. The opaque nature of the material allows me to concentrate on bold forms to command attention. The result is a piece meant to draw the viewer in, illuminating specific and close elements of the individual squares. My Color Studies Series was inspired by Nancy Crow’s use of bold colors and complex geometric patterns and lines, and builds upon my artistic impulse to find inspiration in the unexpected.
“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.”
–Edgar Degas
Harrison, NY helennashmay.com
Technique: Pieced commercial fabrics quilted by the artist.
Materials: Robert Kaufman Kona fabric, Aurifil thread, wool and 80/20 batting.
Photography by Amy Drucker
Cathy Miranker
Mediterranean Semaphore (detail)
Technique: Based on a pencil sketch, I drafted two patterns, cut and machine-pieced fabric for 36 blocks, and machine quilted six spiraling circles (abutting but not intersecting) using a hand-guided home machine.
Materials: Colored silk, repurposed from a scarf; commercial cottons.
ALTHOUGH THIS MINIMALIST QUILT consists of just two repeating blocks—slim, right-angled blue/green strips set against a light gray background—variations in placement create a design that’s vibrant, whimsical, and captivating. The quilt is abstract yet suggestive of semaphore (a system of flag signals once used between ships), and its Mediterranean colors underscore that connection.
Myriad kinds of contrast contribute to the quilt’s liveliness: jeweltoned colored strips versus a neutral background; the glitz of silk versus the matte look of cotton; simple blocks versus an exuberant layout, and perhaps most of all, spiraling quilt lines versus the angular geometry of the block design.
San Francisco, CA
“Mere color, unspoiled by meaning, and unallied with definite form, can speak to the soul in a thousand different ways.”
–Oscar Wilde
Photography by Douglas Sandberg
Nancy Mirman
Somers, NY nancymirman.blogspot.com
NJ+NY Regional Exhibit
Black and White–Redux (detail)
Technique: Machine piecing, machine quilting, hand embroidery, and painted edges.
Materials: Silk, satin, lace, tulle, cotton and embroidery floss.
CONTRAST—THE JUXTAPOSITION of dissimilar elements such as the transparency of the four areas of tulle with the opaqueness of the other fabrics, the contrast between black and white, and a third contrast between the subtle and the obvious. Two quilts a white quilt and a black quilt—were each machine pieced and quilted using a type of crazy quilting. The quilts were each enhanced with accents of turquoise fabric and turquoise hand embroidery. The edges were finished with turquoise paint. Each quilt was then cut apart and reassembled to create Black and White–Redux.
“Make visual decisions visually.”
–Judy Warren Blaydon
Black and White–Redux
18 inches x 34 inches
Suzanne Neusner
Orange, NJ quiltsbysuzanne.com
Cabbage Confetti (detail)
Technique: Fused fabrics, appliqué and machine-quilted.
Materials: Cotton and polyester fabric.
HERE IS AN ARRANGEMENT of cabbages, revealing the variations in color, texture, and shape. There is a sharp contrast between the primary colors of the cabbages and the gray background.
My goal as a quilter is to constantly search for new directions, using unusual colors, fabrics, and design. It is always a daunting challenge to synthesize these methods. Frankly, it is stressful to start a quilt, but I am always able to overcome my fears and plunge into the creative process. I am grateful to be a participant in this exciting medium in which creativity and craft join together.
Patterns are a common motif in my work. Oriental rug designs inspired my former experiments in tapestry. Displays of arranged produce are another inspiration. With quilting, I can take more liberties, as in Cabbage Confetti, which animates the humble vegetable. Here the cabbages are lined up, revealing the variations in color, texture, and shape. There is sharp contrast between the primary colors of the cabbages and the gray background. I used my scissors to create shapes which are fused. Hopefully, while looking at this quilt, the viewer will see the vegetable in a fresh way.
Regional Exhibit
Cabbage Confetti
Photography by Andy Wrainwright
NJ+NY Regional Exhibit Giovanna Nicolai
Technique: Improvisational cutting and piecing, quilted with a domestic sewing machine (walking foot).
Materials: Commercial cotton fabrics, cotton thread.
24 HOURS, the unit of time comprising day and night. Two opposite conditions, not in contradiction, but complementary and dependent on each other. One does not try to impose itself on the other, but they coexist in harmony and balance, with all their different characteristics—an example of dualism present in each element according to the oriental philosophy of Yin and Yang.
The day, typically frenetic and chaotic due to the thousand commitments that distinguish it, is represented in the center of the work by small squarish blocks; by contrast, a frame of fluctuating stripes on a dark blue background represents the night, usually calm and regenerating. One cannot exist without the other even if they cannot be together—a perpetual motion which, with the changing of the seasons, still maintains a balance and dynamic coexistence.
Venezia jonikquilts.art
24 Hours (detail)
Suzanne Housley Noonan
Barrington, RI
Technique: There are two technique used to make this art quilt. One side is machine appliqué, pieced together and quilted. The second side is reverse appliqué and quilted.
Materials: Cotton fabric and batting.
I’M NOT COLOR BLIND, I know the world is not black and white. I set out on a journey with all good intentions. Many of my paths never straight, but broken. Sometimes hurling obstacles getting in my way and forcing me to take cover. These challenges and lessons are all part of life.
Color Blind (detail)
Suzanne Housley Noonan
Barrington, RI
AT TIMES MY THOUGHTS are drifting and casting in all directions. These irregular, diffused shapes and lines go in all directions, similar to my thoughts.
Scattered Thought (detail)
Technique: This art quilt uses reverse appliqué. Heavy embroidery stitches and yarns are sewn randomly across the piece. I also incorporated machine quilting.
Materials: Hand-dyed and commercial fabrics and several weights of thread.
Photography by Richard King
Pat Pauly
Technique: Screen printing, direct application, whole cloth, quilted.
Materials: Fiber.
I’M INTRIGUED by the monumentality of these large eggs representing such small life.
The print technique of using image to make the figurative work in a whole cloth is in direct contrast to the tradition of piecing to make the image or composition. The whole cloth is the ancestor of this contemporary use of composing on one piece of fabric and then finishing using quilting.
Rochester, NY patpauly.com
Nest Eggs (detail)
Judith Plotner
America Interrupted (detail)
Technique: Hand-printed and discharged cotton fabric using screen-printed thickened dye paste and discharge paste. The fabrics are intuitively machine-pieced and quilted.
Materials: Thickened Procion dyes, discharge paste, muslin, Kona cotton fabrics, cotton batting and backing fabric, cotton machine quilting thread.
BY CREATING A BROKEN
and distorted
American flag, colored red, white and blue, with scribbled text portraying the “Make America Great Again” slogan, and with “Great” changed to both “Hate” and “White,” I am contrasting what America is supposed to stand for with what it has become. It seems that patriotism has certainly taken a turn for the worse to become exclusionism once again, with no room for considering the words of Emma Lazarus on the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free … ”
Our once-great nation has become divided, with no room for people seeking a better life. I feel sad indeed to bear witness to this decline.
Gloversville, NY judithplotner.com
NJ+NY Regional Exhibit Ann Scott
North Adams, MA
Chanticleer Dreaming (detail)
Technique: Fabric is hand-printed by the artist (silk-screen, rubbing); machine-pieced and free-motion quilted.
Materials: Front is cotton hand-printed by the artist. Back is commercial cotton. Batting is bamboo.
CHANTICLEER’S DREAMS are full of contrasts. As with all dreamers, he is the hero of this story. Here he is within a dark, confined space hemmed in by sharp criss-crossing lines. Is it a web of zapping synapses, a thicket of branches, or a closet full of wire hangers? Only Chanticleer knows for sure. Let us hope that one of those lines will lead him out to the open field, into the sunlight and flower-sweet air, where all the lines curve and swoop with joyous abandon. This idyllic setting is my cherished wish for the dreaming Chanticleer.
For me, creating art quilts is about improvisation and play— making marks, shapes, and images that impose a kind of order on the seemingly formless and chaotic nature of reality. I draw from a repertoire of diverse influences that can be combined in endless ways and may include memory, wishful thinking, literature, pop culture, ancient archetypes, half-baked ideas, and flights of fancy. It is a privilege to work in a medium with humble, utilitarian, largely female, and often anonymous roots, a legacy that has endured and evolved over centuries into what has become a recognized art form.
Chanticleer Dreaming
44¼ inches x 57 inches 2023
Sandra Sider
Facial Recognition Software (detail)
Technique: Machine piecing, stamp printing, machine quilting, binding hand-stitched to back.
Materials: Artist’s 2020 self-portrait digitally printed on cotton in multiples by Spoonflower, acrylic fabric paint, Dual Duty thread, cotton batting, cotton backing, poly/ cotton binding.
CONES IN THE HUMAN RETINA
allow us to distinguish contrasting hues, such as the warm and cool colors in this quilt. As evident here, the warmer, lighter hues seem to push toward the viewer, emphasizing the fragmented face, the main subject of this piece. This quilt graphically calls attention to the issue of surveillance by facial recognition software, which threatens our privacy and our basic freedoms, and which can lead to data breaches threatening our identities. The fragmented imagery here of my face embodies the turmoil of stolen and mistaken identities.
Recognition Soft ware 25 inches x 35 inches
by
Facial
Photography
Deidre Adams
Linda Stern
Reflections of Change (detail)
Technique: Hand-dyed fabric by artist, pieced with commercial solids, machine stitched.
Materials: Fabric dyes, cotton, wool batting.
IN OUR EVER-EVOLVING WORLD, the dichotomy between the built environment and the natural world has become increasingly apparent. As an artist, I am fascinated by this delicate balance and the profound impact it is having on the world in which we live. Through my latest fiber art piece, Reflections of Change, I strive to illuminate this contrast by capturing the ethereal beauty of the sky’s reflection on a man-made structure. This piece is a visual exploration of the interplay between these realms, where organic merges with the structured, and the ephemeral dances with permanence.
As viewers engage with Reflections of Change, they are encouraged to examine their own relationship with the world around them. The artwork acts as a catalyst for contemplation, inviting a moment of introspection and fostering a deeper connection with both the constructed and the organic. By using hand-dyed fabric to capture the fleeting reflection of the sky on a building, I aim to inspire a sense of awe and wonder, reminding us of the beauty that exists in the intersection of these seemingly contrasting environments.
Somers, NY lindasternfiberart.com
“Ideas must be put to the test. That’s why we make things, otherwise they would be no more than ideas.”
–Andy Goldsworthy
of Change
Jo Thomas
Findlay, OH
Technique: Hand-printed and discharged cotton fabric using screen-printed thickened dye paste and discharge paste. The fabrics are intuitively machine pieced and quilted.
Materials: Thickened Procion dyes, discharge paste, muslin, Kona cotton fabrics, cotton batting and backing fabric, cotton machine quilting thread.
IN THIS MOST TURBULENT and toxic time, I am troubled by the injustice and inhumanity that pervades our society. I wonder when the limits of delusion and denial will be reached. Unsilent is my attempt to convey visually the current movement to promote truth, acceptance, equality, and our common humanity. Change is happening. Quiet whispers emerge from crowds of complacency, conveying hope and optimism. The clear colors transcend the murky “colorswithout-names” and desaturated complements. Hope and optimism shine through in this collage of hand-painted and hand-dyed silk organza textiles and the use of color and saturation.
Unsilent (detail)
Unsilent
inches x 24½ inches
K. Velis Turan
I LOVE CLASSIC MOVIES. (Remember … the ones in black and white?)
Technique: Hand-printed and discharged cotton fabric using screen-printed thickened dye paste and discharge paste. The fabrics are intuitively machine pieced and quilted.
Materials: Thickened Procion dyes, discharge paste, muslin, Kona cotton fabrics, cotton batting and backing fabric, cotton machine quilting thread.
My work, Love Goddess, fits the bill for the “byCONTRAST” exhibition in two ways. First, it is almost entirely in black and white, save for the color in Rita Hayworth’s eyes and lips. The commercial black and white fabric I chose gave me the darks and lights needed to shade the piece, while the color I added was with two small pieces of my hand-dyed fabric. The result is much like the B&W movies that made her famous.
By contrast, the second reason is far more profound. Films like Gilda and The Lady from Shanghai presented her as a glamourous celebrity, a woman who men adored, and who women wanted to be.
In fact, her sad life was quite the opposite … from abuse as a child to her many failed marriages. (Ms. Hayworth was married and divorced five times to men who were just as famous as she, one husband was even a prince.) She died in 1987 of Alzheimer’s disease, with only her daughter by her side.
Ealton, NY kvelisturan.com
Love Goddess (detail)
Love Goddess
inches x 28 inches
Lenny Van Eijk
Technique: Freehand cuts, machine pieced, machine quilted on a frame (longarm).
Materials: Cotton fabric and batting, polyester thread.
BLACK AND WHITE REPRESENT the boldest of all contrasts and can evoke powerful emotions. When juxtaposed, intensity and clarity emerge. This figure-ground study was started by combining several mirrored compositions from freehand cut black and white elements. The juxtaposition and the dilution of foreground and background creates visual interest, tension and depth, while the curved lines and pointed corners create movement. Using contrasting thread in each half of the quilt further shifts the focus between dark and light, and the gradually narrowing and widening of the quilting lines creates the illusion of depth.
“Creativity takes courage.”
–Henri Matisse
Bloomfield, NJ modernstitchwitch.com
MEETING AND COLLABORATING with SAQA members to plan and execute this show has been a rewarding experience. It took a community of dedicated people to make this exhibition happen. Many thanks to the venues showcasing the artwork, to the artists who created it, and to the volunteers who helped make displaying it possible.
Linda Stern
NJ + NY REGIONAL REPRESENTATIVE STUDIO ART QUILT ASSOCIATES
mission is to promote the art quilt: “a creative visual work that is layered and stitched or that references this form of stitched layered structure.” SAQA’s core integrity, and inclusion. Over the past 30 years, SAQA has grown to a community of over 4,000 artists, curators, collectors, and art professionals located around the + New York region, which has over 200 regional members, with 20 juried artists having earned national and international reputations.
