Art Quilt Quarterly #32 (SAQA)

art quilt Studio Art Quilt Associates

V&A Museum Michael A. Cummings

Poetry and Quilts

147

art quilts

quarterly 2023

Issue No. 32

Art fun in the summer time Dianne Firth’s article on poetry and art quilts suggests similarities in the creative possibilities of both art forms. Both can be exploratory, as the poet and artist feel their way into a mood or rhythm, or transformational in the sense that a poem or artwork can lead to a new awareness and understanding on the part of a reader or viewer. The art quilts of Michael A. Cummings, profiled in this issue by Bradley Cavallo, have a transformational power as the artist interprets African-American subjects— including heroic figures such as Shirley Chisholm and James Baldwin. This year Cummings was designated a National Heritage Fellow by the National Endowment for the Arts for his distinctive voice as a Black artist. From Diane Howell, we discover how the Victoria and Albert Museum’s world-class

photo by KOM Studio

collection has welcomed art quilts, which complement that institution’s historical examples of quilting as a fine craft. Collectors and artists alike will appreciate Petra Fallaux’s analysis of SAQA’s benefit auction from 2016 to 2022, an annual event that has raised more than half a million dollars. Wen Redmond, an expert in digital fiber art, takes us through the commission process, explaining how she developed her concept and worked with the patron. Internationally renowned Canadian artist Dorothy Caldwell juried SAQA’s Global Exhibition Minimalism, described by Patty Kennedy-Zafred, with her usual eye for excellence.

Sandra Sider, Editor editor-aqq@saqa.com

Contents Art quilts at the Victoria & Albert Museum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Collecting joy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Poetry and art quilts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Michael A. Cummings transforms tradition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Focus on commissions: Wen Redmond. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 SAQA Global Exhibitions: Minimalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Artists to watch Kathy Brown. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Mary Kay Fosnacht. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Bella Kaplan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Jan Soules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Portfolio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42 Spotlight on collections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

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. ©2023 Studio Art Quilt Associates, Inc. All rights reserved.

Reproduction without permission is strictly prohibited.

SAQA Art Quilt Quarterly is published 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) Editor: Sandra Sider Managing editor: Martha Sielman Artists to watch contributing editor: Diane Howell SAQA Global Exhibitions contributing editor: Patty Kennedy-Zafred Designer: Deidre Adams Subscription: $39.95 for four issues — $34.95 for SAQA members Outside USA: add $15.00 Subscribe online: saqa.com/aqq Now available in digital format. Details: www.saqa.com/aqq-digital Questions: aqq@saqa.com

Cover: I’ve Known Rivers by Michael A. Cummings 7.6 x 4 feet (2.3 x 1.3 meters), 2020

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photo by Christopher Burke Studio

see story, p. 14

Wandsworth Prison and Fine Cell Work HMP Wandsworth Quilt 77 x 102 inches (195 x 260 cm), 2010 photo by Victoria & Albert Museum ©

Art quilts at the

Victoria & Albert Museum

by Diane Howell

T

he Textile Collection at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A) preserves a centuriesold timeline rich in textiles, fashion, and art quilts.

The V&A’s commitment to commissions and acquisitions has brought its holdings into the 21st century One such modern-day commission is the HMP Wandsworth Quilt, made in 2010 through a collaboration of the all-male quilting group within Wandsworth Prison and Fine Cell Work. The latter is a charity that provides instruction in embroidery and quilt making to inmates. As is often the case with textiles, the work is both art and statement — in this case providing personal interpretations of prison life.

Using Wandsworth’s architectural layout as a starting point, inmates designed and paper-pieced individual hexagons. Further cementing the theme of creativity in confinement is the fact that cotton and wool fabrics used in the quilt are the same color and weave as the prison uniforms.

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Natasha Kerr At the End of the Day Victoria Bradley, curator of V&A’s Textile Collection, says that this particular art quilt has proven to be immensely popular. “The story behind this quilt is appealing because it speaks of the restorative power of stitching and craft. Every detail has been considered, from the design to the thread and materials, to the individual hexagons. Each element contributes to the narrative, making it a very powerful piece.”

With regard to contemporary quilt artists, Bradley explains, “We try to follow as wide a range of makers as possible, and often an acquisition will be the result of the availability of an exceptional work from a particular maker coinciding with the opportunity to acquire it. The Quilts 1700–2010 exhibition in 2010 presented the opportunity to research and appraise the existing collection and also a rare opportunity to acquire further examples.”

The Quilts exhibition was curated by Sue Pritchard, formerly a curator at the V&A and now head curator at Leeds Castle in Kent, England. Just one example from the exhibition is Natasha Kerr’s At the End of the Day. “I acquired Natasha’s work for the V&A at Collect, the international craft show organized by the Craft Council. I love Natasha’s storytelling, 2 | SAQA Art Quilt Quarterly

30 x 43 inches (75 x 110 cm), 2007 photo by Andrew Woods

which combines photographs, antique fabrics, and text, exploring the hidden histories of heirlooms,” Pritchard says.

Another piece selected for the exhibition was A Chinese Dream by Susan Stockwell (see p. 5).

Pritchard tells us, “I was drawn to [her] because she is so committed to issues around sustainability and world politics, [and] she also has an amazing collection of threads, buttons and zips that belonged to her grandmother.”

Artists in this exhibition continue to hold it in high regard. “The Quilts exhibition was a wonderful show and it was stunning to see so many quilts through the centuries included. My piece was very modest and small. I am delighted to be included in the collection at the V&A,” Kerr says. Her piece was the cover image for the book that accompanied the exhibition.

For artist Jo Budd, the Quilts exhibition was well timed. “I was ready to make a large-scale definitive statement, so to be asked to make a piece for this

show and given complete artistic freedom was a wonderful opportunity, knowing that it would be seen in the context of other contemporary makers and also within a historical perspective.” She made two pendant pieces that were included, Male/Winter and Female/Summer (not pictured); the first was purchased subsequent to the exhibition. “[The first quilt] references water, both in the surface ripple of stitch and in the rust-dyed watery marks. It is dark and mysterious, vertically oriented, and strongly structural in composition. Essentially abstract, there are faint echoes of Log Cabin with rectangular blocks that interlock in places, with a shining bright yellow center. The companion piece, Female/Summer, constructed during the summer months, is a horizontal composition with a lighter pallet of pinks and rusts and is looser and more flowing in feel,” Budd says.

Among other quilt artists collected by the V&A are Pauline Burbidge, Lucy Goffin, and Lynn Setterington. Burbidge’s quilt, Kate’s Vase, is a colorful and graphic work that uses a repeat block arrangement incorporating a strong black-and-white element to

Pauline Burbidge Kate’s Vase 35 x 35 inches (89 x 89 cm), 1987 photo by Keith Tidball

Jo Budd Male/Winter 126 x 66 inches (320 x 170 cm), 2010 Photo courtesy Victoria & Albert Museum

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Lucy Goffin Apertures 72 x 60 inches (183 x 152 cm), 1992 photo by Paul Seheult

Lynn Setterington The Bathroom Shelf 23 x 20 inches (58 x 51 cm), 1989 photo by Stephen White

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dramatically set off the vase. Apertures by Goffin presents a series of abstracts, each viewed through an opening that seemingly captures different stages of a camera shutter’s action. Setterington’s piece, The Bathroom Shelf, comes to life through a series of colorful marks that create a fanciful depiction of the contents of a mundane medicine chest. Multiple rows of kantha stitching — as seen here — became a hallmark of her art quilts in the 1990s. Bradley says that textile highlights have continued with two other exhibitions: The Fabric of India in 2015 and Africa Fashion, which concluded in mid-April of 2023. Two new museum sites in East London — V&A Storehouse and V&A East Museum — will create new opportunities to showcase textiles.

“We were approached by numerous groups and individuals during the COVID pandemic bringing their textile works to our attention,” Bradley says.

“Quilts were particularly prevalent, which is perhaps

indicative of the way they can lend themselves to collaborative making by individuals working in the isolation of their own homes, contributing a segment of the overall composition. Of course, the quilt is also such a perfect vehicle for narrative designs, through the inclusion of text or image.”

For more information on current exhibitions, or to peruse the V&A’s immense online catalog of fiber works, visit www.vam.ac.uk.

Diane Howell resides in Chandler, Arizona. She is editor of the SAQA Journal.

Susan Stockwell A Chinese Dream 126 x 102 x 8 inches (320 x 259 x 20 cm), 2010 photo by Peter Abrahams

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Collecting joy The 2022 SAQA Benefit Auction

by Petra Fallaux

S

AQA’s annual online benefit auction of 12-inchsquare art quilts catches the eye of numerous art lovers. Almost all of the pieces are made specifically for the auction each year. Statistics from 2016-2022 confirm that many people are collecting these alluring works of art. Over the past six years, nearly 3000 auction quilts have been sold, generating more than half a million dollars for SAQA. Based upon conversations related to this article, it is clear to me that

clockwise from top left:

Nancy Bryant Tumbling Blocks collection of Karen Brakke

Annette McFarlane La Strada collection of Karen Brakke

B Rupar Topsy-turvy collection of Nancy & Eugene Bardach

Ann May Spring Sunset collection of Nancy & Eugene Bardach

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artists as well as collectors share in the vibrant sense of community that the auction creates.

The SAQA benefit auction is a descending price auction which, according to Martha Sielman, executive director, anchors people’s sense of value at the high end. Most collectors start bidding with an initial budget in mind. Some spend it all on Diamond Days—the early bidding window when all art quilts are priced at $1,000. Others take a chance and don’t

From the collection of Claudia Pearce

make bids until the prices drop down to as low as $100. As Karen Brakke, collector of six pieces from the 2022 auction, says, “That’s the thing about this auction: There are so many pieces to enjoy and be inspired by that the sadness of losing one favorite is quickly replaced by the anticipation of bidding on another. And it’s nice to know that someone else is giving each piece a good home and getting joy from having it there.”

Nancy Bardach, auction contributor and collector for the past twelve years, starts by looking at the online images and targets quilts with an abstract aesthetic. “I don’t try to game the system. I go at the end and find what’s left. I look for more abstract quilts because that is what I make and want to encourage.

I’m a collector. I love buying.”

Claudia Pearce’s collecting heart goes out to anything representing nature. She says, “Part of it is about

clockwise from top left:

Sue Sherman Emu No. 2 collection of Claudia Pearce

Holly Cole Mischief collection of Claudia Pearce

Martha Wolfe Soloveiko Thomas Contemporary Quilt collection

Sylvie Aguilar Bluebird Thomas Contemporary Quilt collection

All works 12 x 12 inches (30.5 x 30.5 cm)

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clockwise from top left:

Susan Shie Guenveur and Madeleine collection of Nysha Nelson

Jenny Perry The View from Here II collection of Holly Hirst

Salli McQuaid Bamboo Cove collection of Holly Hirst

Karen Hewer Mud Glorious Mud collection of Martha Sielman

helping SAQA, part of it is collecting great works by great artists, and part of it is getting unknown artists and their really interesting works.” The highlights of her auction quilt collection are beautifully installed above her working desk.

“One reason I purchase quilts is to support the artists,” says Del Thomas, who added seven quilts from the 2022 auction to her Thomas Contemporary Quilt Collection, now consisting of nearly four hundred quilts. “I’m always surprised when an artist says it’s the first sale they have made. I know what goes into making a quilt and I very much appreciate the work of each artist, whether the piece is postcard size or covers an entire wall.” She believes the SAQA auctions are a great way to show artists that their work is worthwhile, and she adds, “supporting the SAQA operation is very important for the future of quilting of any kind.” Five of her 2022 purchases (from different price points) focus on birds, one of her favorite current themes. She admits that she also looks at the names of the artists, recognizing well-known or

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favorite artists like Martha Wolfe, but adds decisively that her collection is not an investment. “When I get something new, I display it because I want to look at it intensely.”

Many collectors with growing collections develop a focus. Nysha Nelson values the quality of the image as well as the subject matter. “In the past couple of years, I have chosen to concentrate my collecting on works portraying people, whether portraits of specific individuals, or figurative work focused on the human form. The three works I acquired in 2022 fit my desired subject matter and were compelling images.”

He also adds that the benefit auction has helped him identify artists from whom he has purchased additional works. “For artists with work in the auction, there is also exposure. I have three large pieces in my collection that were acquired from artists directly after seeing an artist’s auction piece.”

Karen Brakke’s initial motivation to buy from the benefit auction was for inspiration. Now that she has accumulated some two dozen works, she says, “I’m

From the collection of Holly Hirst

starting to consider how they fit in the rest of my collection. Not in any kind of sophisticated way in terms of artists or anything like that, but in terms of rounding out the different styles or techniques that are available.” She once created a “Dream Collection” online, curating eight auction pieces for a virtual gallery which she likened to a creative process itself. “I’m a scientist and my dream collections had to do with organizations of the cosmos, large and small, some quilts were cells and neurons; others were planets.”

She has since bought an auction quilt that depicts a strand of DNA. Holly Hirst, an aspiring but not yet active quilt artist, has been collecting from the SAQA auctions with an eye to a future in which she makes her own art quilts. She added eight pieces in 2022 for a total of twenty-eight. “I want the artist life. That is my fantasy life.” She looks for techniques and is drawn to anything with seed stitch or embroidery. “I want to venture in, and if I see something I think is interesting and would like to try some day or to see in person, I try to make a purchase.” Hirst also points out that when the pieces arrive, she examines the backs of the pieces (not evident online) and finds that details of binding, finishing, sleeves and, occasionally, messages on the back are also inspiring. Jenny Perry’s The View from Here, one of Hirst’s 2022 purchases, was bought as a thank-you gift for a friend who hosted her at her lake house and took her kayaking. Her friend’s reaction was perfect: “Oh my gosh, did you do this?”

Martha Sielman, a collector herself, notes that many of the trends in art quilts show up through the auction. “Artists use the small size as an opportunity to experiment, so when everybody was rust-dyeing we had lots of rust-dyed pieces, and then more recently everybody wanted to do handwork, so suddenly we had lots of embroidery.” Sielman is always interested in these types of trends, so it’s fascinating for her to peruse a body of more than four hundred works by as many artists. It gives her a sense of what’s trending in the art quilt community. Her own growing collection is mounted on canvas stretchers and displayed on shelves in her home and office. She recalls the clever slogan first used to encourage artists to donate work at the birth of the 12-inch-square benefit auction: “Put your best foot forward!” Let’s add: Start building your collection, one step at a time.

Dutch native Petra Fallaux is an artist, curator, writer, and creative director at Springboard Design, based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. www.petrafallaux.com

Save the Date!

The 2023 Benefit Auction will take place Sept. 14 – Oct. 8.

More details:

www.saqa.com/auction

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Poetry and art quilts

by Dianne Firth

P

oetry is a form of artistic expression. It can share ideas, express emotions, and help us understand and appreciate the world around us. Art quilts can do this too. Ekphrasis is the ancient Greek word for a genre of poetry where poets write about works of art.

In this article I would like to share my experience of what I call “reverse ekphrasis.”

Poetry was an influential aspect of my childhood.

It spoke to me of my country: the intensity of the sun, the sweeping plains, far horizons and rugged mountains, droughts and floods, jewel-like seas, and unique flora and fauna. Such poetry encouraged my interest in the physical environment. I became a landscape architect for my career, and a quilter for my pleasure.

While at university, I was involved in research concerning the art and design of cities. Canberra’s urban development was based on the international prize-winning design of Walter Burley Griffin of

Pink Trees Surprised by Blossom 54 x 43 inches (137 x 109 cm), 2017 Poet: Elizabeth Smither photo by Andrew Sikorski

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Bogong 275.5 x 55 inches (700 x 140 cm), 2017 Poet: Penelope Layland photo by John Firth

Chicago and his wife Marion. Surveyors had selected the site for its natural beauty: purple blue background ranges, local mountains, inner hills and ridges, sheltered valleys, and a river that could be dammed to form a large lake. The Griffins gave the city form.

More than a hundred years later, Canberra is a city of trees in a landscape with dramatic vistas, providing inspiration for poets.

Because the use of existing poetry for my art quilts could be risky due to copyright issues, I commissioned a group of poets to write poems for me about Canberra, Australia’s capital city. My aim was to create art quilts inspired by their poems and show my work alongside the poems that inspired them in a major gallery exhibition.

The Centre for Creative and Cultural Research at the University of Canberra runs an international poetry festival, usually with a theme. Nature and the Environment took my attention. After I announced an open invitation, seven national and seven international poets were interested in writing about Canberra. I would be creating a visual response to show during the festival the following year.

The first poem to arrive was Pink Trees Surprised by Blossom, by New Zealand poet Elizabeth Smither. The deadline for images for marketing was fast approaching so I needed to start work at once. Canberra has four distinct seasons, and in springtime many deciduous street trees are ablaze with blossom. Smither wrote: “A valley like a florist’s ornate bouquet. Undo the mesh and let the ribbons fly among the ribbon colors of the hills. … How wide and precious are the gestures when sightings happen down long avenues.”

I read the poem several times. With closed eyes, I saw pink spherical shapes floating away into the distance. I sketched a few ideas, tested a few materials, and made some small samples to resolve techniques.

Because pink is my least favorite color, I expanded my color palette to include a range of warm colors set off by neutrals. I used machine stitching and inexpensive commercial fabrics, such as net and felt, to match my limited budget. These constraints would keep me focused on the intent of the poem and provide a degree of material consistency across all the works.

As more poems arrived, I treated each one individually. Sometimes they came with an audio file that I listened to before reading the text on the page.

Each poem stirred up different feelings, emotions, and associations. I captured these responses in small sketches. Some poems were intimate, others expansive. This tone helped determine the size of each finished work.

The largest work was a monumental installation.

Canberra poet Penelope Layland wrote Bogong, about small moths that hatch in northern New South Wales

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Ngambri (Black Mountain) 27 x 164 inches (68 x 417 cm), 2017 Poet: Subhash Jaireth photo by Andrew Sikorski

and pass near Canberra on their flight to the high country. Here is a short exert from her poem: “Drabber than a butterfly, less preening. Drag out from the black soil, Dry your damp wings, set course for the mountains. You have in your ancient heart, the spare, cool caves, above the tree line where all life is small and scrubby and particular as you.”

I wanted to capture the sense of little moths rising from the earth and flying off into the sky. I saw the potential of creating a three-dimensional diminishing net structure onto which a multitude of small dark shapes could be attached for dramatic effect.

Another large work was inspired by Ngambri (Black Mountain), a long prose poem by Subhash Jaireth.

This is a tale of his morning walk through the dry sclerophyll forest on Black Mountain. To capture the sense of the extent of this walk, I wanted my creation to be wide, with a sense of unfolding views of mountain, hills, and distant ranges as seen through tree trunks. Starting with two layers of black net, I inserted additional layers of net to depict the distant hills and ranges along with white cotton in vertical shapes to represent tree trunks.

Kamberra a Hundred Years On is a poem by Aboriginal poet Jeanine Leane, from Melbourne. She writes:

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“Beneath this century of concrete circles, ancient eternal archives hold Stories, Songs, Dance, History. Between the Murrumbidgee tides and the Brindabella peaks is an older meeting place.”

Using the view from above, I overlaid Indigenous and European symbolism. The Griffins’ city design used the equilateral triangle to symbolize equality, with circles representing nodes of communication.

Aboriginal iconography uses triangles and circles in a similar way. In my quilt, orange felt represents earth and inserted net represents water. Machine stitching emphasizes the contour lines.

Accents by Paul Hetherington captures the exuberance of nature.

“Sun strikes a pine forest like a blow, dumbstruck trees turn hands upwards. Hills sink a little; animals find cover. There are twenty exclamations of gestural lines, daubs and swoops of clotted paint.

The landscape speaks in indecipherable accents.”

A layer of net depicting the sinking hills and twenty orange pieces representing birds were sandwiched between two layers of net, one white, one black. I drew black pine needles directly onto the white layer, then machine stitched the layers together.

As a quilt artist, I enjoy working with artists who use different genres. This type of inspiration stimulates new ways of thinking and seeing and opens up different possibilities. For this project, the act of collaboration enabled me to step outside my “box,”

sharing my view of the world, and adding another layer of meaning to the place I call home.

Dr. Dianne Firth is a registered landscape architect and academic. She has followed a parallel pathway with textiles.

She learned sewing skills from her family, studied textiles at Newcastle Technical College while studying for her Science degree at university, with later classes at Glasgow Art School when she was working in Scotland. Firth is a member of Australia’s Ozquilt Network and has served on its committees and as President. She is also a SAQA Juried Art Member.

Kamberra 31 x 32 inches (78 x 80 cm), 2017 Poet: Jeanine Leane photo by Andrew Sikoski

Accents 53 x 23 inches (135 x 58 cm), 2017 Poet: Paul Hetherington photo by Andrew Sikorski

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Shirley Chisholm as exhibited in Women’s Voices, Women’s Votes, Women’s Rights 7.25 x 6 feet (2.2 x 1.9 meters), 2020 photo by Sandra Sider

Michael A. Cummings transforms tradition

by Bradley J. Cavallo

I

n the four decades of its existence, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has awarded its prestigious National Heritage Fellowship to relatively few individuals practicing what we would consider the textile or fiber arts. Among this minority of weavers, embroiderers, needle and bead workers, and lace makers lies an even smaller group of only eighteen who have created quilts. The NEA qualifies these awardees with the descriptors “African-American,”

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“Anglo-American,” “New England,” “Lakota Sioux,” or “Hawaiian”; six alone are identified as “quilters” (including three “Quilters of Gee’s Bend”); none is described as a quilt artist per se. One wonders what effect this type of categorization has upon the public perception of these activities. Although it is not the place here to question in depth the consequences of such language, readers of this publication should be aware that (essentially) quilts appeared as artworks on

Sister Gertrude Morgan 12 x 9 feet (3.6 x 2.7 meters), 2009 photo by James Dee Studio, NYC

the walls of a major museum only in 1971, and only in 1986 did the term “art quilt” itself emerge, in part to distinguish the status of the quilting medium and give recognition as artists to those quilt makers.

And now, in 2023, the NEA has recognized Michael A. Cummings with the “nation’s highest honor … in recognition of his … artistic excellence, lifetime achievement, and contribution to our nation’s traditional arts heritage.” As noted by Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi in her short biography of him on his NEA website, Cummings represents an anomaly among quilters of any ethnicity due to gender; indeed, although there are a few men identified as “weavers” among all the NEA fellows, Cummings is the lone male quilter to receive the National Heritage Fellowship for his quilts.

To demonstrate his artistry, the NEA features images of Cummings’ Sister Gertrude Morgan (2009), Shirley Chisholm (2020), and African Jazz #5 (1990).

The third of these, African Jazz #5, also appeared in the 2022 exhibition Jazz Expressions, curated by Clarence Johns in his Tribeca gallery, Carracci Art (https://www.carracciart.com/). This solo show indicates a reconceptualization of the artist that properly contextualizes him — for several reasons — within his idiosyncratic aesthetic lineage of Harriet Powers, Vincent van Gogh, Jacob Lawrence, Robert Rauschen­berg, Romare Bearden, and Faith Ringgold.

Not only did Jazz Expressions provide audiences with the opportunity to view in person three of Cummings’ famous African Jazz quilts, it also contrasted them with early-career artworks as he established his distinctive visual idiom of abstract, figurative, polychromatic brilliance. In a photograph taken by Johns this past Autumn, Cummings appears diminutive standing between his 1990 African Jazz #12

African Jazz #5 72 x 60 inches (183 x 152 cm), 1990 photo by Christopher Burke Studio

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Christ Bearing Cross 7 x 7 feet (2.1 x 2.1 meters), 2003 photo by Christopher Burke Studio

and African Jazz #11, both nine feet tall — an appropriately ironic apposition given that this monumental scale dramatically distinguishes Cummings as a textile artist within the contemporary art world and yet belies the variegated appliqué and intricate quilting that Cummings realizes in all of his work.

Since readers of the SAQA Journal last read about Cummings in Cindy Grisdela’s 2019 cover article, “Michael Cummings: Artist Finds ‘Endless Possibilities’ in Fiber Art,” the artist has appeared in a multitude of publications, including on the cover of Terrence L. Johnson’s We Testify with Our Lives: How Religion Transformed Radical Thought from Black Power to Black Lives Matter (2021). As for exhibiting his artworks, Cummings had a 2020 solo show, African Jazz Series, at the National Quilt Museum, Paducah, Kentucky; participated in the 2021 group exhibitions Abstract Design in American Quilts at 50: New York Nexus at the International Quilt Museum, Lincoln, Nebraska; and in A Face Like Mine at the Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury, Connecticut, among other venues.

Of special note within this dense activity, Cummings displayed a number of pieces in the 2022 Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, England, whose organizers invited Cummings to self-curate his exhibition. He recounts how some audience members reacted to the large scale of his quilts combined with the force of his African-American and African-diaspora

Homage to Nelson Mandela 6.6 x 4.4 feet (2 x 1.3 meters), 2014 photo by Christopher Burke Studio

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President Barack Obama 5 x 3.8 feet (1.5 x 1.1 meters), 2010 photo by Christopher Burke Studio

I’ve Known Rivers 7.6 x 4.3 feet (2.3 x 1.3 meters), 2020 photo by Christopher Burke Studio

iconography. Indeed, Christ Bearing the Cross (2003) and the never-before-exhibited duo of Homage to Nelson Mandela (2014) and I’ve Known Rivers (2020) provoked intense emotions in viewers with memories of life oppressed by South African apartheid and sent into self-imposed exile, as well as the painful beauty of Cummings’ interpretation (and inclusion of excerpts) of Langston Hughes’s poem “The Negro Speaks of Rivers.”

Most recently, the William J. Clinton Presidential Library & Museum in Little Rock premiered its Women’s Voices, Women’s Votes, Women’s Rights exhibition. This special exhibition visually punctuated a panoply of artifacts and media with eighteen art quilts created to give energetic visual expression to “those who risked all they had to secure the vote and advance human rights.” As with the NEA award, Cummings received the singular invitation to exhibit for a male artist within the collection of quilts organized by

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Egungun A 67 x 48 inches (170 x 122 cm), 2021

photos by Christopher Burke Studio

Egungun C 108 x 74 inches (274 x 188 cm), 2021

independent curator Allison Wilbur. His Shirley Chisholm celebrates the first African-American woman elected to the United States Congress and the first ­African-American woman to pursue presidential nomination. As in many of his quilts from the past dozen or so years, such as Sister Gertrude Morgan and President Barack Obama, Shirley Chisholm features Cummings’ distinctive juxtaposition of word and text that catalyzes the transformation of ikon-like portraiture into a composition imbued with historical, poetical depth. Surrounded by a border of states’ flags and campaign buttons, the monumental figure

of Chisholm appears among election slogans, quotes, and political facts in the creation of a campaign-­ banner-like composition. Curator Dr. Allida Black enhanced the power of Cummings’ iconography by positioning his quilt in the exhibition with a life-sized image of Hillary Rodham Clinton.

With the momentum of these accomplishments since 2019, the year 2023 looks promising for the ever-innovative Michael A. Cummings. The University Museum at Texas Southern University is purchasing I’ve Known Rivers (2020); in June through September, three of his artworks will be on view in see “Cummings” on page 107

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focus on commissions

Ripples Each unit 24 x 24 inches (60 x 60 cm), 2010

A fascination with photography

by Wen Redmond

A

s a former home economics teacher who taught sewing by making soft sculpture in the 70s, I became a self-taught quilter, an explorer of surface design techniques, and a digital photographic adventurer. My fascination with photography finds expression through printing my digitally manipulated photographs directly onto various mixed-media substrates, as well as specially treated natural fibers, to create unique photographic textural constructions— what I call Digital Fiber.

Photography has been a passion for many years.

When a person takes photographs, the eye is cultivated, developing an awareness and sensitivity to one’s surroundings. Taking lots of photos is the ticket, and we certainly are no longer limited by film or memory cards. My current work exploded with the digital revolution, computers, and easy access to printers. I love to explore combining photos with images of my painted fabrics, works in progress, or inspirational

imagery in the various photo programs available, a 21st-century toolbox. The results are often surprising and delightful.

This art quilt commission began after I was contacted by an art management company. They had noticed my work at my craft booth during the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen at the ­Sunapee fair.

They wanted art for display at a new Dana Farber Institute in South Weymouth, Massachusetts. I worked with a representative of the art firm, submitting several images for consideration. They selected an image of water ripples that I took after dropping a stone into the water, commissioning a triptych using the same image.

I played with the composition, layering with images of my painted fabrics, and came up with six images, from which they selected three. I proposed creating my signature holographic fiber technique with a see “Redmond” on page 106

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Minimalism When less is more

by Patty Kennedy-Zafred

O

rder, simplicity, and harmony were among the theme words used to inspire artists submitting quilts for SAQA’s newest exhibition, Minimalism, premiering at the European Patchwork Meeting in Alsace, France, in September 2023. SAQA members responded in a multitude of ways, creating works that reflected the importance of line, shape, form, and color.

Juried by internationally renowned Canadian artist Dorothy Caldwell, Minimalism features the work of forty-three artists from around the world. Formally trained as a painter, Caldwell early in her career was familiar with the concept of this austere abstract art style but was influenced to consider textiles in her

Joanne Alberda Blue Line 47 x 93 inches (119 x 236.2 cm), 2021

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own work after viewing the 1971 exhibition of traditional quilts at the Whitney Museum of American Art embodying stripes, squares, and daring colors.

She considered this jurying experience as a new opportunity to consider Minimalism’s relevance in the modern world of art, through the lens of contemporary art quilts.

Art quilts, and the techniques used to design and create them, have evolved significantly during the past fifty years, and although simplicity in line, tone or geometry is evident in Caldwell’s selections, so too are sophisticated forms of surface design, quilting, and pattern.

Color takes center stage in several pieces, including Joanne Alberda’s Blue Line. Hand-dyed fabric, mixed with commercial black cotton, creates a dynamic vertical curtain of movement and mood.

Jill Kerttula Spring Emerges in the Midwest Fields 30 x 42 inches (76 x 107 cm), 2022

Closer inspection of the blue areas reveals patterning in the Procion dye, resulting in a dimensional appearance as if the fabric were rippling in motion.

Jill Kerttula relies on the simplicity of two horizontal bands of color in Spring Emerges in the Midwest Fields, her reflection on the expanses of Midwest farmlands beginning to emerge from winter. Small strips of green peek through the snow, and intense

lines of quilting create a surface that truly results in “miles of barren beauty.”

Curves and the application of brilliant color shine in Kelly Spell’s Celestial Swirl, part of her ongoing series that explores movement and energy. The muted yet vibrant color palette glistens with the addition of metallic thread, as the overlapping curves lead the eye from one side of the quilt, around, and back to the other edge.

Kelly Spell Celestial Swirl 38 x 65 inches (96 x 165 cm), 2022

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Kathy York Conversations 33 x 52 inches (132 x 84 cm), 2020

Cindy Grisdela Balancing Act 41 x 42 inches (104 x 107 cm), 2022 photo by Gregory R. Staley

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Kathy York’s overlapping curves of color refer to an abstraction of talking and listening, as multiple bands of color play across the field, some overlapping, shifting tone in the visual interaction. York created Conservations as a whole-cloth quilt, painted with Procion dyes in stunning precision.

Cindy Grisdela explores the relationships between large curved shapes and open negative space in Balancing Act, which seems to topple outside of the boundary of the quilt. Grisdela cut all of the shapes freehand, using the rotary cutter as a drawing tool.

She then filled in the negative space with dense ­stitching.

Susan J. Lapham Playland #1 82 x 83 inches (208 x 211 cm), 2020

From a distance, Playland #1 by Susan J. Lapham attracts the viewer for a closer look, revealing countless tiny pieces of fabric, stitched together to form squares and rectangles in subtle monochromatic black and white, resulting in a geometric puzzle. Lapham considers this piece a “unique juxtaposition of bold and graphic and dazzlingly complex, yet minimalist, design.”

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Heidi Koenig Can you see me?

72 x 23 x 13 inches (184 x 54 x 34 cm), 2022

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Experimentation led to success for Heidi Koenig, as she worked through the concept for her piece, Can you see me? Playing with light and dark colors on a long panel, she discovered that, by turning the panel into a three-dimensional loop, a simple abstract figure appeared. By applying discharge paste on black cotton fabric, along with black solid fabric, she made an intriguing textural field that brings additional interest to the innovative final shape of this quilt.

Unique use of surface design techniques is evident in Perinatal Depression by Karen Rips, who relied on discharge and hand-dyed fabric to ­create a tactile work featuring large areas of manipulated ripples of fabric. She notes that the tactile nature of fiber is the “perfect medium to abstract or simplify ideas and images into basic shapes, lines, and textures to convey my thoughts.”

Minimalism will undoubtedly create a bold, appealing exhibition in the many upcoming venues where it will travel through 2026, providing additional inspiration in the approaches and techniques on view. As Dorothy Caldwell concludes in her juror’s statement, “Multiple interpretations of ‘Minimalism,’ in the dynamic world of the Art Quilt, challenge viewers to experience a movement rooted in the 1960s in a thoroughly modern context.”

Karen Rips Perinatal Depression 40 x 40 inches (101.6 x 1017 cm), 2020 photo by Ted Rips

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artists to watch “ Artists to watch” feature stories are edited by Diane Howell

Kathy Brown Modbury, Australia Take some time to look at Kathy Brown’s art quilts and you will feel her compassion for the fragile flora and fauna of Australia.

Her work is not only beautifully detailed, but also a reminder of the need to save endangered lives.

Detour to art I didn’t set out to become a textile artist. I grew up learning to sew clothes, embroider, knit, and crochet. It took becoming very ill and retiring at age 46 for me to sew again. I couldn’t go to workshops or sit at a sewing machine for a number of years, so I learned from friends, books, and magazines.

Initially all my work was by hand.

I didn’t enjoy making patchwork, which felt structured. I wanted to try the challenging ideas that I saw in textile art books and magazines.

Because I had no preconceived ideas of how to make quilts, I enjoyed experimenting. I thrive on designing and process. Most of my quilts take between two to five years to make.

Caring mission I was born in a small country town on the edge of the Murray Mallee, a grain-growing and sheep-farming area in South Australia. My father’s grandparents bought land near my hometown and, hoping for rich farming soil, cleared the land.

Mallee trees (a term inclusive of many species of trees and shrubs, most of them eucalyptus) grow in areas of low rainfall and are extremely slow growing. It can take up to 400 years for a mallee tree to develop hollows big enough to house a numbat, a small marsupial. It soon became obvious that the land was not suitable for cropping and the rainfall was, at best, spasmodic. Huge areas of mallee have been cleared in Australia. This loss has meant that Australia is known as the fourth worst country in the world for species extinction and is in the top three for critically endangered animals.

Clearing, drought, fire, and feral animals are the greatest threat to the wildlife. Are We Too Late? The Mallee Emu Wren concerns the possible extinction of this bird in South Australia. This tiny bird nests in spinifex (a native grass) and can’t fly far. I was concerned that a fire through the area would devastate the last remaining group, so the quilt is quite dramatic, showing the birds nesting peacefully with photo by Henrik Kam

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photos by Peter Hurt

fire around them. Unfortunately, we were too late in this location.

Is One Egg Enough? The Southern Scrub Robin tells the story of the endangered southern scrub robin, another bird that can’t fly far. It lays one egg in a nest on the ground. The egg and resultant chick are at risk from foxes and feral cats.

You can see that I’m inspired by nature and I love to record it with as much accuracy as I can. That’s both the challenge and the anxiety. I see emotion as a tool for change. I want the viewer to be able to relate to the story, to enjoy or marvel at the scene and perhaps take away a sense of sadness that what they are seeing

Is One Egg Enough? The Southern Scrub Robin 35 x 28 inches (89 x 71 cm), 2010

Are We too Late? The Mallee Emu Wren 28 x 34 inches (71 x 86 cm), 2011

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The Plight of the Mallee Fowl 53 x 49 inches (135 x 124 cm), 2007

might not be around in years to come. Compassion may help bring about action. Action may save our scrub and our native fauna.

Series work One of my two series is centered on the mallee and the birds that are endangered or threatened. Research into the birds meant they became the focus. This series began with my first quilt, The Plight of the Mallee Fowl. Each quilt highlights a specific story related to a bird, which determines the scene and the processes used.

My second series is about texture and trees. I love our native eucalyptus. Australia has 900 species and they are all so different. I love their barks—so textural and full of color. Then we have the paperbarks with their texture, color, and movement.

I’m constantly looking for fabrics and threads that help show the texture and colors of the bush — cottons, silks, wools, old clothes, and synthetics. I also use a lot of landscape-themed quilting fabrics.

Sometimes I paint silks or cottons, or stiffen fabrics and threads to get the look I want. I hand-painted the gum leaves in Majestic Proud and Strong.

The colors I choose are linked to the environment I portray, although often just a little brighter or bolder.

Careful observation means that I see more color in a subject than one might notice from an initial glance.

The development of texture, the use of handwork, and attention to detail is consistent throughout my work. I love texture, and if I can tempt someone to want to touch my art quilts, I’ve succeeded.

I achieve texture with experimentation. I try lots of different techniques, such as hand embroidery, quilting, felting, beading, heat distressing, layering,

Majestic Proud and Strong 67 x 36 inches (170 x 91 cm), 2008

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Growing Pains 54 x 40 inches (137 x 102 cm), 2014

using shrink magic, fused appliqué, and photo manipulation.

Growing Pains is extensively detailed, representing a growth scar of an immature river red gum tree. Looking closely at a real scar and the subsequent “bleeding,” you see the impact the split has on the bark.

I experimented for months to get the multitude of effects. Majestic Proud and Strong has bark made from an old stretch corduroy jacket cut into strips, sewn, stiffened, painted, and linked with hand embroidery.

Nature’s Artist – The Paperbark is an example of extensive handwork and quilting.

My birds are usually hand-embroidered using stump work, embroidering various parts of the bird onto silk then bringing all the components together to give greater dimension.

What’s ahead?

My goals are simple. As a story demands to be told, I find a way to do so. I hope that viewers enjoy my work and are inspired to help in some small way and perhaps try some of the techniques they see.

Nature’s Artist – The Paperbark 51 x 45 inches (130 x 115 cm), 2020

www.instagram.com/kathybrownartquilter

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artists to watch

Mary Kay Fosnacht Overland Park, Kansas Mary Kay Fosnacht’s bold art quilts capture our attention with color and movement.

Every element is carefully thought out in her well-constructed pieces, and the quilting stitches are integral to the stories they tell.

State of the Union 35 x 29 inches (89 x 74 cm), 2016 State of the Union

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Sunflower

Museum at Prairiefire

24 x 24 inches (61 x 61 cm), 2022

24 x 24 inches (61 x 61 cm), 2023

A starting point

Museum at Prairiefire was made for a possible exhibition called Architecture on the Edge.

The smaller group is more technique-based, and there is room to experiment and make mistakes.

I began quilting after I moved to Overland Park, Kansas, from Chicago in the early 1990s. I found a book that featured a quilt with a piano design that I knew I had to make — I already knew where it would hang near the piano. The book explained the technique, but I quickly acquired a threeword nemesis: “quilt as desired.” I had to take a class to learn how to quilt.

At first I made traditional block-style quilts and took classes, but soon I was creating my own designs. I’m inspired by everyday things: a hike in an aspen forest, a geometric shape, a poem, a picture, or a problem to be solved. Sometimes, an overarching emotion inspires me, as was true during the 2020 election and the pandemic. I also have a desire to tell stories, such as the plight of the refugee or an interpretation of my husband’s poetry.

I enjoy the tactile nature of fabric. I relish the process of finding the ideal color and pattern and putting the puzzle pieces together. It is satisfying to work through each decision and solve the puzzle. I also love a challenge. Working within parameters keeps me focused and motivated.

I belong to an international group called 20 Perspectives, which presents three challenges a year, and a small local group that has monthly challenges. The international group’s challenges are theme-based and intended for exhibition.

I made Sunflower for the Nature challenge.

Voicing feelings My art sometimes reflects my current feelings.

State of the Union was created in 2017 and was not meant to be a political statement. Rather, it was a reflection on what I was processing internally as a result of “fake news,” “alternate facts,” and the tension I was feeling.

When I approach a new project or envision a subject, I like to define its essence. Focusing on the essence provides the clarity needed to emphasize the core message. For example, my husband asked me to create art based on reflections he wrote about three Bible stories, referred to as The Scrutinies: The Woman at the Well, The Man Born Blind, and The Raising of Lazarus. The challenge was to create something modern and not too literal. After many sketches, I captured the essence of each story. The resulting triptych was accepted to Sacred Threads in 2019 and was awarded the third-place prize at Verostko Center for the Arts in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, in 2021.

Color strategies Color can represent different ideas or emotions in my work. In Diaspora: Journey to Sanctuary, SAQA Art Quilt Quarterly | 31

The Scrutiny Quilts 39 x 69 inches (99 x 175 cm), 2018

the blues and greens used in the first panel represent abundant food and water. Red represents a catastrophic event that causes an exodus, and, along with black and gray, carries through to the second panel to communicate unsanitary and deadly conditions in a refugee camp. Finally, in the third panel, a mix of colors represents an integrated place of sanctuary.

In For Such a Time as This, based on the Bible’s book of Esther, I used purple to represent the king and his kingdom, blue for the Jewish people, and turquoise for

Diaspora; Journey to Sanctuary 42 x 60 inches (107 x 152 cm), 2015

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Esther in the shape of concentric circles to signify her circle of influence and her intercession on behalf of the Jewish people.

The quilting stitch Quilting supports and enhances each story being told. For instance, in State of the Union, the larger arrows that change direction catch the eye first, but smaller arrows aimed in different directions are quilted within each large arrow.

For Such a Time as This 37 x 32 inches (94 x 81 cm), 2020

Dominant Curve in Space 32 x 46 inches (81 x 117 cm), 2012

In Diaspora: Journey to Sanctuary, the quilting is jumbled until the third panel where the squares line up in an organized way. Additionally, the blue background piece is quilted in latitude and longitude lines to invoke the global issue of displaced people.

Dominant Curve in Space was inspired by Wassily Kandinsky’s painting Dominant Curve. My piece has microorganisms quilted in the background as a nod to Kandinsky, who often incorporated these forms into his work.

Changing style When I began making art quilts, I created a lot of landscapes and representational pieces based on my photographs. However, in 2010, the Kansas City Modern Quilt Guild was founded and I was influenced by the modern aesthetic of negative space, solid color fabrics, and bold graphic design. Prior to this, I had never owned solid-color fabric and had never used white in my work. I went down that path for a while making abstract geometric quilts. Now I feel the pendulum swinging back to more organic subject matter.

I like to piece and take delight when corners and seams match up perfectly. But if raw-edge appliqué gets the job done, I opt for that method. Often, I combine both techniques. In Diamond of a Thousand Suns, I started with a small sketch, then drew out a full-size pattern on freezer paper that was used as templates. I pieced the center star and background, then couched gold trim on top. The small offset

t­ riangles in the border are raw-edge appliqué. Finally, I heat-set Swarovski crystals scattered across the piece.

What’s ahead?

Exhibiting my work has become important to me in the last few years. In 2022, one of my goals was achieved when I had my first solo exhibition. I would like to continue that trend by exhibiting in widely known venues.

My husband and I recently acquired a second home in Phoenix, Arizona, close to our daughter, son-inlaw, and grandson. I have a small studio space there and look forward to forging new friendships and growing artistically. www.piecefularts.com

Diamond of a Thousand Suns 32 x 31 inches (81 X 79 cm), 2021

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artists to watch

Bella Kaplan Kfar-Giladi, Israel Bold, colorful, and graphic. These words describe the striking art quilts of Bella Kaplan, who translates the landscapes that surround her home into abstract beauty.

The beginning I was born in a city near Tel Aviv and married a man from a kibbutz in northern Israel. When I moved to the kibbutz, I was very far from my family. To lift my spirits, I studied ceramics at the nearby art institute. While studying, I became a teacher and taught ceramics to the schoolchildren and to the people in the kibbutz.

In one of the workshops, a woman taking my course brought in a textile piece. When I saw it, I fell in love.

The piece was a small cathedral window quilt, and it was the first time I had ever touched a quilt. It kindled a passion within me that led me to study quilting. I learned the basics of traditional quilt making and quickly moved on to creating art quilts, leaving ceramics behind.

Since I love working with color and no one in Israel was teaching how to dye fabric using the cold-water method, I traveled to the United States and took several courses with the best teachers in the field, including Ann Johnston.

Style and inspiration I think of my work as abstract. My quilts always include bright and strong colors. Most of my themes are inspired by a love of nature and the scenic views where I live, in an agricultural landscape. Everything around me is

Israel Giladi 20 x 23 inches (51 x 58 cm), 2021 34 | SAQA Art Quilt Quarterly

Sabra Bloom 49 x 47 inches (124 x 119 cm), 2021 photo by Dror Miller

green and growing: fields, orchards, and blossoms in different seasons. When I get up early in the morning and go for my daily walk, the road is surrounded on one side by mountains and on the other side by fields.

In the blooming season there are anemones in many colors. The Chinese redbud is bedecked with pink blooms and the Calicotome villosa (thorny broom) with yellow flowers. Almond trees have white and pink blooms, plus there are many more flowers. The smell is intoxicating.

Series approach I don’t usually work in series, although I often make similar pieces with the same themes. They are mostly on subjects such as nature and colorful scenery. The only time I work in a series is as part of the Fifteen by Fifteen group, an international group of textile artists.

At the beginning of each year, a theme is chosen and we submit a 15-inch-square work based on that topic every two months. The works are displayed on the

Fields 44 x 35 inches (112 x 89 cm), 2019 photo by Dror Miller

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Sabra 2 39 x 39 inches (99 x 99 cm), 2021 photo by Dror Miller

group’s website, where we receive comments from the group partners. In 2022, each of us had to select an artist and create work in that person’s style. I chose Georgia O’Keeffe and her flower paintings. I focused on the hibiscus and created six different works over the year. Our group works will be presented in exhibitions this year in Scotland, the Netherlands, France, and Taiwan.

My black-and-white portraits were part of an exhibition to honor the Hashomer, a Jewish defense group active from 1909-1920 responsible for guarding Jewish settlements. They were the first people to establish the kibbutz where I live. I thought it appropriate to do the portraits in black and white because all the pieces represent people who passed away many years ago.

These portraits were part of a solo exhibition that opened the art gallery at the Beit Hashomer Museum, which is within walking distance of our kibbutz.

Because I had the honor to be the first artist shown at 36 | SAQA Art Quilt Quarterly

the gallery, I paid tribute to some of our pioneer figures.

Materials and techniques I dye all the fabrics I use. The fabrics are white cotton, sometimes silk. I dye cotton fabric with Procion cold-water dye powder, producing different color runs and screen prints. On silk I create eco-prints.

Another significant aspect of my work is that I fuse all the fabrics I use. The planning of the work is done on top of polyester batting onto which I draw a general outline of what I want to create.

After that, I cut fabrics into the shapes I want and place them on the surface, not yet ironing them, just placing the fabrics so that I have the opportunity to move them if necessary.

If I plan to do screen printing on the work, I do so after ironing the fabric pieces into place and

Galilee view 52 x 49 inches (132 x 124 cm), 2019 photo by Dror Miller

before machine quilting. Because I also have a backing layer of fabric, once the printing is completed, the work is ready to be quilted.

What’s ahead?

I really like to create and to take part in exhibitions in Israel and around the world. I’m happy that my works win prizes and are published in magazines, books, and articles about art. In Israel the art quilt has not yet found its way into the art world, but I hope that it will one day. www.bellakaplan.com

Fields: Bird’s eye view 45 x 35 inches (112 x 89 cm), 2017 photo by Dror Miller

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artists to watch

Logically artful I began making traditional quilts in 2000. I enjoyed the process and the precision as well as selecting fabrics and putting them together in unexpected combinations. The next logical step was to create art quilts.

Luckily for me, I live in Northern California.

From the beginning, I took classes from quilting teachers at Empty Spools Seminars in Pacific Grove. Each spring I attend and add another skill to my toolbox. My serious work with art quilts started around 2015 and was influenced by teachers such as Ursula Kerns, Sue Benner, and Patty Hawkins.

Finding Neverland #8: All About Red 50 x 48 (127 x 122 cm), 2023

Jan Soules Elk Grove, California Color drives the art quilts created

by Jan Soules. She found inspiration to change direction during the pandemic, and the result has been award-winning pieces that bring joy.

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Palette choices My current work is inspired by color. I work in an improvisational style and create art quilts that

feed my soul. My process is intuitive as each piece evolves on the design wall without any pre-­planning.

My quilts are meant to be enjoyed. The viewer can interpret them as they wish. My new work is pure fantasy. I make quilts that make me happy. I find joy in creating and hope the finished product brings joy to others and a bit of color into their lives.

I especially like bright and bold colors.

However, having studied color theory, I realize that you need some quiet colors to contrast with the brights to enhance their impact. An accent color goes a long way.

When beginning a quilt, I usually start with a main color idea. For Finding Neverland #8: All About Red, I pulled out several red solid fabrics and laid them on my worktable. Then I went to my stash and pulled colors that I wanted to include to showcase the red. I chose several shades of blue from light to dark, orange, pink, black, grey, lime, and magenta. At this point, I took a photo of the selection. As the work progressed, colors were added or eliminated. In the final piece, only eight colors remained, with orange as the accent and red as the background color. I find this way of selecting colors very freeing.

When the piecing starts, I can see how the colors interact with each other.

A Dress in the Window 33 x 33 inches (84 x 84 cm), 2022

Setting a style I always envied artists who had a “style.”

My work was quite varied due to taking so many classes. I call it my experimental stage, which lasted way too long. Others said they recognized my work, but I couldn’t see it.

Now when I look back, I can see that I did have a style or direction, which I describe as semi-realistic because the quilts were based on my favorite photos.

The pandemic changed my life. Just as stores were about to close, I ran to the quilting store and purchased about fifteen

Sheltering in Place 47 x 47 inches (119 x 119 cm), 2020

SAQA Art Quilt Quarterly | 39

Bright Beginnings 23 x 23 inches (58 x 58 cm), 2021

Finding Neverland #1: Walled In 40 x 40 (102 x 102 cm), 2021

yards of various solid fabrics. My goal was to work with solids in a modern and contemporary way. My first quilt in this direction was Sheltering in Place, which was juried into the book Quarantine Quilts: Creativity in the Midst of Chaos by Sandra Sider. It is geometric with straight lines, basically black with pops of color. I made a few more similar pieces. I was excited but still searching.

I started taking online classes via Zoom and connected with Sheila Frampton Cooper.

I enrolled in her abstract workshop. Her exercises were just the impetus I needed to break free of creating with blocks. Bright Beginnings resulted from a simple exercise in working with a shape. It was still in a block format, but the shapes that emerged were new and promising. Then I started on my main project. I called it Finding Neverland #1: Walled In, a revolutionary piece for me. No more blocks to constrain me, just free-flowing shapes, one added to another. It was to be the beginning of a series, with numerous pieces entered into shows around the country, several winning awards. From the Finding Neverland series, a new series entitled Stepping Stones has evolved.

Process in play All my current works are improvisationally pieced. To begin a project, I select fabrics and choose one of the main colors from which to cut a large circle or oval, a little larger than a handprint. Then I choose another fabric to encircle it, although I do not try to do this with one piece of fabric. It usually takes three to four strips to surround the original piece.

If I like, I add a second row in the same way.

I make a few of these units. Then I decide if I want to leave them as is or cut into them. I usually slice through the shape and insert a narrow accent strip. Then I resew the parts together. When I’m satisfied, I think about how to join the various units together. I find

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Stepping Stones #3: Rockslide 42 x 43 inches (107 x 109 cm), 2023

the use of premade strip sets perfect for this.

The actual piecing can be very tricky and complicated, especially to get everything to fit.

I take a photo of each day’s progress and study it at night, making sure I’m moving in the right direction. Often, changing the orientation of the piece is all that’s needed.

What’s ahead?

Going forward, I hope to continue making art quilts that make me happy. I am currently utilizing my own screen-printed fabric made with Procion dyes. The fabrics were the result of workshops with Pat Pauly at Art Quilt Tahoe. I am incorporating some of my improvisational techniques with traditional blocks. I’m not sure of the outcome, but the journey is exciting. www.jansoules.com

Collision Course 32 x 37 inches (81 x 94 cm), 2022 SAQA Art Quilt Quarterly | 41

Portfolio Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) is pleased to present our Portfolio gallery. Each issue of Art Quilt Quarterly features a selection of artwork by juried artist members of SAQA, the world’s largest organization devoted to art quilts.

We hope you enjoy this opportunity to immerse yourself in these pages of wonderfully innovative artwork merging the tactile, technological, and traditional aspects of quilted art.

Founded in 1989, SAQA is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote the art quilt through exhibitions, publications, and professional development opportunities. We host an annual conference, publish a quarterly Journal, and sponsor multiple exhibitions each year.

www.saqa.com

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Margaret Abramshe Saint George, Utah, United States www.margaretabramshe.com

Mother Daughter 39 x 29 inches (99 x 74 cm) | 2023

SAQA Art Quilt Quarterly | 43

Portfolio Mary L. Harrison Alexander Hubbard, Ohio, United States maryloualexander.net

Luminous #3 40 x 40 inches (102 x 102 cm) | 2023

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Linda Anderson Eugene, Oregon, United States www.laartquilts.com

The Strength of Grace 48 x 40 inches (122 x 102 cm) | 2022 photo by Jamie Hamel-Smith

SAQA Art Quilt Quarterly | 45

Portfolio Nancy Bardach Berkeley, California, United States nancybardach.com

Assembly 30 x 44 inches (76 x 112 cm) | 2018

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Mary Beth Bellah Charlottesville, Virginia, United States www.marybethbellah.com

You Are My Treasure 43 x 63 inches (109 x 160 cm) | 2021 private collection

SAQA Art Quilt Quarterly | 47

Portfolio Arlene L. Blackburn Union Hall, Virginia, United States www.arleneblackburn.com

Genizaros 40 x 33 inches (100 x 83 cm) | 2023

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Ann Brauer Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts, United States www.annbrauer.com

modern spring 40 x 40 inches (102 x 102 cm) | 2023

SAQA Art Quilt Quarterly | 49

Portfolio Pat Budge Garden Valley, Idaho, United States www.patbudge.com

Passion 1 50 x 40 inches (127 x 102 cm) | 2022

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JoAnn Camp Greenville, Georgia, United States

Cape Disappointment 36 x 34 inches (91 x 86 cm) | 2022 photo by Kenny Gray

SAQA Art Quilt Quarterly | 51

Portfolio Anna Chupa Easton, Pennsylvania, United States www.annachupadesigns.com

Camino: The Road to Santiago 39 x 31 inches (99 x 79 cm) | 2022

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Shannon Conley Moore, Oklahoma, United States www.shannonconleyartquilts.com

Only You 53 x 42 x 4 inches (135 x 107 x 10 cm) | 2023

SAQA Art Quilt Quarterly | 53

Portfolio Judith Content Palo Alto, California, United States www.judithcontent.com

Gyres 48 x 96 x 24 inches (122 x 244 x 61 cm) | 2023 photo by James Dewrance

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Denise A. Currier Mesa, Arizona, United States deniseacurrier.com

Cactus Wren – Botanical Journey 35 x 18 x 9 inches (89 x 46 x 23 cm) | 2011

SAQA Art Quilt Quarterly | 55

Portfolio Fenella Davies West Sussex, United Kingdom www.fenelladavies.com

A Love Story 12 x 12 inches (30 x 30 cm) | 2021 private collection

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Maggie Dillon Sarasota, Florida, United States www.maggiedillondesigns.com

Mill Town Bus Stop 52 x 64 inches (132 x 163 cm) | 2023

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Portfolio Regina Dunn DeLand, Florida, United States www.reginabdunn.com

Taking Root 40 x 20 inches (102 x 50 cm) | 2017

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Sarah Lykins Entsminger Ashburn, Virginia, United States www.studioatripplingwaters.com

Golden Valley 24 x 50 inches (61 x 127 cm) | 2022

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Portfolio Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry Port Townsend, Washington, United States www.bryerpatch.com

Aquarium #3 56 x 41 inches (142 x 104 cm) | 2022

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Lisa Flowers Ross Boise, Idaho, United States lisaflowersross.net

Splendor in the Grass 31 x 30 inches (78 x 77 cm) | 2022

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Portfolio Judith Quinn Garnett Portland, Oregon, United States www.blackdogdesignpdx.com

2050 50 x 41 inches (127 x 104 cm) | 2018 photo by Nora Quinn Garnett

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Julia Graber Brooksville, Mississippi, United States www.juliagraber.blogspot.com

Morning at the Pond 33 x 25 inches (84 x 64 cm) | 2022

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Portfolio Cara Gulati San Rafael, California, United States caragulati.com

Lamplit Flower 37 x 31 inches (93 x 77 cm) | 2020 photo by Black Cat Photography

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Michele Hardy Silverthorne, Colorado, United States www.michelehardy.com

Colorfields : Chrysocolla 43 x 32 inches (109 x 81 cm) | 2022

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Portfolio Barbara Oliver Hartman Flower Mound, Texas, United States barbaraoliverhartman.com

Microcosm 56 x 38 inches (142 x 97 cm) | 2022 photo by Sue Benner

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Jean H. Howard Auxvasse, Missouri, United States jeanhowardquilts.com

Once Upon a Time 70 x 59 inches (178 x 149 cm) | 2017

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Portfolio Lisa Jenni Redmond, Washington, United States thinkquilts.com

Spring Pushing Green 30 x 30 inches (76 x 76 cm) | 2022

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Patty Kennedy-Zafred Murrysville, Pennsylvania, United States www.pattykz.com

Dust Bowl Diary 12 x 33 x 19 inches (30 x 84 x 48 cm) | 2021 photo by Larry Berman

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Portfolio Judy Kirpich Lewes, Delaware, United States www.judykirpich.com

Iceland No. 1 42 x 66 inches (107 x 168 cm) | 2022 photo by Mark Gulezian

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Susan Brubaker Knapp Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States www.susanbrubakerknapp.com

Glow 52 x 41 inches (131 x 104 cm) | 2022

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Portfolio Paula Kovarik Memphis, Tennessee, United States www.paulakovarik.com

Grid Interrupted 57 x 56 inches (145 x 142 cm) | 2023 photo by Allen Mims

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Deborah Kuster Hot Springs Village, Arkansas, United States www.deborahkuster.com

Why Do You Worry?

34 x 30 inches (86 x 76 cm) | 2021

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Portfolio Carol Larson Petaluma, California, United States www.carollarsonartist.com

Descent 40 x 35 inches (102 x 88 cm) | 2023

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Tracey Lawko Toronto, Ontario, Canada www.traceylawko.com

Milkweed & Grasses 18 x 14 inches (46 x 36 cm) | 2022 photo by Peter Blaiklock

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Portfolio Susan Leslie Lumsden Brooksville, Florida, United States www.rebelquilter.com

Wind is in From Africa 29 x 58 inches (74 x 147 cm) | 2022

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Regina Marzlin Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada reginamarzlin.com

Late Night Conversations 38 x 26 inches (95 x 65 cm) | 2022

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Portfolio Sherri Lipman McCauley Lakeway, Texas, United States www.sherrilipmanmccauley.blogspot.com

Inked 36 x 33 inches (91 x 83 cm) | 2023

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Kathy A. Menzie Topeka, Kansas, United States

Woodland Doorway 28 x 24 inches (70 x 60 cm) | 2022

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Portfolio Elizabeth Michellod-Dutheil le Châble/Villette, Valais, Switzerland www.elizabeth-michellod-dutheil.ch

De BELLUM *à propos de la guerre* 45 x 37 inches (114 x 95 cm) | 2022

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Susie M. Monday San Antonio, Texas, United States susiemonday.com

Day by Day 54 x 32 inches (137 x 81 cm) | 2020 photo by Ansen Seale

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Portfolio Suzan Ann Morgan Buckhannon, West Virginia, United States www.suzanannmorgan.com

affordable?

21 x 38 inches (53 x 97 cm) | 2018

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Elisabeth Nacenta-de la Croix Geneva, Switzerland www.elisabethdelacroix.com

La Pointe de la Jonction 28 x 31 inches (70 x 80 cm) | 2021 photo by Olivier Junod

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Portfolio Stephanie Nordlin Tucson, Arizona, United States

Sonoran Poppy Trio 39 x 40 inches (98 x 102 cm) | 2022

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Mary B. Pal Toronto, Ontario, Canada www.marypaldesigns.com

Resilience 24 x 18 inches (61 x 46 cm) | 2023

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Portfolio Claire Passmore Balaclava, Pamplemousses, Mauritius www.clairepassmore.com

Meltwater:Rising Tides 70 x 47 x 6 inches (178 x 119 x 15 cm) | 2021

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Kathryn Pellman Los Angeles, California, United States kathrynpellman.com

Inspired Quilt Secrets Folk Art Undefined 24 x 24 inches (61 x 61 cm) | 2022 photo by Johanna Love

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Portfolio Pixeladies (Deb Cashatt and Kris Sazaki) Cameron Park, California, United States www.pixeladies.com

Tower Theatre 72 x 45 inches (183 x 114 cm) | 2022

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Dorothy G. Raymond Loveland, Colorado, United States www.dorothyraymond.com

Turbulence 30 x 42 x 4 inches (77 x 107 x 10 cm) | 2022 photo by Mike Dunetts

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Portfolio Martha E. Ressler Hamburg, Pennsylvania, United States www.martharessler.com

Winter Guest 39 x 30 inches (99 x 75 cm) | 2022 private collection | photo by Jay M. Ressler

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Helena Scheffer Beaconsfield, Quebec, Canada www.helenascheffer.ca

Anemone 22 x 22 inches (56 x 56 cm) | 2022 photo by Maria Korab-Laskowska

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Portfolio Karen Schulz Silver Spring, Maryland, United States www.karen-schulz.com

30: Adrift 2020 72 x 47 inches (183 x 119 cm) | 2021 photo by Mark Gulezian/ Quicksilver

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Sara Sharp Austin, Texas, United States www.sarasharp.com

Beach House Breeze 32 x 23 inches (81 x 58 cm) | 2022

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Portfolio Sue Sherman Newmarket, Ontario, Canada www.sueshermanquilts.com

Life in the Anthropocene 63 x 73 inches (160 x 185 cm) | 2022

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Stephanie Shore Lexington, Massachusetts, United States

Firestorm 35 x 25 inches (89 x 64 cm) | 2022 photo by Joe Ofria

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Portfolio Sarah Ann Smith Hope, Maine, United States www.sarahannsmith.com

The Old Apple Tree 59 x 86 inches (150 x 218 cm) | 2022

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Joan Sowada Gillette, Wyoming, United States www.joansowada.com

Kate and Theo 20 x 31 inches (51 x 79 cm) | 2022 private collection | photo by Tim Williams

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Portfolio Jean Sredl Shawano, Wisconsin, United States www.sredl.com

Wyndsong 45 x 53 inches (114 x 135 cm) | 2021 photo by Tracy VanZeland

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Linda Syverson Guild Bethesda, Maryland, United States www.lindasyversonguild.com

Dad’s Workshop 30 x 30 inches (76 x 77 cm) | 2023 photo by Mark Guild

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Portfolio Maggie Vanderweit Guelph, Ontario, Canada www.stonethreads.ca

Families – Graffiti 1 41 x 35 inches (104 x 89 cm) | 2022

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Linda K. Waddle Auburn, California, United States lindawaddle.com

Oval Essence 38 x 33 inches (95 x 83 cm) | 2021

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Portfolio Lisa Walton Lewisham, New South Wales, Australia lisawaltonartist.com

Water For Life 40 x 26 inches (102 x 66 cm) | 2022

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Vickie Wheatley Louisville, Kentucky, United States vickiewheatley.com

Intersections 27 x 43 inches (69 x 109 cm) | 2023

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Portfolio Marianne R. Williamson Mountain Brook, Alabama, United States www.movinthreads.com

Naure’s Palette 41 x 50 inches (104 x 127 cm) | 2023 photo by Dan Cleary

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Zara Zannettino Highbury, South Australia, Australia

Stronger Together 16 x 16 inches (41 x 41 cm) | 2022

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Redmond from p. 19

c­ anvas giclee to their size requirements.

I was given a soft deadline as the building was under construction at the time.

Generally, commissions dictate the size and subject matter, as happened for this one.

Ripples Triptych was completed for the second-floor waiting room in a new building, the Dana Farber Cancer Building. I used my photograph of water, digitally manipulated and printed on archival digital canvas, bordered in hand-painted and surface-­designed fabrics. An interior section of the canvas image was removed, printed on transparent silk organza and inserted,

providing a holographic three-dimensional effect.

I priced the triptych at $2385. As often happens, payment was slow but eventually I was paid in full. I strongly recommend having a contract stipulating that a percentage of the cost is paid in advance. But I maintained a good relationship with the art consultant, who later purchased one of my art quilts outright for the Massachusetts General Brigham Salem Ambulatory Center in Salem, New Hampshire.

One result of working on commissions is that I have learned how much I prefer to have full control of what

spirituality

healing

PEACE

inspiration

joy GRIEF

Breaking Dawn by Linda Henke

Exciting News!

The next Sacred Threads will be held in Indianapolis in 2025. Check the website for all the details.

Traveling Exhibit

Our 2022 exhibit is traveling through the summer of 2024.

Check the website to find a location near you!

SPONSORED BY:

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I make and how. When I work on a piece, it has an energy and flow that’s difficult to capture under the strictures of commissions.

New England artist Wen Redmond explores photography through printing manipulated photographs onto mixed media substrates to create unique photographic textural constructions. She will be teaching online in November with Fibre Art Take Two. Redmond’s book Digital Fiber Art and Other Mixed Media Masterpieces includes information on her techniques, and her new book from Schiffer Publishing is forthcoming this year.

Cummings from p. 18 Uptown Triennial 2023 alongside a select group of other NYC artists in the new Wallach Art Gallery at Columbia University; and in September, the NEA will officially celebrate Cummings with a public ceremony and reception in which to bestow its highest honor for his memorable achievements.

Bradley J. Cavallo practices the art of Art History, a mode of analysis that he learned from Drs. Tracy E. Cooper, Marcia Hall, and Ashley D. West at Temple University. Cavallo’s Ph.D. dissertation analyzes how the materials of Italian Renaissance and Baroque art of the 16th and 17th centuries imbued the visual iconography of some artworks with spiritual and alchemical significance. The present article has widened the spectrum of his artistic interests.

Hudson River Valley Fiber Art Workshops Create, experiment, and learn with us at our historic Victorian property in New York’s inspiring Hudson Valley.

2023 Workshops Sue Spargo Apr 2-8 Sandra Mollon Apr 12-16 Sue Stone Apri 16-22 Denise Labadie Apr 23-29 Apr 30-May 6 Sarah Ann Smith Jul 30-Aug 5 Joe Cunningham Lisa Binkley Aug 6-12 Cindy Grisdela Aug 13-19 Deborah Fell Aug 20-26 Aug 27-Sep 2 Jane Sassaman Katie Pasquini Masopust Oct 8-14 Sue Benner Oct 15-21 Lesley Riley Oct 22-28 Jen Duffin Nov 1-5 Marjolaine Arsenault Nov 5-11 Susan Lenz Dec 10-16 www.fiberartworkshops.com | info@artworkshops.com | (518) 966-5219 | @HudsonRiverArt SAQA Art Quilt Quarterly | 107

spotlight on collections

Something Wicked This Way Comes 32 x 27 inches (80 x 69 cm) 2020 Collection: International Quilt Museum, University of Nebraska, Lincoln

Kathy Menzie

I had the name for this piece before I had a fully formed idea of what it would look like. During the early days of the pandemic, I couldn’t seem to do any studio work, so I read a lot, including Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes. That book perfectly described how I felt about the coronavirus — a horrible disease that was coming toward us and we weren’t prepared. I started looking through my photos to find an appropriate setting for the theme and found this scene of a somewhat forbidding courtyard. I depicted the virus particle as something “wicked” headed straight for us, down the stairs and through the open gates. But in the midst of this terrible time, there is a patch of light at the end of the stairway, signifying hope. A collector purchased my quilt from the touring Quarantine Quilts exhibition, eventually donating it to the International Quilt Museum.

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new acquisitions

Blue Heron 42 x 35 inches (107 x 89 cm) 2023

Bobbi Baugh

Blue Heron has been selected as the newest public art project for the City of DeLand, Florida. It will be printed in high resolution by a professional sign company on weather-resistant vinyl to exhibit in the covered entrance to City Hall for approximately five years.

The project was advertised as a public call-to-art with an artist’s stipend, attracting 27 applications and chosen by jury. Blue Heron is a digitally-created collage. I merged elements from two unique artworks — one, a small paper/textile collage, and the other, a large art quilt — to create the composition. The printed work will display near a brick bas-relief artwork depicting the St. Johns River.

I photographed my image of the heron near the St. Johns River, an important and beloved waterway for DeLand residents.

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UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS

Light the World

Primal Forces: Wind

Art Evolved: Intertwined

Color in Context: Red

Brigham City Museum of Art & History, Brigham City, Utah June 1 – Sept. 30, 2023

Yellowstone Art Museum, Billings, Montana June 30 – Oct. 21, 2023

National Quilt Museum, Paducah, Kentucky Aug. 4, 2023 – Jan. 10, 2024

International Quilt Festival, Houston, Texas Nov. 2-5, 2023

SAQA is dedicated to bringing thoughtprovoking, cutting-edge artwork to venues across the globe. Our members continue to challenge the boundaries of art and change perceptions about contemporary fiber art.

For complete listing:

www.saqa.com/art

For more information, contact William Reker exhibitions@saqa.com | 216.333.9146