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THE CHANDLER ARIZONAN | WWW.CHANDLERNEWS.COM | DECEMBER 26, 2021
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Chandler show celebrates quilts’ story magic BY SRIANTHI PERERA Arizonan Contributor
L
inda McCurry’s art quilt depicts adversity. Years ago, her Gilbert home caught �ire around the chimney; the �ire burnt downstairs near the �ireplace and upstairs through the master bedroom. Her koi �ish died in her pond due to �ire�ighters putting a �lame retardant in it. In �laming red, orange, brown and yellow, she traces the story in her quilt titled “From the Ashes.” “There was a lot of restoration to do,” McCurry said. “You could say from the ashes we rose and came back as strong as we could.” Stories such as this are what exhibit curator and judge Ellen M. Blalock sought when she was invited to assemble the City of Chandler’s annual art quilt show. Art Quilts XXVI: Stitching Stories, featur-
In her story quilt titled “Seeking Center/ Finding Balance,” Shelly White creates a visual snapshot of her goal of “calm” as she navigates competing concerns, an overload of information and confusion. The layered colors of nature, repetitive patterns and topographic lines help chart a path to peace, order, and beauty,” she said. (Courtesy of Shelly White.)
ing 64 story quilts made by 53 artists from across the country, runs through Jan. 8 at Vision Gallery and CCA Gallery. A resident of Syracuse, New York, Blalock is passionate about story quilts. “I know that quilters work and artists work in all kinds of different ways and I wanted to be inclusive of a lot of people’s voices because not everybody does �igurative work,” she noted. “What is also important to me is the story behind the quilt and not just a story the quilt is telling. Somebody may be having the story of why they made the quilt and or it could even be the process,” she added. Blalock herself is a narrative artist documentarian who works in photography, video, drawing and �iber. Most of her creations come in series form, such as the 32-piece Family Quilt Project; Not Crazy, which looks at mental illness in the African American community; and
the one on feminism. In addition to creating picturesque fabric art, Chandler artist-novelist Laurie Fagen often portrays causes important to her. For this show, Fagen chose to highlight a photograph her brother, a nurse practitioner, sent of himself: gowned, gloved and masked for work in the COVID ward. “I don’t typically manipulate photos in Photoshop for my �iber art, but this one I speci�ically did because it was the year of the pandemic, he was frazzled and the world was frazzled,” she said. “So, I changed the colors, I left threads attached to it, I just made it as frazzled as possible.” Fagen, who also authors crime �iction novels and creates polymer clay jewelry, imparts texture and dimension to her work. Her recent line of �iber art involves
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Chandler, EV ring in New Year with music BY SARAH HABER Arizonan Contributor
T
he Chandler Center for the Arts will be saying farewell to 2021 with a special New Year’s Eve show featuring four powerhouse vocalists and a 10-piece orchestra presenting the hits of Broadway shows. With Musical Director JR McAlexander, vocals will be provided by Jamie Parnell, Kristen Drathman, Kaitlynn Kleinman Bluth And Jordan Bluth. They will be performing the big bold music of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Rodgers & Hammerstein, as well as songs from “Mamma Mia!,” “Jersey Boys,” Carole King’s “Beautiful” and more. There will be a champagne toast and party favors as well as a photo booth for
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Music fills the air on New Year’s Eve New Year’s Eve at Mesa Arts Center. (Special to The Arizonan)
