Inspiring Quilting: Elly's blog to boost your creative IQ

Archive for the ‘Inspiration’ Category

A Flower Show is rather like a Quilt Show…

Tuesday, March 5th, 2013

The Philadelphia Flower Show is rather like a royal banquet: a feast for the eyes…and nose, for that matter. I’m not so green, having been to a few even in the years before my husband and I transplanted ourselves to within walking distance of the Convention Center. So I can say with some ability to judge by comparison that this year is as sumptuous and exciting as any. Worry not that the theme of Great Britain provides the horticultural parallel to bland English food. Rather, the title: “Brilliant!” inspired exhibitors to bring on the riches and inspiration by the barrel.

The Flower Show is rather like an art exhibit. As I constantly snapped pics–like everyone else holding up an Iphone, cell phone, Ipad, or humongous big box camera with telescoping lens–I realized that the same elements that make art well, art, make for a successful floral arrangement or garden bed: color, contrast, value, line, texture, pattern play, composition, balance, rhythm, repetition.

A flower show is rather like a collection of stories. And storytelling is where the Philadelphia Flower Show exhibits are bloomin’ awesome. The Commonwealth (of England, that is, not Pennsylvania) provides lots of inspiration for conjuring up romantic idylls—cottage gardens, rustic hideaways, Mary Poppins and Peter Pan roof-tops. There is more than a nod to literature, i.e., Beatrix Potter, Lewis Carroll, Jane Austen.

Some of the very best scenes were inspired by Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde, Sherlock Holmes, and Harry Potter, though my flashbulb dispelled the magic of the dark spaces of laboratories, back alleys and narrow passageways, underground subway stations and ancient crypts.

Surely, the graphic jolt and nostalgic sentiments of books and text heightens the take-away of a flower show:

Pop culture played loud and clear as well, with too many yellow submarines to count, and a Peter Max-like review of musicians playing on the Big Ben clockface screen.

A flower show is rather a heady affair, and with a British accent and the most recent royal wedding, this means crowns and fascinators. You remember, those little headpieces that defy gravity as they perch atop the head? The breakout fashion accessory seen at the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton? Lots of show-goers took advantage of a make-and-take opportunity and sported their fascinators through the show and out into the wintry winds. Of course, the headgear of the show were all composed of floral sprigs, stalks, berries, pods, leaves, moss, and fresh flowers.

One popular feature of the flower show is rather like an exhibit of dollhouses. There are always long lines to peer at the miniature displays, but at the end of the evening on a Monday, I was able to drag the husband through at a good clip. He admitted the prize winners were mind-bogglingly sophisticated, rather than cloyingly cute.

A flower show is rather like a scavenger hunt: Looking closely rewards you with inspiration for recycled and unusual materials and containers.

Come to think of it, the Philadelphia Flower Show delivers everything I love about quilts in a juried quilt show: all the elements of art and artistry, storytelling, surprising materials and innovative techniques, use of text and graphics, fascinating wearables, and fabulous miniatures.

It even included a quilt hidden among the foliage! A priceless olde English heirloom you’d put out in the garden…methinks not! More likely, a tufted pinwheel pattern of feedsack fabrics, and downright American.

Yes, a flower show is very like a quilt show. So you tell me, why do YOU think so many quilters are fond of gardening?

Posted in Color, Flowers, Inspiration | 9 Comments »

Yellow = Optimism

Wednesday, November 14th, 2012

Yesterday, the hubster wanted to take a walk, and take in one of the last warm and gorgeous days of the year. Seeing how the gingko in front of our townhouse and the maple in back of it had just turned gorgeously golden, I ran to get my camera. Soon, I had a bad case of Yellow Fever: I couldn’t stop snapping wherever lemon, butterscotch, or canary turned up. And Hubby was soon beating me to the Hello Yellow moments, pointing out the best shots, whether mellow yellow or mighty yellow.

Not all the yellow was flora, mind you. Still, the color endowed any item–no matter how mundane or humble–with zing.

Didja get a load of that BRIGHT yellow house in my ‘hood? (How could you miss it?!) And at the risk of inviting more yellow puns or yolks, er, jokes, folks, it’s time to apply the Glad packaging of yellow to quilts. Here’s what that fab colorist, Kaffe Fassett does with yellow; this is Nona, from his book of a few years back, Passionate Patchwork:

And here’s Bouquet, by the wonderful, always thought-provoking folk artist, Ginny Smith:

The late, great, Jean Ray Laury knew a thing or two about yellow, as shown in this quilt she made of her commercial fabrics:

Here’s a sensational bit of whimsy from Jack M. Walsh III’s collection, as seen at the Morris Museum a few years back. Doesn’t the background color (ad)dress the happy dilemma faced by the artist’s daughter in getting dressed every morning? I seem to recall that the embroidered text repeats, “Does this look good on me?” I truly regret that #1, it’s not in good focus, and #2, I don’t remember who created it…Can someone help me fill in the appropriate credit? And maybe I can get a good image from the folk artist, one that does this piece justice.

Let’s sashay on down the yellow brick road to my work. BIG surprise, and humble, yellow-bellied confession: I don’t look good in yellow, and even standing near it makes me look jaundiced. Sooooo, I have actually used yellow startlingly little in my quilts and my wearables! But since black and white makes ANY color rock, I did make a big yellow taxi tote:

Here’s where you can find the free directions.

Or, take inspiration from any of the projects in my book, Unforgettable Tote Bags: 20 Designs too cool to leave in the car.

Or, bring me to your guild or local quilt shop to teach the workshop, Unforgettable Tote Bags. (You don’t have to use yellow.)

By now, I bet you’ve figured out the secret to using yellow. Even a little adds a dash of fun, joy, hope, cheer, sunshine. Pair it with its complement, purple (or lavender) to make it sing. Rev it up with red; cool it down with aqua. Go natural with shades of cream, or ramp up the star power with metallic gold and copper.

Here’s a couple of pillows I made for gifts –to bring some shine and sunshine to a comfy spot.

Anyone who has seen Sunflowers knows Van Gogh’s favorite color. Hey, skip the Van, Go Yellow! We all live in a Yellow Submarine, a Yellow Submarine, a Yellow Submarine…Now to dive into my next quilt project…and pick from among my photos to create an upbeat piece of quilted art. What’s your vote?

Posted in Color, Gingko, Inspiration | 10 Comments »

What have we wrought here?

Sunday, July 8th, 2012

While producing the book, Choosing Quilting Designs–one of the volumes of the Rodale’s Successful Quilting Library Series, I really got jazzed fleshing out unexpected sources of inspiration as suggested by Elsie Campbell in the chapter, “Great Inspirations.” Since then, I have frequently snapped architectural details with an eye toward how I might find good candidates for quilting. Here are some elegant ones, all in wrought iron, from my trip to Brussels, Belgium earlier this year:

My hubby and our friends walked the Art Nouveau neighborhoods, and I could hardly stop snapping:

But here’s my all-time favorite design:

That window design was the one that inspired my latest piece of wearable art. As I was designing for summer, it unfurls itself as free-motion stitchery and applique rather than quilting. I used it to embellish–and rescue–a sort of kimono top that I got at Loehmann’s decades ago. It came with a skirt that no longer fits–go figure! (Cuz my figure has already gone!).

Oh so blah!

Click on this to enlarge for an embarrassing bootie call!

Traced the blown-up window image onto Sulky Solvey.

So now I had a pattern to follow, and a stabilizer. Once the lines were free-motion stitched with a heavy thread–like King Tut, the kimono was rinsed, and the Sulky Solvey dissolved.

Next, I added circle and leaf shapes: pulling from my black and white fabrics, with Wonder-Under to fuse, a lighter-weight thread to outline and secure.

Doncha like the modesty panel I added to the bottom–to cover my bottom? Also lengthened the sleeves–cuz what’s the good of a short-sleeve jacket, anyway?

If you’d like to hear more about Choosing Quilting Designs, learn about it here.

Wanna bring a fun program to your quilt guild? I’ve got lots of wearable art pieces that fit a multitude of body shapes, so YOU get to be the runway models for Quilt Wearabouts: Strut Your Stuff. Tons of inspiration and laughs! Add a Show ‘n Tell where guild members bring their wearables–tote bags and purses, too. Just click on the colored text above, and I’ll take you there (so to speak).

Comments always welcome!! No gobblety-gook to type in to prove you’re not a robot! Tell me what you think! Tell me what unlikely sources of inspiration rock your quilting designs!

Posted in Fashion or Costume, Inspiration, Wearable Art | 3 Comments »

Gingko = Memory

Tuesday, May 29th, 2012

Who doesn’t love a gingko leaf? Possibly the most graceful form to be found in nature. Each as unique as a snowflake, its veins radiating out from a sinuous, curvy stem into a blade that’s rippled or notched. Of course, the essence of its beauty is its fan shape, conjuring up timeless Oriental serenity. Which makes sense when you realize that the ginkgo is one of the oldest forms in nature. Fossils of early versions date back 270 million years–now doesn’t that make you feel young? The species survived the Pliocene age only in a small area of central China, where it has been cultivated for a very long time. The proof is in the garden: there are some gingkos at Chinese temples that are thought to be over 1,500 years old. And Europeans found gingkos in Japanese temple gardens more than three centuries ago.

So it stands to reason that many quilters who look east for inspiration find the gingko leaf to be a most evocative motif. One such extraordinary talent is Lonni Rossi (LonniRossi.com), who often incorporates Asian inspiration into her commercial fabrics for Andover, her one-of-a-kind silk screened fabrics that she creates in her studio and sells in her shop, and in her masterpieces. Here’s the art quilt Lonni made as a gift for her sister’s 50th birthday:

Harmony, by Lonni Rossi

How I envy the recipient! But you know, any quilter can have a Lonni Rossi design: Her Seasons of the Moon is on the cover of my Skinny Quilts & Table Runners II (click here) and her Pocket Masterpiece is one of the cover models in my Unforgettable Tote Bags (click here). Check out Lonni’s website for other patterns and kits. And for more pure inspiration from Lonni, take a long look at this triple panel wall hanging that simulates a kimono. Lonni used her own hand-painted silk, and planted a gingko leaf for a focal point:

Triptych #1, by Lonni Rossi

Gingko leaves in the free-motion quilting, with decorative threads

Back to botany: The genus, sometimes spelled ginkgo, means “silver apricot” in Chinese and later in Japanese. The species is Biloba, bi-lobed, or two lobes. Strange names, and if you find them hard to remember, you may be one of many folks who take a form of Ginkgo Biloba to enhance memory. Knowing this, you’ll understand why I have often used the leaf motif in my Memory quilts. Here’s one about family, and if you knew the very skinny genus—er, genes of my peeps, you’ll get why this Skinny Quilt is called Stringbeans:

Stringbeans, by Eleanor Levie

If you happen to live on the internet and you see my blog today, you might think Memorial Day compels me to commemorate memory, specifically lives lost in war. And that would be most appropriate, as my father is a proud WWII vet, and these days, everyone I know hopes and prays that our military sons and daughters return safely from deployments overseas.

But what actually brought me to blog about gingkos is much closer to home. To be perfectly candid, it’s standing in front of my home, on the side of our very narrow, historic street. As you’ll see in the photos below, a curtain of green and then yellow leaves outside my home office window, and as the leaves fell, an autumnal yellow carpet on the streets are high on the list of reasons we fell in love with and bought this Center-City Philadelphia townhouse a year and a half ago.

Alas, lumberjacks working for the city took it down a few days ago. It was decided that it was too big, breaking up the sidewalk and street. But serendipity sneaked in. Months ago, we had asked the city to gift us a new tree on our side of the street. Reasoning that we had the gingko, and that a different tree wouldn’t grow so big, we gave our preferences for three other options. But what do you know, another gingko was chosen for the site and recently planted with the help of volunteers from our civic association. This time around, it’s a clone of a better species that won’t grow as tall, yet will branch out high, to soar above our four-story building. A happy ending…as long as I’m willing to wait until this blog is but a distant memory!

Posted in Gingko, Inspiration, Memory | 3 Comments »

Moony Over Quilting

Friday, May 4th, 2012

More luminous than any night so far this year: this Saturday, May 5. Yup, we can all party heartier and longer for Cinco de Mayo, and after the Kentucky Derby. Why? Cuz NASA predicts a Super-Moon: as much as 14% bigger and 30% brighter than other full moons of 2012.

Like everyone else, but especially women, artists, poets and songwriters, I get moon-struck, moony-eyed, over-the-moon-thrilled with a big, beautiful moon. It always makes me wax eloquent!

And I’d like to say that was enough to inspire me to make the quilt shown on the right. Alas, sheer desire just ain’t enough for this busy broad. I had two impetuses (impeti??)—Take Two: I had two compelling reasons to make “Blue Moon” (which BTW means the second full moon in a month). One: The Blue Moon auction to benefit one of my favorite causes: my local Planned Parenthood. And two, a place to complete work done in a workshop— a once-in-a-blue-moon opportunity to learn from the amazing Roberta Horton. Roberta calls the class Japanese Patchwork, and it involves Yukata cloth, but for my mooney, er, money, it’s visionary—and fun— in terms of working with any large-scale print.

To extend and complement the patchwork, I made a great big circular applique. Starting with a mottled gray fabric, I sponged and stamped white and slate fabric paint to suggest craters and valleys. I cut out a perfect circle from thermal template plastic, and cut the painted fabric 1/4″ larger all around, then pressed the edges under with my iron. Almost as rare as a blue moon: me doing needle-turn applique!

My patchwork sections asymmetrically bookending the moon, I was ready for my favorite phase, other than lunar: free motion quilting. Around the moon: song titles and lyrics referring to the moon. Elsewhere, phrases of a word-play lunatic:

It was worth the frustrating struggles that glitzy thread often poses!

Another frustration was that auction: The auctioneer didn’t know enough to describe it in lustrous terms and started the bidding at an embarrassingly low figure. Attendees were left in the dark as to the amount of work, detail, and customized connection to the cause. My husband was willing to up the bidding and even win the piece, but that seemed looney or smacking of bad-sportsmanship. The following year, this quilt did only slightly better:

Ah well. Winsome, lose some. In quilting, I am an amateur—a lover of quilting who doesn’t sell her work. Charity auctions—especially annual ones—have me working in a series, trying out new ideas, and open up a way of assessing the value of my art. I say, if you don’t have what it takes (read, millions) to be a philanthropist, at least you can contribute a quilt!

That’s my seque into my current project: Just started my quilt entry for the Alliance of American Quilts 2012 contest. This year’s rules require a house shape…and my piece just might have a moon in the window! It’s a great cause, and a good way for those who lack confidence in the value of their art to be a star, show their work to very appreciative, supportive viewers, collect “votes” of confidence , and get a sense of value in what you do, and a sense of achievement, too. The deadline is June 1, so we all better hurry! When the next full moon in June occurs (the 4th), it’ll be too late.

Oh, I forgot to mention–there are incredible prizes for the contest winner. I’m gonna shoot for the moon. How about you?

Posted in Art + Quilt, Inspiration, The Moon | 6 Comments »

Pick a Pomegranate, Perhaps

Thursday, April 12th, 2012

“Choose a motif to represent yourself,” said South African contemporary quilt artist Rosalie Dace (rosaliedace.co.za). In this extraordinary class called “Signs & Symbols” that I took at Quilt Surface Design Symposium four summers ago, Rosalie explained that even basic shapes can be used to express your essence. Circles and curvy, round shapes, for example, are intuitively feminine forms. Rosalie, hot as a teacher as well as quilter, frequently uses the sun of Durban, her hometown, in her work. Me, I tend to be pretty fruity. My body, I figured, brings the pear to mind, but I picked the pomegranate. The rich colors, the bulbous form, and that crown–it says diva to me.

I’ve just pulled out that class piece I worked on in 2007 and brought home to finish…but never got around to. In showing it to you here, the pressure is on to go back and make it ripen it to fruition! Please share a critical comment–plant a seed in my brain to help me organize and improve the composition, or to motivate me to just get it done! As a thank you, I’ll enter you into a drawing for my book, Unforgettable Tote Bags: 20 designs too cool to leave in the car.

NEWS FLASH: The amazing Pamela Allen of Canada just honored me with more than a mere crit, but a dynamic, digital rendition. Had to add right here, right now. Because it’s such a brilliant idea, with potential to work in many other applications–your work, perhaps! What Pamela did was to adapt elements from my piece and echo and elongate them for unity, cohesiveness, and flow.

Pamela pitches pomegranates to perfection!

I can’t wait to play with this concept, using my cut and paste, er, pin way of working. Now, back to the blog.

Ahh, the mystery, the history of this fantastical fruit!

Embroidered panel I saw recently at the Jewish Museum of Belgium, in Brussels.

Did you know…?

The forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden is thought to have been a pomegranate. (Since when did you ever see apple trees in the Middle East, the cradle of civilization?)
Ancient Egyptians regarded the pomegranate as a symbol of prosperity and ambition. (A few of these fancy fruits–to dry and set out in a big bowl–is gonna set you back quite a few dollars, so you better have a good amount of disposable income for this showy decorating effect.)
In India, for generations, the rind of the fruit and the bark of the pomegranate tree has been used to treat diarrhea, dysentery, and hemorrhoids; to stop nose bleeds; and, in combo with mustard seed oil, to tone skin and firm up sagging breasts! (Note to self: add pomegrates and mustard seed oil to the grocery list.)
Jews have often used views of this fruit on coins, coronets, and to decorate the handles of the Torah scrolls. My people like to co-relate the many, many seeds with the many, many laws in the Torah (613–don’t ask me how many– er, how few I observe).
All those multitudinous seeds means the pomegranate symbolizes fertility in many cultures. (Hey, I may only have one child, but let my publishing and quiltmaking efforts be fruitful!!)
In paintings of Mother Mary or baby Jesus, pomegranates are shorthand religious symbols for Sandro Botticelli, and for Leonardo da Vinci, code.
The French term for pomegranate is grenade. Soldiers noted the similar shape of early explosives and the name stuck. (Can I maybe get a little credit for using of pomegranates in my work as an anti-war statement? Even if I didn’t know about this at the time I began?)
To “seed” a pomegranate, break pieces of seeds and pithy membrane and put in water. The pith will float, the seeds will not. Scoop up some seeds and sprinkle over a green salad. The sweet, juicy pulp is a wonderful enhancement. (And in moderation, the crunch of the seeds is not half bad.)
You can make your own pomegranate juice or syrup (grenadine). I don’t though. After all, Pom comes in that great bottle, and you just need to pour a tiny bit of the dense grenadine slowly over OJ on ice for a very arty effect. Plus, a jigger of tequila turns it into a Tequila Sunrise. Cheers!

Here’s a plum offer: Mention other cool pomegranate facts, mythology, and recipes, and I’ll enter you into the drawing for my book, Unforgettable Tote Bags: 20 designs too cool to leave in the car.

Much more recently–last week, in fact, I was lucky enough to take a class with Judy Langille (judylangille.com) called “Cut, Slash and Tear Your Way to Innovative Fabric Design.” It was, conveniently enough for me, held in my local area as part of the FiberPhiladelphia 2012 extravaganza. Judy had us students using silk screens and making thermofaxes, but freezer paper was the key tool.

Determined to avoid adding to my stash and coming home with yet another unfinished class project, I began with one of my grandmother’s linen dresser scarves. Hemmed and edged with tatted lace, it dictated the parameters and the old fashioned, feminine mood of the finished piece. Following Judy’s cue, I ironed freezer over the whole linen rectangle, and then cut out various pomegranate shapes to color with dyes. Then, I masked only the pomegranate shapes, and went to work on the background. Longtime buddy Sammie Moshenberg’s photo of a dune fence, taken during a joint family beach vacation in 2007, provided the repeat motif. Fed through the thermofax, the image gave me great visual texture I applied in yellow, tan, and green paint. In addition, I utilized some of Judy’s thermofaxes (rings, a gridded dot designs) and my own– well, text cribbed from the Internet, the definition for pomegranate, printed out in a florid script font. Plus a few dots and rings from stamping with a pencil eraser.

The best thing about my class project? It’s done!

Hey, do you ever do surface design, applique, quilting, or embellishment over vintage linens? If so, leave a comment and tell me about it, or point to your website or blog for a picture. Would you believe it, you’ll be entered into a drawing for my book, Unforgettable Tote Bags: 20 designs too cool to leave in the car. It’s a green book, so I’m prepared to give away 22 copies by Earth Day, April 22. (Note: Flat rate postage to be charged if winners reside outside the contiguous USA.)

Remember, I’ll be pleased as, well, pomegranate punch if you leave a comment!

Posted in Art + Quilt, Inspiration, Personally Speaking, Pomegranates, Unusual Materials | 22 Comments »

Funny-Side Up: FiberPhiladelphia 2012

Friday, April 6th, 2012

Yup, I needed help. When the most deep and conceptual installations of FiberPhiladelphia were without cloth, let alone quilting or stitches, I started to feel waaay out of date–positively obsolete. But here and there, I found the perfect antidote: Fiber art that made me chuckle, giggle, and grin. Seriously, who says art must be serious? Have a good laugh, and then get inspired to make art that’s just for fun!

House of Cards (all credit cards), by Amy Orr

This piece is at the Philadelphia Alliance of Art, in Rittenhouse Square

Peering into the living room

Credit card siding, on the side

Also at the Philadelphia Alliance of Art, this hilarious piece by embroidery artist Marcia Doctor; the needle gives you a sense of the scale on this one:

“Don’t Fuck with Me,” by Marcia Doctor

Formal Argument, by Diane Savona, at the Crane

a detail

Here’s the back of the award-winning piece.

Part of a series of collages, by London artist Spinks, these little classical prints are warmed up by tiny knitted sweaters and hats. It’s at the Gershman Y exhibit called Mending = Art.

Random Acts of Kindness, by Spinks

Cute, huh?

Slurp, by Jill Rumoshosky Werner, which was at the High Wire Gallery

Dots Rush In Where Checkers Fear to Tread, by Renie Breskin Adams, at KelliJane, and about 7″ x 9″

Zipperwall Quilt 2, by Bryan Day, at the Crane

Yes, those are plastic Easter eggs!

Happy Easter, Happy Passover, Happy Spring!

Posted in Art + Quilt, Inspiration, Unusual Materials | 10 Comments »

Hair Comes A New Concept

Monday, April 2nd, 2012

Must confess, the Inside/Outside juried exhibit at the Crane, a big part of Fiber Philadelphia, was sooo conceptual, so avant garde it left me feeling left behind…Here are two pieces, with their labels that are hairy–with respect to being made of human fibers AND to being risky… the hair–er, heir apparent of high fiber art in 2012:

I will bring you more high art, jaw-dropping, serious stuff…do comment on the significance as you see it! Keep visiting… I’ll also be sharing some much more accessible fiber art: to simply make you laugh!

Posted in Art + Quilt, Exhibitions, Inspiration, Unusual Materials | No Comments »

Storytellers at Art Quilt Elements 2012

Saturday, March 31st, 2012

Awed, Quivering, and Elevated, I took in the AQE show at its opening this evening. Art Quilt Elements (formerly Art Quilts at the Sedgwick) is a biennial, juried show taking place at the Wayne Art Center, on Philly’s Main Line through May 13. And let me tell you, it is one of the crown jewels of not only Fiber Philadelphia 2012, but of the international fine art scene. Because after all, quilts of this caliber are just that: fine art.

And as with all great art, the story or narrative embedded in the work is a big part of what makes it so amazing. Almost every piece spoke to me, but there were three artists present who also spoke to me, graciously granting me permission to photograph them with their work and share it on my blog.

The most traditional of these art quilts was a most riotous, joyous riff on the American flag. In Colors Unfurled, aka If Betsy Ross Had My Stash, Maria Shell celebrates diversity. “Each stripe tells a story, and each star represents a state,” she explains.

Another quilter gave a nod to tradition: whole cloth quilts, simple black and white contrast, the expected squarish format. But oh, does she ever throw in a curve. In Same But Not, Paula Kovarik is inspired by “yin and yang, one line pathways, right brain, and left brain.” That one line pathway phrase is key: while Paula marked the semi-circles on white and black Kona cotton, the rest is pure, freehand doodling–with one continuous line of black thread on white, and one continuous line of white thread on black. The winding pathway, defined by the absence of quilting, certainly takes this viewer on a miraculous journey!

Many years ago, I was privileged to show Susan Else’s Captured on Film, a masterful composition full of set-in seams and minute pieced sashing in the Rodale’s Successful Quilting Library volume, Innovative Piecing. I only wish I had been able to show it full page. Susan looks back on that as the time when, ho hum, she was still making flat quilts. Baby, get a look at her work now:

This piece (which shared the top juror’s award with Red Stones #2, the sheer Dianne Firth piece you can glimpse in the background on the right) shows Susan’s continued mastery of technique–but taken now to exquisite heights, or rather, dimensions. Forever Yours illustrates such contradictory ideas as “love and death, tenderness and creepiness”…and also flat quilts vs. machine quilted fabric collage sewn over modified armature!

Huzzahs to Art Quilt Elements, for not imposing any sort of definition of what an art quilt is or requirements for the art quilt entries.

Kudos to the jurors, who whittled 800 or so entries down to 50 or so powerhouses of technique and composition, each with a compelling narrative.

And congrats to YOU, if you get the chance to see these extraordinary storytelling art quilts in the cloth. If not, consider ordering the catalog–a beautifully done chronicle of this, the 10th anniversary show, from www.wayneart.org. There, you’ll also get to see the work of the talented and accomplished committee members behind AQE, and also exemplary pieces of the fiber artists who have been jurors for this and the past AQE shows.

Posted in Art + Quilt, Exhibitions, Inspiration | 5 Comments »

Aprons to Reflect Who You Are

Friday, March 30th, 2012

When I was growing up, aprons had a really bad rep. They were the pitiful junior high school Home Ec project meant to be your maiden voyage into Sewing-Machine Land. I was fortunate to have a mother who sewed, and who had taught me the ropes back when I was in fourth grade. I already knew how to insert zippers, make buttonholes, fit sleeves into armholes. I had skirts, dresses, and jumpers to sew. I had no need for aprons.

From college on, I was a feminist set on making my mark, if not saving the world. Aprons symbolized “the little woman”–submission, domesticity, a denial of your strengths and talents.

In the ’90s, I certainly identified with Cynthia Myerberg’s tongue-in-cheek Kitschen Help series. She used the apron shape with all its demeaning meaning. And photo-transfers from 1950s advertisements that brainwashed women into believing that domestic life could be so joyful, as long as you had the right appliances. Plus chains as the occasional neck strap. Cynthia’s aprons, which I originally saw at the juried exhibition Art Quilts At the Sedgewick (AQATS–now Art Quilt Elements–more on that show soon!), were the delicious attire of satire. [Check out more about the advent of art quilts in America in my book: American Quiltmaking: 1970-2000, available elsewhere on this site.]

But just when you thought we’d all string aprons up by their, well, apron strings, flash forward to the new milennium. Vintage aprons suddenly have panache. They’re collected–I couldn’t resist buying a few sweet ones at flea markets myself! They’re oohed and aahed over at the quilt guild show ‘n tell, worn when hosting coffee klutches with your quilting friends, hung as charming valances in retro kitchens. Young women in Modern Quilt Guilds make them up in contemporary fabrics and wear them everywhere, layered like tunics or back-wrap dresses over tank tops and skinny pants. Very cute–if you’re young.

Well, ladies, tonight I saw the humble apron rise on up in respectability–way past cute. Launching the Fiber Philadelphia 2012 weekend events was my very own synagogue, Congregation Rodeph Shalom. There, we were treated to a spectacular one-person show, The New Sacred: Ritual Textiles by Rachel Kanter. Rachel is a young, innovative fiber artist, yet she seems incredibly secure in her traditional family roles as grand-daughter, daughter, sister, wife, mom of 3 young children. But it’s her Judaism that pervades her life and her art. Once she decided she wanted a tallit–prayer shawl–for herself, she set out to create a uniquely feminine one. On her website RachelKanter.com and in person, Rachel explains that her inspiration is the four cornered robes worn by priests in biblical times. However, in using vintage apron patterns from the 20th century for her designs, she finds “a means of connecting her story as a woman with her story as a Jew.”

My favorite piece in the exhibit was this apron/tallit with stitches outlining the demarkations on patterns for darts, shortening and lengthening the shape. Like all the ritual aprons, it has the knotted fringes common to every tallit, with a knot or twist for each of the 613 commandments in the Torah.

Called God’s Aspect, it’s made of sheer fabric, so that God’s image may be glimpsed in the wearer herself. (Rachel’s preaching to the choir on this one: for me, God is definitely female!)

Other aprons depicted the environs of Jewish female farmers. Huh? Who knew they existed in America today? Nice to see that environmental and ethical concerns color their lives, as they color these pieces. Especially nice that one of the farms is a wind farm! (See the pole and blades of the wind mill on the natural linen apron.)

Rachel’s art in this exhibit extended to wimpels and mikvehs, themes of binding together, of renewal, of family and community. I snapped the artist in front of one of her ritual tablecloths (below). She elevates the kitchen table to altar-status by appliques of cherished family objects, imbued with food, feasts, conversation, and memory.

She accomplishes the same thing with the lowly apron, don’t you think? Still, you wouldn’t wear these out in public, let alone to a worship service. Progressive Judaism relegates “Sunday Best” –or in our case, Sabbath Best–for the High Holidays. Rachel herself admits that she doesn’t wear these tallit-aprons, at home or in synagogue. She’s successful as an artist, and her work is widely exhibited. Wouldn’t do to get them stained. So these aprons will remain as ritual objects…the new sacred.

Rachel Kanter, in front of her Mikdash Me’At, a ritual tablecloth in the exhibit.

Posted in Aprons, Art + Quilt, Exhibitions, Fashion or Costume, Inspiration, Memory | 2 Comments »