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

Hurray! Art Quilt Elements (AQE) 2014 opened this weekend at the Wayne Center for the Arts, just west of Philadelphia. This biennial juried show of 43 works–chosen from hundreds of entries–commands the well-deserved respect of the quilt world, and SHOULD command the respect of the comtemporary art world. Let me share my snaps, which in no way represent the grandeur, the texture, the tactile delight. Note that I’ve linked each artist’s name with her website–go and learn more if you have the time. Above, my picture of the Best in Show, Zeitgeist (fondly nicknamed Grumpy Cat), by Kristin LaFlamme. I think it’s got a real pop art meets 70s vibe meets anime, with a bit of Missoni stuck in. About 7 feet high, so it commands the space. Click on Kristin’s name above, and check out the personal musings, including her response to winning Best in Show, plus her thoughts on the Snyderman Works show which I reviewed in my last blog post.

On to other highlights of the show. There are MANY, and I don’t want to test your patience, and will also limit this show ‘n tell to those works of artists  who were present and granted me permission to share. Again, let me urge you to click on the link of anyone whose work resonates with you, and get to know these amazing and innovative talents a little better.

Marianne Burr explains her lavish use of hand-stitching and layering, as evidenced so richly in “Eleven 3 Thirteen,” above.

Below, Cynthia L. Vogt, “Otaru Winter” is elegance incarnate, with an Asian accent. Silk log cabin blocks set off the lines that represent Japanese rooftops peeking through in the snow.

Quite possibly the largest piece in the show: Elizabeth Brandt‘s Random Thoughts,” 130″ x 81″. Part of her Karma series, and for me, the karma is abstract expressionist art that rivals any work at MOMA. BTW, her improvisational process is followed by lots of free motion stitching —  on her regular sewing machine. Did I mention the dimensions–130″ x 81″? Rolled into the harp of a regular machine?!?

I took a day off to bask in the community of my creative betters, having signed up for a Studio Art Quilts Association (SAQA) symposium. Fascinating to see how quilt artists work fiber into their lives, peering by way of PowerPoint into a few studios to understand how they live and work. It was such a nurturing environment of artists who share the results of their struggles, experiments, and relentless journeys from perceived failure to success. I am absolutely in awe of those who make it their business to make art.

Joy, joy, lucky me, I got to sit at a table of uncommon women, all whose work has been celebrated in major shows:

• Dianne Koppisch Hricko, the mistress of transparency
• Amy Orr , the high priestess of used credit cards and other post-consumer ephemera (see my post about FiberPhiladelphia 2012–which Amy directed, and specifically my visual rave of her House of Cards)
• Katherine Knauer, whose art quilt, “Fracked,” went deep to make a powerful environmental statement
• And the tres charmante Benedicte Caneuill — her piece in the show, “Jungle Fever,” had me begging her to teach a workshop where I, too might drag combs, rubber styluses, and trowels over wet painted cloth, then cut it up, trade with other students, and compose away. She is waaayyy too humble.

AQE and SAQA events fill my head with inspiration and aspiration. Why am I blogging….and cooking and cleaning and catering to loved ones and doing volunteer work and…..when I could be playing with cloth? How do you set aside the mainstays of living for art as a pastime, and find the time to create? How do you lose the guilt to quilt?

And who am I to kvetch, when I get to see such glorious creations up close and personal, and meet the unique talents behind them?!

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.