{"id":4091,"date":"2017-10-20T17:43:16","date_gmt":"2017-10-20T22:43:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alisonschwabe.com\/weblog\/?p=4091"},"modified":"2017-10-20T17:43:16","modified_gmt":"2017-10-20T22:43:16","slug":"new-legacies-art-quilts-colorado-august","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alisonschwabe.com\/weblog\/?p=4091","title":{"rendered":"New Legacies, Art Quilts, Colorado, August"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fortunate timing had me in northern Colorado, USA, for several events in August last.\u00a0 I try to time a visit to family in the area and catch the annual “New Legacies” exhibition at the Lincoln Centre, Fort Collins. This is the 35th year of this remarkable show, and in the early ’90s I, too, was a participant.\u00a0 Juried entries come from all over the USA, and the result is a really good survey exhibition of the current state of the art quilt medium.<\/p>\n

Before sharing some of my favourites from this show, I must say that more than ever this past year I have been aware of the blurring of boundaries between quilts, prints on fabric, painted fabrics, embroideries, ‘mixed media’ – the current state of\u00a0 textile and fibre art is as exciting as ever, and really, the only thing that might define a ‘quilt’ these days is its layered construction held together with stitch or something that functions as ‘stitch’. Nowadays even the middle layer\/batting is not required as per the now accepted formal definition adopted by SAQA<\/a>,\u00a0ART QUILT<\/strong>: “a creative visual work that is layered\u00a0and stitched or that references this form of stitched\u00a0layered structure<\/em>.”<\/p>\n

It is not even necessary for the layers to be ‘fabric’ – merely something that functions as fabric, so think plastic sheeting, insect screen mesh,\u00a0 tyvek and other construction materials, think sheet metal, think slices of wood or stone – there is no limit except the artist’s imagination. Well, there were no slices of woo<\/span><\/a>d<\/span> or slabs of stone <\/span><\/a><\/span>in this show,\u00a0 but all these materials have appeared on or in mixed media works in recent years, and will again.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Charlotte Ziebarth,\u00a0 Wave Equations,<\/em>\u00a036inH x 51inW\u00a0 (detail left, full view right)<\/h5>\n

I always put my favourite first in such an article!\u00a0 On silk, this wonderful piece Wave Equations<\/em>\u00a0by Charlotte Ziebarth resulted from digital print, cutting, fusing, and stitch.\u00a0 It was inspired by water of course, but as Charlotte writes, it is the quality of ‘wateriness’ that she is exploring here, not wanting to merely present the actual photographic representation of it, and she succeeds brilliantly.\u00a0 I’m always interested to see how fellow artists handle their edges. The edge can make or break a piece, and just because it’s ‘a quilt’ doesn’t mean it has to be bound as traditional quilts always are, to withstand the rigors of life as bedding.\u00a0 I frequently favour a faced edge, or torn edge, though I also use fine bindings when appropriate – artistic choices – and in the detail pic on the left you’ll see a highly effective but well constructed ‘rough’ edge.\u00a0 Love it.<\/p>\n

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The next two works were hung together, enhancing each other while inviting eye movement back and forth between them. On one important level, these writhing lines link the works, each suggesting upheaval, to me at least.<\/p>\n

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Left: Denise L. Roberts\u00a0\u00a0Mitote\u00a0 <\/em>28inH x 91inW.\u00a0 \u00a0 Right: Judy Kirpich\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>The Day After, No.3\u00a0 49inH x 59inW<\/em><\/h5>\n

Denise Roberts’ title ‘Mitote’<\/em> is a Toltec concept referring to the swirl of ideas and concepts in the mind.\u00a0 With use of colour and expert improvisational cutting and piecing, she achieves great depth and a sense of complexity which may be, or may not be, a political statement on the state of affairs in her country.\u00a0 The message in the second work, though is unmistakable.\u00a0 A flag hung upside down is the internationally recognised sign of distress, and Judy Kirpich has appliqued fabric pieces to represent garish, childish style, angry-looking graffiti, on an upside down US “flag”.\u00a0 There are no stars and the stripes are uneven, but it clearly suggests her nation’s flag.\u00a0 Her catalogue statement says it “…deals with the current political state in our country following the election of the new administration.”\u00a0 Powerful stuff, equal second favourites.<\/p>\n

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Wen Redmond,\u00a0Water Markings,\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>23inH x 58inW<\/h5>\n

Acknowledging a lifelong source of “contemplation and comfort” in Water Markings,\u00a0<\/em>Wen Redmond presents a tranquil piece, typical of her work which I always enjoy seeing in real life.\u00a0 She has spent years mastering her signature combination of mixed media works comprising digital print on fabric+paint+fabric manipulation+stitch. This work is typically cut into sections and re-joined (tied) to form a slightly but deliberately ‘mis-matched’ assembly of different but related colours and textures.\u00a0 It looks beautiful and deceptively ‘simple’, but I’m sure it’s not.<\/p>\n

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Fortunate timing had me in northern Colorado, USA, for several events in August last.\u00a0 I try to time a visit to family in the area and catch the annual “New Legacies” exhibition at the Lincoln Centre, Fort Collins. This is the 35th year of this remarkable show, and in the early ’90s I, too, was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"New Legacies, Art Quilts, Colorado, August","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[386,385],"class_list":["post-4091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-co","tag-new-legacies-annual-exhibition"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6uxpF-13Z","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alisonschwabe.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alisonschwabe.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alisonschwabe.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alisonschwabe.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alisonschwabe.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4091"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.alisonschwabe.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4091\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4101,"href":"https:\/\/www.alisonschwabe.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4091\/revisions\/4101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alisonschwabe.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alisonschwabe.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alisonschwabe.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}