International Quilt Exhibition 2018 (1)

Quilt art, sometimes referred to as “soft paintings,” has more in common with fine art than it does with the traditional quilting. The Brigham City Museum (Utah) is presenting the 46th International Quilt Invitational Exhibit from June 16 through September 1, 2018. The exhibit features universally prized quilts by artists from Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States. We hope you enjoy this selection of outstanding quilts!

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Rolling Into Spring by Sonia Bardella (Italy)

When Sonia Bardella saw her two-year-old grandson somersaulting on a patch of new, soft, green grass on a cold winter day, the quilter knew she had to capture the moment with fabric and paint.  Her grandson's innocence and playfulness brought a breath of fresh, spring air to all those watching him.  This quilt was created with hand-painting using pastel oil, embroidery, applique, and snippets (small pieces of cloth) and is hand- and machine-quilted.

Sonia says the somersault surprised a bee who flew low over the water making concentric rings on its surface.  The closeup photo shows the snippets of fabric and the embroidered bee detail.

Anhinga by Barbara Barrick McKie (Connecticut, USA)

Barbara McKie is the Featured Artist at the Brigham City Museum's 46th Annual Invitational show. She specializes in digitally created nature quilts based on her own photographs and surface design. The inspiration for this quilt was from McKie's visit to the Florida Everglades, where she saw an anhinga spreading its wings against a background of water surrounded by green plants.

Anhinga was created with disperse dyed polyester print, free-motion machine applique, trapunto, thread painting, machine quilting, and several layers of wool batting.

Heart of the Alps by Michael Fitchett (United Kingdom)

Bold graphic images of vintage travel posters inspired artist Michael Fitchett's design for Heart of the Alps. The location is in Murren, Switzerland, where Michael Fitchett was looking for a scene suitable for a quilt design.  Suddenly this view suddenly presented itself.  The northern flank of the Eiger rose sharp in the clear air. Although winter has passed, its legacy of snow is at its thickest.

Their color and style of vintage travel posters lent themselves well to working with blocks of plain color fabric. The choice of fabrics was guided by color and tonal values, with careful planning heightening the effect of sunshine and shadow. The quilt was constructed with bonded applique and machine stitching.

St Mary Axe by Greta Fitchett (United Kingdom)

The stimulus for this quilt is a bullet-shaped, 41-story, modern building in London, constructed with 745 huge diamond-shaped panes of glass.  In medieval times, St Mary Axe was the name given to the street where the building is located.  The composition includes three high-rise office blocks with one disappearing upwards.  A red crane represents the construction work underway in the area at the time.

Fitchett created the design by taking photographs of reflections on the glass surface of the building and turning them into drawings... working from the final drawing, she used free cut patchwork and constructed each diamond segment by machine.  The diamonds were joined with 1/4" wide sashing to represent the window frames.
You can read more about Greta Fitchett and Michael Fitchett at their joint website, Heatherlea Design.

Nature's Floating Sculpture by R. Leslie Forbes (Canada)

This scene is based on R. Leslie Forbes' photos of icebergs off the coast of Newfoundland.  Her granddaughter challenged her to make a quilt with an iceberg after the two of them viewed photos of "sculptures in ice" from her school's science project.  Forbes took artistic license and added mountains to the background to contrast with the shimmering white/blue of the ice floating in the North Atlantic Ocean.

Some of the wonderful fabrics and embellishments can be seen in this photo.  R. Leslie Forbes says her goal is to paint with fabric and thread, honoring four generations of quilters in her family. Nature's Floating Sculptures was made with commercial and hand-dyed fabric, dyed wool, and shells.  It was machine assembled and machine quilted, and tsukineko ink was used for highlights.

Barcelona Sunset by Lisa Walton (Australia)

This stunning quilt really drew our eye.  It was inspired by the artwork of Antoni Gaudi (Barcelona), who animated the surfaces of his work with floral or reptilian metalwork, bright ceramic tiles, and patterned brick or stone. The tile floors of two of Gaudi's buildings were structured like clusters of lily pads.
A single piece of hand dyed fabric was cut and pieced to create the background of Barcelona Sunset. A tile design was quilted over the top and then hand painted with fabric paints. You can find more information about this and other works of art on Lisa Walton's website.

Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration.

People and Portraits: Art quilt exhibit

The People and Portraits exhibit celebrates the expressiveness of the human face in stunning quilts created by an international array of artists. The diverse designs focus on a variety of both emotional states and the ways in which people interact: contemplation, joy, community, work and play. This outstanding exhibit is appearing at AQS QuiltWeek throughout 2016.
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Windblown, 25 x 39", by Maria Elkins

Maria Elkins says, "My goal was to merge a contemporary art quilt with traditional quilt elements. I modified traditional quilted feather motifs to suggest strong winds blowing across a stormy sky. I repeated similar motifs in her hair. In the sky is the outline of a traditional quilt block called Windblown Star."

Thank You for the Flowers, 46 x 65", by Sonia Bardella (Italy)

Sonia Bardella says:  "One day, while at the hairdresser’s, I was intrigued by an old photograph I saw in a magazine of two young people kissing, seen from above. Although the photo was taken during wartime, all you could see was the couple’s love. A few months later, I was moving into a new house and heard my dog bark. I went to the window and saw my son below in the garden kissing his girlfriend. I immediately thought of the photograph I’d seen in the magazine. I had to fix the moment in a quilt!"

Homeless Love, 34 x 24", by Mary Pal (Canada)

Mary Pal says, "The texture and line of sculpted cheesecloth first draws the viewer in and then invites them to look beyond the surface of the work to the stories of those often overlooked: the homeless, the elderly, the ordinary. From a photo by Clint Colbert."

Addressing Hair, 62 x 48.5", by Viola Burley Leak

Viola Burley Leak says, "This quilt addresses the versatile styles that black women use in hair design. It also incorporates some of the tools used to style, color, and straighten hair."

The Nine Muses, 34.5 x 28.5", by Ulva Ugerup (Sweden)

Ulva Ugerup says, "This was meant to be a traditional nine patch log cabin quilt. But then, late at night, there was a big hullaballoo at my front door, and there they were: nine very dressed up ladies who claimed to be The Nine Muses, demanding to take their place in my quilt!"

We Were All There, 43 x 130", by Lori Lupe Pelish

This is a photo of one quilt within a four-part, 43 x 130" piece. Lori Lupe Pelish says, "Dignity and respect for our history comprised of extreme goals and sacrifice is the foundation for this piece. A seamless flow of time as people unite and quietly remember." To see the full piece please visit the gallery at Lori's website, lorilupepelish.com.

Image credit: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2016 AQS QuiltWeek in Phoenix, Arizona. The People and Portraits exhibit is based on the companion book, Art Quilt Portfolio: People and Portraits. 

Blooming beauties: meditations on flowers, quilts, and Mother's Day

We've always wanted to make a flower quilt, but haven't yet gotten it off the ground (so to speak).  In the meantime, we keep adding flowers to our Quilt Inspiration collection.  We thought you might enjoy seeing some of our favorites from this season's crop.

Tribute to Mom by Diane Hartman

Diane Hartman won 2nd prize for the New Member's Challenge at the 2014 Tucson Quilters Guild show. She says: "The challenge fabric was avocado green – one of my mother’s favorite colors; she always teamed it with fuchsia pink! Synonymous with thoughts of my mother are visions of gardens and beautiful flowers."

close up, Tribute to Mom by Diane Hartman

The hexagon flowers, done in colorful Kaffe Fassett fabrics, were 3-D appliqued to the surface. Diane explains the materials she used: "In the tradition of my 'waste not, want not' mother, I decided to team the avocado green with studio leftovers, i.e. hexi-flower experiments, French knot flowers salvaged from a four-decades-old peasant blouse, a rejected black-and-white checkerboard and little yo-yos."

Shangri-La by Barb Forrister (Austin, Texas)

Fiber artist Barb Forrister was inspired by dozens of photos and a desire to plant a 3-D garden. Here is the left-hand panel of an intriguing triptych. Barb explains, "Shangri-la is a 3-D triptych created with soft sculpted flowers on a hand painted and inked background. As a fiber artist, I am constantly looking for different mediums that can be used to add lift and yet be pliable enough to sculpt; others remain flat but still provide texture.”

Shangri-La by Barb Forrister, right panel

The hand-painted background of the quilt was silk screened and stenciled. The soft sculpted 3-D flowers stand out two to three inches from the surface.  Different sections of this stunning piece were beaded, thread painted, embellished, machine appliqued and quilted.

Shangri-La by Barb Forrister, close up

The brilliant red-orange tiger lilies really stand out in this luscious quilt. Textural yarn was used to create the stems.

Shangri-La by Barb Forrister, center panel

The flowers in this panel calla lilies, irises, lilac and tea rose bushes and a variety of imaginary wild flowers. The center stalks of the calla lilies consist of beads set on wire, which stand up and add even more dimension to the flower. The scarlet poppies were stitched and assembled before they were appliqued to the surface of the quilt. The entire piece with three panels was 85 x 29", for more information see Barb Forrister's website.

Camellia by Melinda Bula (California)

Inspired by a photo of a camellia flower, this gorgeous wall hanging was made with fused applique, then thread painted. Melinda Bula says: “Camellias grow in abundance in Sacramento. When I moved here I quickly filled my yard with nine bushes to put on a great show." The photo that inspired the quilt can be seen at Melinda's blog.

Melinda is well known for her beautiful thread painting, which you can see in the close up photos above and below.

close up, Camellia by Melinda Bula

Melinda Bula will be teaching her fabulous fusible flower technique at the National Quilt Museum in August, 2014.  She is the author of Cutting Garden Quilts:  Fabulous Fusible Flowers.

Passion Flower,  34 x 42", by Pam George (Louden, Tennessee)

We were drawn to the beautiful purple, chartreuse and aqua blue colors of this hand painted passion flower quilt.  Pam first painted a wholecloth flower and leaves, and then fused it to the batik background.  She used two layers of batting in some areas to raise specific areas of the flower, such as the stamens and spikes. 

close up, Passion Flower by Pam George

We photographed this lovely quilt at the 2014 AQS show in Phoenix, Arizona.  Here is an even closer view of the quilting around the center of the flower....

Mediterranean Colors and Perfumes, 90 x 94", by Sonia Bardella (Venice, Italy)

One of the most amazing postage stamp quilts we've ever seen, this quilt was made by Sonia Bardella to resemble a petit-point tapestry pillow owned by her late grandmother. For eight months, Sonia painstakingly hand- and machine-stitched 24,000 tiny squares snipped from old shirts, pillowcases and towels into a mosaic of blooms. The large circle of rusty red, deep rose, light blue and golden yellow flowers is set against a background of 11 shades of white.

close up, Mediterranean Colors and Perfumes by Sonia Bardella

A close-up photo reveals the pixelated workmanship of the huge quilt. Sonia Bardella explains,  "This is the quilt on my bed, with all of the Mediterranean's colors."  The quilt was photographed at the In Full Bloom Exhibit at the 2013 Houston IQF.  It won the $500 Ina Stentiford Award, established in 2007 by the family of a late New York quilter who loved flowers and floral quilts.

Benefit of the Sunshine, 81 x 81", by Noriko Nozawa (Chiba-City, Chiba, Japan)

This quilt, which resembles a painting, inspires us with its artistic design and beauty.  The wood-nymph is surrounded by flowers and bathed in ribbons of light. Noriko Nozawa says, “The quilt expresses a gentle light by using rainbow colors I dyed myself."   The rainbow colors stand out against the high-contrast black, white and brown background.

close up, Benefit of the Sunshine by Noriko Nozawa

 

The quilt was machine pieced and free motion quilted. Noriko says, "For the first time I tried the method that emphasizes an outline by using thin felt.” We love the intricate  stained-glass appearance which emphasizes the flowers, butterflies and flowing hair shown below.

Even the stylized face of the figure is decorated with subtle quilted flowers in orange thread. Noriko is as much an artist as a quilter and we loved her original, exciting design. 

Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration.

Happy Mother's Day

In honor of mothers everywhere, here is a beautifully hand-painted and appliqued quilt which we spotted at the 2011 Houston IQF. We think that this piece captures the bond between a mother and her child, as she cradles the child's body in her arms.  The mother and child are surrounded by appliqued words which almost seem to float: "They are sleeping and dreaming." 

Dreaming by Sonia Bardella, San Michele Al Tagilmento, Italy.  Photo by Quilt Inspiration

Sonia Bardella says, "I've tried to interpret dreaming using contemporary techniques. The background is made up words and letters which show how language is an important part of our dreams."  A closeup photo of the mother and child is shown below.

Image credits:  Photo by Quilt Inspiration, taken at the 2011 Houston International Quilt Festival.  This quilt impressed us as as having one of the most innovative and original themes at the show.