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The "Fiber Revolution: Quilts as Art" exhibition at the
Educational Testing Service's Daniel Brodsky Gallery in Princeton, NJ answers the
question.
Entering the gallery you see several glowing pieces--the
intense reds and electric blues of Rachel Cochran's "Circle of Friends", the vivid
fuchsias and yellows of Judy Cuddihee's "Release VII", and the chartreuse cow against
a background of red trees and deep lavender sky in Kevan Rupp Lunney's "Meatloaf".
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"Circle of Friends"
39.5"h x 30.5"w
© 2003 Rachel Cochran |
"Meatloaf"
30"h x 36"w
© 2001 Kevan Rupp Lunney |
"Release VII"
40"h x 34"w
© 2003 Judy Cuddihee |
Each of these three artists chose a different path in
creating their artwork. I was drawn to "Circle of Friends" because of the vibrant
red and orange colors and the three blue squares that 'pop out'. At first I didn't
understand the intent of the piece, as the title didn’t seem to fit Cochran’s
precision pieced squares and rectangles. But, when I was drawn back to it, I saw
the overlapping quilted circles tying the perpendicular shapes together.
The three blue square are of equal size. Could they
symbolize true blue friends, each within her own boundary yet with radiating circles
to overlap with each other? Can the red/orange strips be the warmth of friendship?
It left me pondering: isn't that what great art should do?
Cuddihee used bold brush strokes on a single "whole cloth"
fabric to accentuate the build up and ultimate release in her ongoing series of sexual
expression. Lunney selected raw edge appliquéd fabrics to bring extra dimension to
her out-of-this-world colored pasture scene.
The exhibition has some uncommon shapes for quilts:
Celeste's Kelly's "Nina Beans" tall and narrow series of brightly colored nested
circles strung together on a blue band is near Deborah Tiryung Sidwell's vertical
triptych "Fire in the Belly III: Stone Painting". At the opposite end of the gallery
is Martha Sielman's 36" round "Through the Porthole".
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"Nina Beans"
48”h x 12”w
© 2003 Celeste Kelly |
"Through the Porthole"
36" round
© 2003 Martha Sielman |
"Stone Painting III Fire in the Belly"
35"h x 12"w
© 2003 Deborah Tiryung Sidwell |
Although Joanie San Chirico's "Earth/Water Obelisks" and
Rayna Gillman's "Wind Chimes" both use banner shapes and similar somber coloring,
their approaches to creating their pieces are completely different. San Chirico
used disperse dyeing while Gillman hand printed and stamped over-dyed and discharged
fabric on both "Wind Chimes" and "Hotel de Ville."
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"Earth/Water Obelisks"
50"h x 31"w
© 2003 Joanie San Chirico |
"Wind Chimes" & "Hotel de Ville"
41.5"h x 14.5"w & 42.5"h x 16"w
© 2003 Rayna Gillman |
Gillman's "Wind Chimes" is a series of horizontal soft
white printed images cascading down a vertical dark background. The flowing lines
within the horizontal images give the impression of cherry blossoms floating in the
breeze. Here and there along the white lines are minimal stitches of sparkling
metallic thread. The thread infuses life into the artwork, lifting it from the
somber mood of the muted discharged and over-dyed black background. Your eye is
drawn to the golden circles two thirds of the way down, on to the horizontal blue
stamped image at the bottom, and then back up to the top by the short vertical
lines imposed on the flowing white block print. You can imagine this calming yet
contemplative piece in a room where a water wall provides a peaceful accompaniment.
Virginia Abrams' "Nasturtiums" is brilliantly colored
sheer organza. She sewed two-inch frayed orange and lime green strips one against
another in vertical lines onto a top layer of organza backed by yet another layer
of organza. It shimmers and flutters as you pass by. Carolyn Lee Vehslage's
"Motherboard Meltdown Versions 2.5-2.8: Four Patch" consists of recycled computer
parts, and perhaps is THE piece that most prompts one to ask, "How is this a quilt?"
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"Nasturtium"
34”h x 27”w
© 2003 Virginia Abrams |
"Motherboard Meltdown
Versions 2.5-2.8: Four Patch"
29.75”h x 24”w
© 2003 Carolyn Lee Vehslage |
While most of the artwork in the collection clearly relates
to the traditional notion of a quilt: two layers of fabric and a layer of batting
stitched together, Abrams & Vehslage stretch the definition of "quilt" in its
broadest sense. Abrams' "Nasturtium" technically is three layers stitched together,
but without batting. Vehslage's "Motherboard Meltdown Versions 2.5–2.8: Four Patch"
makes one wonder why computer parts are in an exhibition of quilts. When you look
closer, you realize that the traditional components of a quilt are there, but rendered
in a different type of "fabric" and "thread."
Her artwork is a sashed quilt with four blocks, but the
pieces on the blocks are recycled computer components, the striped sashing is multi-colored,
multi-wired flat computer ribbon cable and the "thread" is computer wire. A four-patch
quilt normally seems static, but movement through this piece is created by the extension
of the rectangular shapes onto the sashing and by the use of red, blue and yellow
computer media and labels.
In her statement, Vehslage compares the meltdown of the
computer's artificial brain to the emotional breakdown of a human brain under
severe stress. Of all the artwork in this exhibition, Vehslage's demonstrates the
most imaginative use of materials to create an art quilt.
Some pieces in the exhibition have minimal stitching while
others were heavily quilted. Even after studying the pieces, you wonder how it each
was done and marvel at how far quilting has come in the past few years.
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"And Let Us All Celebrate"
© 2003 Ed Johnetta Miller |
"Improvisation"
26”h x 31”w
© 2003 Judith Reilly |
The artwork shows a great variety of techniques from Ed
Johnetta Miller's African motif patchwork "And Let Us All Celebrate" and Judith
Reilly’s appliquéd "Improvisation" to the photo-transferred satin flower of Barbara
Barrick McKie’s “Stargazer Lily #2" and the hand dyeing, stamping and printing of
Joan Dreyer's "Requiem for Greta".
Reilly's "Improvisation" reminds the viewer of a breezy
autumn day with the quilt's repetitive rows of leaves and circles. The flowing rhythmic
line of the shapes and the quilting suggest an October wind tossing about leaves and
empty seedpods. Reilly used complimentary colors of oranges and blues curving
throughout the work, while here and there accents of green and gold suggest backlit
leaves and dust motes against a cloudy sky. Her imaginative selection of hand dyed
and commercial fabrics maintains the theme and the viewer's interest. Of all the
artwork in the "Quilts as Art" collection, "Improvisation" is the most recognizable
as an appliqué quilt but the design and use of color demonstrate Reilly’s artist's
sensibility.
"Requiem (for Greta)" is a softly colored piece that from
a distance seems to be an aerial view of a garden bordered by mauve roses. On close
inspection the manicured lawn becomes silk screened sheets of music, stitched with
small crosses of heavy thread, and bordered with vertical rows of stamped or printed
spirals on a complex dyed background. I found this work of art particularly effective
as it drew me in from a distance, let me discover its many details, and kept my eye
moving through it to uncover more mysteries.
Could this be the score of the classical "Requiem?" Who
was Greta? My eye traveled up the row of spirals and down through the bars of music,
trying to solve the puzzle. I wanted to know more.
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"Stargazer Lily #2"
19.25"h x 16.5"w
© 2000 Barbara Barrick McKie |
"Requiem (for Greta)"
38"h x 24"w
© 2003 Joan Dreyer |
For "9 Paintbrushes", Carol Sara Schepps' painted the
bristles of nine brushes on a large white canvas and then appliquéd fabric handles.
Her message is quite clear – she ‘paints’ with fabric. Gloria Hansen approached her
“Squared Illusions I” by first designing the image on her MacIntosh and then printing
it direct to fabric. From there she airbrushed tones on tones along the curves and
used multicolored threads to enhance the optics.
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"9 Paintbrushes"
48"h x 30"w
© 1999 Carol Sara Schepps |
"Squared Illusions I"
24”h x 24”w
© 2003 Gloria Hansen |
In the mix, Deborah Barr's "Keeping On" seemed the most
‘quilt-like’ with its yellow tree appliquéd on a patchwork background of reds and
blues. McKie’s and Sielman’s pieces are separated from the rest of the groupings
both physically and thematically. They are hung as a pair on a small wall a half
level above the others and could be easily missed. The distance breaks up the
continuity of the exhibition.
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"Keeping On"
29"h x 23.5"w
© 2003 Deborah Barr |
Although there is an exhibition book of artist information
on a table nearby, this reviewer would have appreciated the artist's name and the
title of the work beside each piece, instead of a simple number and a single posted
listing. Being temporarily disabled, it took a bit of effort to walk back to the
gallery list at the beginning of the exhibition to match the artist's name with
the number of the artwork and then search the book for her bio and art statement.
The whole collection of artwork is well displayed and
lit. It shows the variety of skills, style and interests of several members of the
Fiber Revolution group. To see exhibition photos online, visit
The Fiber Revolution web site is
©2003 Sherri Dunbar
Sherri Young Dunbar is a fulltime fiber artist whose artwork is in private collections
across the US. Her online gallery, workshop & lecturing schedule can be viewed at
www.thequiltercommunity.com
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