We chose the theme “At Play – asobi” for our quilt exhibit. How simple the word sounds and yet how implicatively it inspired us! 

     –Ryohjin-hishoh – Folk Lyrical Ballads edited by Emperor Goshirakawa around ll80 AD

Quilt making is, in a sense, an ultimate “play.”  When the word “play” is mentioned, we think of children playing hide and seek, or playing house, totally absorbed, lost in time. That sensation of thrill stays with us as we experience the world of music, theater, art, games and sports. We, the quilters, become involved in making quilts, and the element of play is fully incorporated in the process of designing and creating quilts. 

When we chose this theme, there was some hesitation among some quilters as they had trouble expanding to more than just children’s play. However, eventually, as we went on discussing the theme, we became excited about many ideas and many designs started to spring up. With limited time, we could not express all our ideas in quilts but we put our hearts into the quilts we are presenting. Through our quilts, we share our joy in quilt making with all who visit the La Conner Quilt and Textile Museum. We hope you will enjoy the quilts and perhaps, you will be inspired by the theme, “at play”.

I would like to express my heartfelt pleasure in exhibiting our Japanese quilts for the 8th time at the La Conner Quilt & Textile Museum.

The Ainu race lived in wide area ranging from Sakhalin Islands to the Island of Hokkaido in Japan.  The history of the Ainu people may be as old as 4,000 years. Today, the Ainu people have assimilated into Japanese culture but, they have prided themselves into preserving their language and their rich culture and life style.

Yoshimi Kato and I have focused on their textiles, garments and stitchery for this show at La Conner Quilt and Textile Museum. Most of the embroidery was made by Yoshimi and her students.  Kato encountered this unique stitchery in Hokkaido ten years ago and learned from an Ainu lady who was handed down the traditional stitching techniques as well as its historical and cultural backgrounds. The Ainu garments are no longer for practical, daily use but they are worn for festive occasions or for tourist events and are displayed in museums. In order to preserve this tradition and give a life to it, we believe the beauty of the textile and the stitching technique must further be understood by the new generation and it will stimulate them to interpret and create new things for various practical uses. Yoshimi Kato and I are pleased to have this opportunity to express our aims and show the works of Ainu stitchery at the La Conner Quilt Museum.  I hope you will enjoy the show and it will give some inspiration to your creations.

Mariner’s Compass made by Roxy Terrill and Amanda Cheney for Amanda’s grandson, Edward Nobles in 1865. Hand pieced, hand applique, and hand quilted.

“Real Men Don’t Quilt or Do They?” blares the headline of a 2005 article by quiltmaker Kent Williams. The growing frequency of publications about men who quilt makes this an easy question to answer: Yes, men (real or otherwise) DO indeed quilt. In fact, we now know that men have been quilting for hundreds of years: Renown San Francisco quiltmaker Joe Cunningham has documented the story of Joe Hedley, a tailor-turned-quiltmaker who lived in England during the last half of the 18^th century. 

Despite the contributions of men to the world of quilting over the past two centuries, quilting is still perceived culturally as “women’s work.” But that perception is slowly changing with the increased visibility of quilts made by men. Some male quilters have achieved celebrity status in the quilting world (e.g. Kaffe Fassett, Michael James, Ricky Tims, Joe Cunningham, David Taylor, Mark Lipinski), teaching, publishing books and magazines, creating television programs, some even designing their own fabric lines. 

The larger question is not about whether men quilt but what men have brought to the art of quilting, which is the raison d’être of the upcoming exhibit MATERIAL MEN: INNOVATION & THE ART OF QUILTMAKING. While there have been periodic exhibits of men’s quilting in other parts of the country, there has never been a large-scale group show of men’s work on the West Coast. That will change on October 11, 2012 when MATERIAL MEN: INNOVATION & THE ART OF QUILTMAKING opens at the La Conner Quilt & Textile Museum in La Conner, Washington. This exhibit will showcase many of the innovations in design, technique, and materials which a formidable group of 15 male quilters have brought to the art of quiltmaking. 

As part of the exhibit’s official Opening festivities, Dutch master fiber artist Leslie Gabriëlse will present a lecture at 2:00PM on October 13, 2012. The Artists’ Opening Reception will follow at 5:00PM. For details, please visit the Museum’s website: www.laconnerquilts.com

The Quilt Artists of MATERIAL MEN:

Thom Atkins (Santa Cruz, CA)

Tristan Robin Blakeman (New Haven, CT)

Edward M. Bostick (New York, NY)

Richard Caro (Waterville, ME)

Michael A. Cummings (New York, NY)

Joe Cunningham (San Francisco, CA)

Leslie Gabriëlse (Rotterdam, The Netherlands)

Luke Haynes (Seattle, WA)

Raymond K. Houston (St. Louis, MO)

John Lefelhocz (Athens, OH)

Mike “Mac” McNamara (San Francisco, CA)

Shingo Nakano (Tokyo, Japan)

Shawn Quinlan (Pittsburgh, PA)

David Taylor (Steamboat Springs, CO)

Erick Wolfmeyer (Iowa City, IA)

Thom’s journey into beaded quilts began after a car accident made it impossible to work using clay to create his bronze sculptures. Finding he could still use a needle and thread, Thom began with a series of bead-embellished quilts, looking for a balance between the fabric and beads. To begin with, they were small art quilt, heavily encrusted with beads. Some became quite sculptural in nature, with pieces extensively embroidered, stuffed, and then appliquéd onto the quilt. Eventually Thom turned to landscapes and freeform abstracts. New techniques called for new piece. He added dyeing, painting with textile paints, using tulle as shadow or as a way to hold down small pieces of cloth. Photoshop opened a whole new world of printed images on fabric. New ideas kept coming and new fabrics called out to him. When he had added the three dimensional sculptural forms in fabric with bead embellishment, he felt he had come full circle, back to sculpture, in a new media. His fingers still itch for clay every now and then and someday he may go back but for the time being, he is happy. Beads and fabric have given him back the color that he was missing in the bronze. To him, beads and fabric seem much more vibrant and immediate.

Thom lives and works in Santa Cruz, Ca, and travels nationwide to teach. One of his pieces was used on the 2006 invitation for the International Quilt Market in Houston. His published work can be found in Lark Publishing’s books 500 Beaded Objects, and The Art of Beaded Beads; Interweave Press’ book Beaded Embellishment; in Margie Deeb’s book The Beader’s Color Palette; and now, in a new book by C&T Publishing called innovative Fabric imagery for Quilts.

Above, Coral by Thom Atkins.

At right:  American Indian meets Australian Aboriginal by Thom Atkins.

Susanne Staton creates all her Wearable Art vests using one pattern, altered to fit, that has become her “canvas.” Each class, book, and color technique inspiration has found its way into a variation of this pattern. Initially using piecing techniques, she now works mostly doing hand appliqué. Her work is not limited to fabric; she also makes vests using felting techniques. Although she has a felting machine, she prefers nuno felting on wool pre-felt.

Susanne enjoys the entire creative process and hand-dyes most of the fabrics she uses. She also creates the buttons for her garments using polymer clay, hand painting wood or fusing glass to match the theme of each piece. Garment construction techniques are varied and include: hand-dyeing, bleaching and over-dyeing, shibori, silk-steaming, nuno felting, appliqué, broderie perse, piecing, crazy patch, beading, embroidery, needle-lace, and free-motion quilting.

Susanne’s quilts are often original designs. Again, she uses a variety of techniques, including:  hand-dyeing, painting with inks, broderie perse, embroidery, beading, and 3-dimensional elements. Sometimes using free motion quilting to finish her quilts but most often her quilts are hand-quilted. Susanne is a member of the Fidalgo Island Quilters and the DIVAS, a Wearable Arts group in Anacortes,Washington.

Above, left:  Leaves, a vest by Susanne Staton. Above, right:  Pear Cubism, a quilt by Susanne Staton.

Exhibit Sponsored by the Fidalgo Island Quilters

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The first floor of the Gaches Mansion will be covered with Embroidered Beauties:  Old & New, a look at embroidered quilts over the past 200 years. We will have many examples of hand embroidery on hand but we will also feature a few fine examples of work done by artists in the computer age.

On display will be a white-work technique known as Candlewicking. This was a popular embroidery technique during Colonial times in America. Candlewicking derives its name from the thread used for the design work–the thread was braided and used as a wick in candle making. The design is composed of knots, satin stitches and running stitches, this embroidery decorated all types of fabric surfaces.

We will also have embroidered Crazy Quilts on display. The Crazy Quilt fad ran wild from about 1880 through the late 1920′s. The earlier quilts are often made of silk fabrics and are highly embellished with a wide variety of embroidery stitches.

The embroidery phase continued in the 1930′s when a large variety of patterns were available through newspapers, magazines, and by mail order. Newspapers carried patterns that could be used for appliqué; at times this pattern would be adapted for embroidery. One of our quilt tops is embroidered using designs by Nancy Page. Early transfer patterns were “printed” by piercing the paper and applying black powder for transferring the pattern. Later, hot-iron transfer became popular; red was usually a multi-stamp pattern, while blue, green or yellow was often a one-time use pattern.

We will also feature some embroidered quilts from post WWII. The 1950′s saw the rise of the pre-stamped cross stitch kit. Available through a number of magazines, these embroidered quilt kits can still ordered today.

Some contemporary quilters are still doing their embroidery work by hand. Susanne Staton (exhibit on the 3rd floor) is just such a quilter; making most of her wonderful crazy quilt vests with hand stitches. Other quilters might use computerized sewing machines to embroider a pattern. We will have a machine-stitched embroidery quilt made by John James on display. If you are a fan of embroidered work, this is a wonderful exhibit for ideas and inspiration.

At right our Best of Show winner:  On the Wings of a Dream by Caryl Bryer Fallert.

See the complete listing of the Award Winners & Entries here.

This exhibit is sponsored by:  Quality Sewing & Vacuum.

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December Closures:  We will be closed Christmas Eve & Christmas Day. We will be open Monday- Friday, December 26-30, but will be closed on the 31st.

January Closure:  January 1-10, 2012 We will be closed in early January for our annual indoor maintenance. See you on opening day, January 11.

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Together is a collaborative project between pairs of Canadian artists – one working in fibre and the other in their chosen media. This exhibition has brought together a group of textile, quilt, and fibre artists working in a wide range of styles and paired them with painters, woodworkers, mixed media artists, potters, and glass artists. Each pairing of artists chose their own  theme and their themes are as diverse as their media. 

Some of the artists began with a word or words as inspiration:  “Orchid”, “Stone Threads”, or “Runes, Wings, & Keys.” Other artists were working from an inspirational photo or painting. Many artists sought inspiration from the world around them:  organic and abstract patterns found in nature and landscapes. The issues facing nature also appears in some of the work:  “What’s happening in the oceans”, “Pine beetle devastating the forests”, and “Clear cutting of forests.” While many of the artists are working in their own media, some of the pairs have decided to work on one project using their combined talents to interpret a theme.

All in all, a well-rounded grouping of artistic works made by an eclectic group of artists working in their respective media to bring you a brilliant collage of works.

Vivian Kapusta, guest curator.

Above:  Woods on a Snowy Evening Fiber Art by Coreen Zerr

Right:  Spring Thaw Painting by Sari Spenser