Art Quilts: Rivers

The idea of making quilts that, when hung next to each other, resemble a river flowing from one to the next has been done before.  I saw an exhibit of these quilts at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival a few years ago.  PAQA-South recently revisited the idea in a joint exhibit with quilters from Taiwan. 

The participants were told the size of the finished quilt and where the river should begin and end.  The rest was up to them.

This is how they looked hanging in the Cary Arts Council building.

 

The exhibit had already been on display in Taiwan.  All the information cards were in both languages.

 

I took a panoramic picture with my i-Phone camera.

 

The quilts were so different and had so much going on that the river flow effect was not very dramatic.  But the quilts were lovely.

Some did a landscape or "townscape" with the river running through it.

Live and Work in Peace and Contentment, by Lin Mei-Hui




Boulder II, by Denny Webster

Others took a completely different look.  This one with huge flowers barely showed the river behind it.  But it sure was pretty!

The one with the raindrops added a more symbolic approach, while the winter scene was a change of pace.

 



Favorable Weather, by Chen Yen-Chiu, Solace, by Ann Flaherty, and Growing Continually, by Chuang Huei-Lan



 

 

The snowy owl was a splendid fellow!

 

 

Another one that was very unique featured very abstract fish in fabulous colors.

 

 



Ease and Comfort, by Huang Ming-Mei



The next one is a mountainous landscape with farm, but the river is depicted by suspended triangles that indicate movement.

 



Moving Water, by Mary Beth Bellah



 

 

One of my personal favorites, the next one is very "painterly" and serene.



Is There Life in the River's Depth?, by Christine Zoller



 

And I guess I liked the next one best of all, with its jewel colors and turbulent flow of water.  And wouldn't you know, I could not read the picture of the information label from the photograph.

 

 

Great show, PAQA-South!

Next time, some show-and-tell from The Whacky Ladies Bee and then on to the Charlotte Quilt Guild show, which I quickly toured last Friday before heading north to the mountains.

 

Rivers and Water Art Quilt Exhibits

Back to the PAQA-South Quilt Exhibits in Cary, NC.  Here are a few more of the Water art quilts.

Wind-Driven Rain, by Laura McGrath

Waterlicious, by Jeanelle McCall

Shall We Gather at the River?, by Linda Laird

Living the Good Life #1, by Lois Sprague

Spigot, by Nanette Zeller



A Drop of Rain, by Ruby Horansky



Rushing Stream/Waterfall, by Connie Carrington



Dolphins Rising, by Roxane Lessa

Sea Dragon Song, by Gwen Brink

Sea Oat, by Jenny Williams





Fracked, by Andi Perejda

Swirling Leaves, by Joan Rutledge

And the unmistakable work of well-known quilt artist Susan Shie,



Water Signs- King of Pyrex Cups in the Kitchen Tarot, by Susan Shie





Susan uses an air-brush and air pen to paint her quilts and journal all over them with significant thoughts that relate to the quilt's theme.

 

                            

Detail: Water Signs- King of Pyrex Cups in the Kitchen Tarot, by Susan Shie

Some of the quilts from the Water exhibit were actually housed in the Cary Arts Council building, where the Rivers quilts were hung.  The most obvious were these three large figures swimming on a large wall.  They are incredibly large and very eye-catching.

 

                               
                                    Swimming Upstream: #'s 1,2,and 3, by Bonnie Jo Hunter

 

I was very interested in visiting the Cary Arts Council building, because I had not been there since it was a junior high school, and I was applying for a teaching job back in the early seventies!  My sister and some of my brothers actually went to school there.  There have been extensive renovations to make the building modern and functional.

 

 

On display outside the building are these large steel sculptures.  They look very appropriate for the Rivers art quilt exhibit!

 

 



The next picture is of the lobby at the Cary Arts Council.

 

Approaching the hall where the exhibit is located, there are some objets d'art displayed in glass cases.  Well-known art quilter, teacher, author and Cary resident Lyric Kinard has these stopwatch-themed canvases

 

 

and this colorful array on a higher glass display window.

 

 

One of the first quilts you see on the wall as you enter the exhibit is this inviting scene.

 

 



Not a Care in the World, by Eileen Kane





Next time I will show some quilts from the Rivers exhibit.

Rivers and Water Quilt Exhibits

I have so much quilty news to share this time!  It will probably take me four or five posts to show you all the quilts I have seen in the past week.  I have been to two quilt bee meetings and three quilt shows!

Last Monday was the monthly meeting of my Anything Art Quilt Bee.  First we had Show-and-Tell at Roberta's house in Cary.

Some of us had agreed to swap "inchies."  These are the ultimate in small quilts...one inch by one inch!  Only two people got theirs done in time for this meeting.  They are so pretty sitting on the table.

 

This one is by Marion.  It has painting, stamping, beading, and quilting.

 

 

Roberta not only finished hers, but made two beautiful bowls to display them.  She trapped fibers between Solvy water-soluble interfacing, stitched intensively to hold the fibers together, and partially dissolved the Solvy.

 

Roberta also showed us some neckware she made from men's silk ties.  Some are gathered over a metal choker that you can purchase from a craft store like Michael's.  Some are gathered over a cord.  In the next picture you can also see Roberta's other bowl, and some flower brooches made from wool.

 

 

After lunch, we gathered at the Page-Walker House in Cary to see the Water art exhibit by PAQA-South (Professional Art Quilt Alliance.)  Our Toni Brown helped organize and hang the show. 

 

 

There were very diverse interpretations of the theme "Water."  Today I will share some of my favorites from this exhibit.



May the Force Be With You, by Linda Schmidt



Kelp Dance, by Gerrie Congdon



Downstream,  by Annette Rogers



Sun, Sand, Sea, Sky, by Marie Spadaro

Sun, Sand, Sea, Sky detail

Desert Rain

 

Keeping Perspective, by Judy Warner

Deep End of Emotion, by Jen Siegrist

 

Coral Reef, by Jenny Williams

 



I will have more pictures from the Water exhibit next time, and maybe some from the simultaneous art quilt exhibit called Rivers.

 

Meanwhile, we went to the mountains last weekend for a restful weekend. I have a few photos that relate to the theme of Water!  The weather was perfect.  Much warmer, no snow or ice precipitation.  There was still a little ice on the pond when we arrived, but it was so warm on Saturday that it melted away. 

 

 

 

The creek has changed a lot over the winter with all the storms.  Dirt has washed in and piled up, diverting the course of the stream and widening the creek in places.

 

 

Of course, our dog Kasey always jumps in the cold mountain creek after our trip across the mountain in the Gator.  She looks so pretty with the sun shining on the water and reflecting on her golden coat.

 

 

 

Speaking of Kasey, I just got her portrait back from the frame shop.  I really like the way this one turned out.  The frame picks up the coppery and gold tones of her fur.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Finished Quilt Top...and a Special Afternoon

 

Here is my finished quilt top for my grand-baby!  The borders are on.  I just need to piece the backing, and make arrangements to visit my Gammill one day to get it quilted.  (It is at a Foster Mother's house while my home is on the market.)

 

It has been a busy week.  I had to get a temporary crown on a molar, and spent three and a half hours in the dentist's chair on Monday.  Then it came off on Wednesday and I had to go back on Thursday to get it cemented back on.

 

On Saturday my family had a Celebration of Life in honor of my late father, Pete Turner.  It was a wonderful day.  I saw cousins and friends I have not seen in decades.  A special surprise was one of my childhood friends who flew down from New Jersey.  My two surviving aunts and my last surviving uncle were there, along with my father's cousin.  I had a PowerPoint running on the wall screen with scanned images of my father's artwork.  We brought in some of his paintings, and had display tables with lots of his newspaper clippings, commercial art, and published artwork.

 

 

All seven siblings, and many others took turns sharing stories about my father and mother. 

 

 

 

At the end, my brother Tim played guitar and sang  "Someone to Watch Over Me," which was my parents' song during their time of separation during World War II.  I put the lyrics on a PowerPoint slide show and we all sang along.  It was very moving.

 

 

 

Dave and Emily brought little Charlie to meet her cousins, aunts and uncles.  She was a good little girl the whole time. 

 

 

 

Afterward most of us went to dinner together at the Hibernian Pub in Cary.  It was a good day for my family, friends, and neighbors to visit and remember my father's amazing life.

 

Big Charlie took a picture of Little Charlie, her mom, and both her grandmothers. 

 

It looks as if the baby is looking up adoringly at me, but she is looking at my father's painting of mountain wildflowers, hanging on the wall behind the couch.  She loves that painting!  I think the red flowers catch her attention.

 

 

 

My father died just a couple weeks before she was born, but maybe he is looking down on her from Heaven.