Not a Virtual Exhibit

It’s spring in Maine which can only mean mud, melting ice and more mud. Maybe you need something colorful to carry you past mud season? Are you ready to see some art In Person? The Stonewall Gallery at Yarmouth History Center is hosting this year’s Art Quilts Maine touring show in their lovely exhibit space at 118 East Elm St in Yarmouth. The Gallery is open Tuesday through Friday from 10:00 to 4:00. The show comes down April 30 by which time hopefully Maine will be in bloom!

Rosapaloosa — Anne Walker

Visionary: How do Artists See?

The show catalog, Visionary: How do Artists See?  is now available on Amazon! The show opens June 24 to 27 at the Vermont Quilt Festival and tours New England through 2021. My piece, titled “Living in a Material World,” depicts a child, born to a stark black and white reality, engulfed in material–literally and figuratively.  Sneak a glance, below.

 

Exciting News

My quilt, “Living in a Material World” has been juried into the Studio Art Quilt Associates ME/NH/VT region show, “Visionary”. The exhibit consists of 26 pieces, each 20″ x 20″ and will tour New England venues from June 2020 through 2021.

An artist statement that included the phrase, “I see . . .” accompanied each submission. Here is my statement: Our world insists on the acquisition of material things as a measure of success even though our adherence to this path has created a colorless world for many. I see this child, living a black and white reality, engulfed in a material world that clamors for attention. 

The juror, Carol Larson, had lovely words for this piece: Living in a Material World struck me as the most powerful piece in this exhibit. The artist clearly conveyed the pensive child overwhelmed by the acquisition of stuff in a black and white world. It is both beautiful and haunting.

Can’t wait for the show to start. Opening venue is the Vermont Quilt Festival June 24 to 27, 2020. The show moves to Maine Fiberarts in Topsham July and August of 2020 and will likely wrap up with Mancuso World Quilt Show, Springfield MA in August 2021. Make an effort to see this one!

Art Quilts Maine on Tour

Art Quilts Maine traveling tour opened at the Portland Public Library this weekend. They remain on display through January. The quilts display a wide variety of styles and techniques, ranging from personal tributes to the whimsical Whoopie Pie! If you are in downtown Portland be sure to wander in to the children’s section of the library and feast your eyes. Here’s a preview!

AQM Travel Show

The Art Quilts Maine annual travel show is hung at the first venue: the Skowhegan Public Library. There’s something wonderful about fabric sharing space with books. The show is in Skowhegan until mid-October. Find it in Lewiston at Kimball St Studios mid-October to mid-November. Then it’s on to Portland where they hang in the Portland Public Library children’s section through January. March and April you can see the show at the Farmington Public Library, with a final stop at the Yarmouth Historical Society for May and June. After that the artwork is returned to the owners so catch it while you can! 

Rhiannon, Queen of the Night

I did figure out what to do with my pile of mostly floral fabrics. In response to this year’s Art Quilts Maine challenge theme, “Page 20”, I created a woman against a background of giant sunflowers. My goal, regardless of the theme, was to work on a nude, using scraps of fabric. Luckily, my Page 20, pulled from a random magazine, had sunflowers in the background, so I incorporated that idea in my piece. The show debuts at Maine Quilts at the Augusta Civic Center, July 25 to 27.  The Art Quilts Maine tour begins in Skowhegan around Labor Day and travels to Kimball St Studios in Lewiston for October/November with a reception October 26, Portland Public Library mid November through January, Farmington Public Library March and April, and the Yarmouth Historical Society May 1 to mid-June (reception TBD). 19 quilts on tour–widely varied themes as everyone had a random page 20 to inspire their work. Get out and see it! Here’s a shot of Rhiannon (name inspired by the Fleetwood Mac song) in progress–I can’t believe I let her go on tour without taking a proper photograph!

The Immigrants’ Journey

My piece, Hope Endures, is part of “The Immigrants’ Journey Through the Eyes of Quilters” June 30 to August 30 at the Chase Family Gallery, Mandell JCC, West Hartford, CT. Featuring 20 juried quilts, the show tells the immigrant story with needle, thread and bits of fabric. The quilters are from 9 US states, Sweden, Israel and Italy. An opening reception is scheduled for Sunday, June 30 from 2:00 to 4:00 pm. Call the Center at 860-236-4571 for hours.

 

Last Chance

The 2018-19 Art Quilts Maine tour opens at the final venue on Tuesday, April 2, with a meet and greet scheduled for Thursday, April 4 from 3:00 to 5:00.  The location is the Farmington Public Library. The collection of 21 quilts is on display until the end of May, returning to the makers in June. If you haven’t had an opportunity to see this year’s exhibit, make a point of stopping in Farmington soon!

This season’s challenges included the ‘Batik Challenge’, wherein each participant received several pieces of the same group of batik fabrics–and created a wide variety of quilts in response. The second challenge was ‘On (or off) the Beaten Path’, which produced 14 pieces depicting paths both real and implied. New pieces are in the making for the 2019-2020 tour which debuts at Maine Quilts in July! 

Winter Challenge

Art Quilts Maine issues a winter challenge each December, with the finished product revealed at the February meeting. One year it was masks, another year quilted portraits. This year each member was handed pieces of three fabrics. Everyone got the same three fabrics, but not necessarily in the same proportion. No one got more than about 10″ x 15″ of any one color. The fabrics were White, with a pale gray print, Red and a light mottled Blue. Results were revealed at Saturday’s meeting! Finished pieces included a toy room scene, an exuberantly pieced sun, multi-colored triangles set in an irregularly shaped quilt, a piece based on a child’s drawing, and a tropical bird. Here’s mine. I had fun extending the quilting for each segment out into the border, and adding the braid I found that was the perfect length to set off the moon’s face. 

The title, “Dark Side of the Moon” comes from the back side–see?

The collection will be on display this summer at Maine Quilts and join the Art Quilts Maine traveling show next fall.

Page 20 in Process

I started work on a new piece. It needs to be completed by June, when Art Quilts Maine members reveal their challenge pieces for the year. This year’s challenge is titled Page 20. The premise is to flip to page 20 of any (non-quilting) magazine and find inspiration there. Could be an image, a word, article, anything on that page. I’ll show you my Page 20 and finished piece in June, after the Art Quilters get to see it. Until then, thought you might enjoy a sneak peak of the process–which like many processes, is pretty messy! Who knows what will come out of all that fabric? I hope I do!