I had the great good fortune to be invited to teach at Lowell Quilt Show earlier this month.  I’ll blog about one of my classes in a couple of days, but today I wanted to give you an overview, starting with this overview of the show, which is held in the Tsongas Arena in Lowell, which is northwest of Boston (about 45 minutes by car, I think….it’s about 3 1/2 to 4 hours from Camden, Maine). Note:  photos in this post are clickable to be viewed larger.

The vendors are on an upper level that surrounds the arena, so you get a bird’s eye view.  This photo was taken early on Sunday (hence the lack of crowd).   I got over to the show earlier in the week, after class was over, and was thrilled to spot my Koi quilt for the first time….when folks were looking at it!  I guess a white glove lady was near it a lot of the time to show the back (LOVE IT!):

I had not realized until shortly before the show that the 2007 journal quilts would be there (I am not sure if this viewing included all of them or not, but I think it did).

As always, the journals are a popular exhibit (sure hope one of my entries gets in this year… I need an acceptance!!! instead of a “sorry” letter!).  On Sunday, I was thrilled to see someone really looking at mine… my journal is quite subtle, not a grab-you-from-a-distance piece, so it was really rewarding to see someone drawn in and taking a long time to take it in…thank you to whoever you are in this picture!  I hope it is OK for me to have posted this photo of you:

Wow…just realized I never uploaded this quilt to my website… I’ll do that when we get back from vacation in a week or so!   There is a lot to it… it is about Hiroshima, peace and all that….

One of the best things about quilt shows is the teachers.  If you ARE one of the teachers, one of the best things about a quilt show is getting to hang out with the other teachers!  I was thrilled to run into Nancy Prince, whom I had briefly met in Paducah, Joanie Zeier Poole, Judy Cisneros, Nancy Brenan Daniel and others….. dinners were a GAS.  This first night we each and every one of us had lobster of some sort at the hotel restaurant:

Nancy lives in Arizona, so she decided to splurge, and ham it up a bit… I totally love this photo and need to send it to her before heading out on Wednesday (and yes, she did take the meat out of the shell before eating it LOL)

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On Sunday I got to have breakfast at the locally famous Four Sisters Owl Diner, a real OLD diner, with good old fashioned cholesterol-heaven breakfast:

To my great astonishment and pleasure, I got an e-mail a couple days before leaving for Lowell informing me that I had won an honorable mention for Naiads!  After viewing the other quilts, I’m thrilled even more…. here’s  a picture of Naiads with the ribbon alongside and the “neighborhood”:

I taught Thursday, Friday and Saturday, so got to see the show on Sunday to my hearts’ content.  But even tired teachers wear out.  And get hungry.  So mid-afternoon I set out on the town to see the shows at the Brush Gallery, The Whistler (more on those two in future posts), and get some lunch.  I was fortunate to be able to wait to pick up Naiads and my teachers quilts (Koi and Garuda Dances Under the Ocean Moon) at 5:30, after show take-down (thereby saving a bundle on  shipping) before heading home.  So, while waiting, I had an iced coffee…perfect:

For the past month or so I’ve been enjoying the Lark publication Masters:  Art Quilts (subtitled Major Works by Leading Artists).   This book is one in a series of fine arts and crafts such as Porcelain, Beadweaving, Gemstones, Glass Beads and others (forthcoming) on Wood Turning and Gold.  This series is a nearly square 9×8 inches, and hefty…the shortest is 300 pages, with the Art Quilt volume the heftiest at 416 pages. (Note: all photos in this post are clickable to see them a bit larger–scroll down for LOTS of great review pics.)

How author and curator  Martha Sielman, executive director of Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA ) and an art quilter herself, managed to whittle her selections down to a mere 40 of the many, MANY outstanding art quilters working today I do not know.  What I can say is that she did a smashing job of selecting a representative sampling:  from some of our trailblazing artists to some newcomers who deserve to be included in the top tier, from abstract to highly representational, from those who work exclusively with fabric and thread to those whose quilts are nearly encrusted with embellishments, and from around the world, Martha has included something for everyone’s taste, and introduces us to some quilters we may not have known–well, even though I read voraciously and troll for news of the art quilting world outside the United States, there were some artists that were new to me.  The artists (in the order in which they are presented in the book) are:

• Jane Sassaman
• Michael A. Cummings
• Ita Ziv
• Cher Cartwright
• Noriko Endo
• Deidre Scherer
• Carolyn L. Mazloomi
• Hollis Chatelain
• Linda Colsh
• Charlotte Yde
• Joan Schulze
• Judith Content
• Kyoung Ae Cho
• Jette Clover
• Eszter Bornemisza
• Pauline Burbidge
• Yvonne Porcella
• M. Joan Lintault
• Katie Pasquini Masopust
• Nancy N. Erickson
• Susan Shie
• Caryl Bryer Fallert
• Jeanette Gilks
• Jane Burch Cochran
• Pamela Allen
• Therese May
• John W. Lefelhocz
• Miriam Nathan-Roberts
• Jenny Hearn
• Terrie Hancock Mangat
• Wendy Huhn
• B.J. Adams
• Inge Mardal and Steen Hougs
• Chiaki Dosho
• Inge Hueber
• Michael James
• Velda E. Newman
• Anne Woringer
• Clare Plug
• Elizabeth Brimelow

The book begins with a brief Introduction by Martha Sielman, and is followed by profiles of the artists.    Forty art quilters are included, each with 10 pages.  Each “chapter” begins with an introduction written by Martha and a detail photo on the left-hand page, while the full quilt is showed as large as can fit on the page on the right.  Each photo has the title, year it is made (which allows one to see progression in the artists’ work and style), size, and a brief summary of techniques.  On the subsequent pages, full-shot photos of an representative sample of that artists’ quilts are accompanied by quotations from the artists that give insight to their style, goals and personality.

With only a few exceptions, the photography is outstanding, showing even the stitching detail.  For those not familiar with taking photographs of quilts, it is challenging (to say the least!), so the ability to see this level of detail throughout the book is a rare treat.  Here are some of my favorites, beginning with one of my quilting idols, Hollis Chatelain:

I had not known of the work of Michael Cummings:

or Kyoung Ae Cho before, but I am certainly glad I do now….time to go surf the internet, eh?

and a photo of another of her pieces:

Ita Ziv of Israel uses highly unconventional materials, like the bags you get while shopping!

Charlotte Yde’s name was familiar, but I got to see some new works:

I love her bold use of color, her often monochromatic quilts, and in these pieces the repeated shield or banner shapes:

Jenny Hearn’s work reflects her South African heritage though it is not always obvious.  There is a rich complexity to the visual texture:

and another piece (by the way…sorry about the flash glare!)

Inge Mardal and Steen Hougs’ quilts always stop me in my tracks when I see them in a show.  They are very large….often between 5×5 or 6×6 feet!   They are densely quilted, and glorious:

I honestly don’t know how Martha managed to restrain herself to a mere forty art quilters….  each and every chapter is a feast for the eyes.  I also don’t know how Lark managed to publish such a sumptuous coffee-table book for only 24.95.  If you purchase this book from SAQA store, part of the proceeds will go to support the efforts of the Studio Art Quilt Associates promote our art form.   It is also available here at Amazon.com. Like The Art Quilt by Michael Kile and Penny McMorris, this book encapsulates the best of the best at a specific point in time.  I expect that this book, too, will become a classic and a valuable reference.  It’s also just a joy to sit down and savor.

During lunch break from class on that Friday, Jan and I went down to the show floor to see the quilts, and what ribbons I might have won …… teeeheee!   I got lucky this year, and received two first place blue ribbons and, drum roll please, my first ever Judges’ Choice from (usually traditional-loving) Lisa Erlandson (you’ll have to read to the bottom for more!)!  The first of my quilts that I ran across was Nourish; when I walked up all sorts of folks were looking at it closely (way cool!).

Here’s me doing the “Vanna White pose” and explaining to some viewers how I did it….

The next aisle had a wonderful exhibit called A Sense of Place, the annual Art Quilts Maine challenge for the year.  This year there were many entries (some years there are not so many!), and they were all wonderful, and some outstanding.  Of course I loved Kathy and Kate’s!   Kathy’s features her signature bright colors and many beads….as always not one too many, not one too few:

This detail shows more of her fine work:

Kate outdid herself this year.  She went to Italy earlier this year, and was so inspired by Cinque Terra.  She took her time with this quilt (as an overextended mom, we all tend to rush!) and it shows in the quality of design and workmanship.  This may be the best machine quilting she’s done… I totally love the piece:

Anne Walker, the President (aka Queen) of AQM, made this stunning aerial view…. her work is always tops—I wouldn’t mind owning a piece like this one!  The blue binding on the bottom is inspired!:

Across the aisle, the Coastal Quilters challenge hung on the ugly burgundy drapes.  Inspired by the Frayed Edges 5×5 grid (seen here in an older blogpost, and here and here), the chapter chose a photo by Jan’s husband and photographer Dwight P. called Ropes and Buoys.  The challenge was to make a 10x 10 inch quilt using any technique.   Many went for realistic colors….weathered wood and rope and a bright buoy, but some of us went hog wild!

Mine are the two close-ups….last one on the 4th row, first one on the 5th row.

I LOVED that some went traditional in their interpretation, and that others went totally wild.  What is astonishing is that some of the most traditional quilters who had never EVER made an art quilt did some of the most AMAZING piece….major kudos to Karen Martin and Leigh Smith for not only attempting the challenge, but excelling!

This quilt was a round robin made by Roxanne Wells, Rebeccah Hokkanen, Susan Barry and Gail Galloway-Nicholson.   Despite serious medical challenges to them and / or their spouses for at least three of them, they did a wonderful job.  Alas, I somehow only got the picture of this one (not all four) of their challenge quilts.  Of course they are, all 4 of them, part of my awesome local Coastal Quilters chapter.  I’m so glad I’m here! What luck to find so many kindred souls.

As promised, here is Rana O’Connor’s tiger….he is totally, completely amazing.  The tiger himself is ALL THREAD….and then appliqued onto the surface, which is a single batik. Everything else you see is thread–the snake, the tree, everything.  Can you tell she loves thread as much as I do?  Not surprisingly, he took a well-earned blue ribbon!  The quilt is fairly small, maybe 14 inches tall?

Here are several quilts (and sorry, I’m too lazy and rushed to run upstairs and find the show brochure to add who made them… if you know tell me and I’ll update the post, which I’ll try to do later anyway) that I really liked…. first this awesome green NY Beauty:

And this very Maine-ish quilt, complete with loose-flapping flags:

No blog about the show would be complete without one of Jeanne-Marie Robinson’s quilts (she’s also in Coastal Quilters…grin!).  Almost always her quilts feature animals, and most often are brightly colored.  This one is softer, yet is one of my favorites….the handwork (all hand applique and quilting, and lots of embroidery) is stunning:

This charming little quilt was made of one of those fabrics you’d think would turn out, well, a bit tacky, but it SO works, and the beading is just perfect.  I want to track down the maker (I have the info in my notes somewhere) and ask her if I may use it in my lecture on beading on quilts:

Last but not least, here I am doing another “Vanna” showing off my Judges’ choice ribbon for Naiads:

It was a good year!   I actually got to see the show this year, Joshua is well, Paul is well, and Eli is well!  After helping hang the show on Wednesday (see the post from a couple of days ago), I returned Friday morning for a class on “Woodcut Quilts with Laura Wasilowski.”  Jan and I had signed up eons ago, as soon as we could, with the idea of a “moms escape to play.” To see Laura’s work and / or buy her fabric and thread, go here.

To get an idea of the type of pieces, take a look at Laura’s small quilts on the demo-board.  There were no patterns, just your imagination to run wild.  The class kit fee included two lengths of Laura’s hand-dyed fabric (it is a rainbow run of color from one selvage to the other) in bright and a narrower strip in pastel, plus some dyed-to-match perle cotton.

For some reason, I don’t have a picture of my piece (in progress and untouched since class…sigh…), so you’ll get to enjoy Jan’s piece, above.  I really like the bricks…not a whole raft of them, just some to suggest the wall around the door.   As usual, I was disobedient, and brought Misty Fuse instead of Wonder Under (and did just fine thankyewveddymuch), and also brought along my stash of pre-fused batiks (see the flowerpot to the left of Jan’s door!).

There were some awesome pieces…one lady made a giraffe for a granddaughter (sorry I don’t recall her name)….and please remember, these are all “in progress” pieces:

You can see the shading on the pastel hand-dyed in the sky on this piece.

Virginia Morrell of Art Quilts Maine made this awesome and vibrant flower doing very careful fussy cutting…can’t wait to see where it goes:

And Beth Guisely from Coastal Quilters is well on her way to achieving a rooster here:

I’ll be back in a couple of days with one more post about MQ2008!

A visitor to my website (and I’m guessing also this blog) asked me recently what would be in my ideal wet / dyeing studio….. she has the pleasure of being able to convert a greenhouse to a dye studio….heaven!   Here’s my list… I’d love suggestions from those that have “been there, done that.”  Let me know what worked, what you’d wish you’d done…..

• An absolute must for me is a sink with hot water!   My dream sink would be deep, but not so deep that I have to stoop to reach the bottom (thereby avoiding aching back).  I would actually love two sinks….one huge and deep for soaking large quantities, another not so deep for easier reach.  A pull-out spray/regular faucet (the kind for sinks) would be good too…..  OK, so what I really want is a restaurant sink with counter with overhead spray hose/nozzle/whatever it is called.
• A mixing counter with shallow shelves above for holding the dyes and the beakers/mixing paraphernalia.   Needs to have enough space to lay out dye-binders and recipes next to the actual mixing zone.  If it were next to the sink for easy wiping-down that would be a bonus (remember the old integrated drainboards?  that would be ideal!).  And maybe a bulletin board for pinning the current recipe or basic ones up right in front of my nose.
• Deep shelving nearby for bulky/heavy stuff like Urea and Soda Ash (on the bottom) and buckets/basins.
• Since I like to paint the fabric, not do LWI “scrunch and dump” dyeing for the most part, a LARGE FLAT surface…. like 4×8 feet!  And maybe something like a carpenter’s “crib”…  places where I could store 4×8 sheets (would need help moving them) stacked horizontally one above another for batching.  Think of those cookie cooling towers in Costco or wherever where you can stack up 20 cookie sheets at a time…. like that but maybe for 4 sheets, not 20, and of course way huger for my purposes! I’d love for the sheets to have a rim (just like a cookie sheet), but that might be hard to finagle.  My friend Lisa Walton of Dyed and Gone to Heaven (who sells her hand dyeds worldwide I might add!) uses pond liner in the back yard, but Sydney, Australia, is a more hospitable climate for outdoor dyeing than Camden, Maine! Still, using the heavy plastic and pinching up the corners (setting it on a table of course) could work well.
• Washer and dryer in the studio or nearby so as not the require hauling wet, just-batched fabric long distances.
• Wipe-down-easily walls and floor (well, for me maybe the ceiling too!)
• A couple places to suspend rods from the ceiling if I want to hang yardage and drip-dye (pour it on and watch it flow down).  A plastic sled or window box makes a good drip catches…line with scrunched fabric and you have a coordinated piece of cloth…
• LIGHT….lots of good light (shouldn’t be an issue in a greenhouse, except at night)
• Warmth….I live in Maine, so hope to be able to afford an electric blanket to set over things for batching so I can dye in winter……
• A small space to write notes, keep my dye-binders and reference books that is far enough away from water to give them a little protection
• A stool on which to perch, and maybe one of those chef’s mats for when standing to ease the foot-pain!
• Entertainment…radio, tv, something….and maybe access to the outside.
• BATHROOM nearby!

What’s on your list?