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International Quilt Festival 2013, Houston, #4
Wow… I’ve certainly been AWOL (Absent WithOut Leave)! That’s what happens when I get busy. Between Eli’s wrestling, daily life, and working on a quilt for Joshua, I was appalled to see it has been over a week since I posted. So I thought I’d share some photos from Houston’s Quilt Festival. Though it was a while ago, I haven’t shared yet, and it is still good eye candy!
Since I’m thinking about beginning this coming year’s entry for the Dinner@8 exhibit, let’s focus on this year’s exhibit which was themed “An Exquisite Moment.” I struggled to come up with a theme for Rituals, but so many ideas came for this theme: childbirth, nursing, Eli peeking at me from under the highbush blueberry bush, munching away, the peaceful comfort of a cup of tea and a good book. But when I remembered the night we heard the orcas sing, and because all four of us remembered that night, that had to be the quilt for me.
It always thrills me when someone likes what I have made enough that they take a picture. The blue quilt is my “Listen to the Song in the Night,” which I blogged about here.
I was doing much the same thing with several of the other pieces! One of my favorites is by my friend Diane Perin Hock. The feeling of tranquility and peace is palpable:
Diane Perin Hock’s “Serenity,” a portrait of the Adirondack chair under the tree at a quilt retreat fill me with calm. The colors, the calm…I love this!
And the same quilt in its “neighborhood.” The quilt to the immediate right is Fear of Flying by Judy Coates Perez. The next one over (turning on the ignition) is Speed by Cheryl Sleboda, while the passion flowers to the left of Diane’s are by Frances Alford.
Two more friends: Deborah Boschert’s red branch is in the center and Rachel Parris’s feeding the chickens on the right. I first met Rachel at a dinner of the artists (those who were at Festival) one year, and she is the most wonderful woman. On the left is Jayne Larson’s Rainbow: A moment of reflection. This year it was so much fun… I Facebooked my propped up feet at the airport on my way home, and Rachel promptly messaged me: she was in the same terminal, so we got to have coffee together before we split to the corners of America!
I’m bummed that this photo isn’t in sharp focus, but I love Deborah’s quilt so much that I’m including it anyway. It is quintessentially “Deborah,” with her signature handwriting (this time on super-scale), branches, surface designs stamped and stenciled, but the colors are a-typical, giving it a wonderful freshness.
Rachel Parris grows as an artist every year. I totally adore this piece, “Ordinary Day.” It makes me think of our grandmothers’ time and lives, and love how Rachel used the writing on the apron.
Cynthia St. Charles dyes and does a lot of surface design. For Winter Walk II, she has carved blocks for stamping as well as using thermofax screens.
Cynthia St. Charles, detail: Even in this photo it is hard to realize that she has stamped on many fabrics, collaged them, printed onto sheers, layered them…the piece is mesmerizing and is reinforcing my thnking that I really need to take more time to play, to dye fabric, to print and stamp and come up with my own cloth in addition to my signature tone-on-tone batiks.
I’ll close with a neighborhood shot of my quilt on one side of the Dinner at 8 display. I am so inspired by these women, and so pleased to be included in their company.
For more about the Dinner at 8 artists and exhibits, visit the Dinner@8 blog. If you’d like a show catalog, you can purchase one here, printed by Blurb. Thank you to Loris Bogue for taking the time to put this together again this year!
January 15th, 2014 at 2:17 am
Thanks for the tour,
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