Quilts Across Textures, Times, Dimensions
February 21, 2020
By KATHLEEN SHAW
News-Record 2/21/20
A dark and haunting rendition of the national flag features bones instead of stripes and crooked teeth that are reminiscent of stars on strips of dental X-rays and magnetic resonance imaging.
Modern, abstract and historic — the latest exhibitions at the Virginia Quilt Museum aim to redefine the public’s perception of quilts.
Trudi Van Dyke curated “No Fabric/ No Rules” to inspire artists around the region to take quilting technique approaches and apply them to a work in their preferred medium for a cross-cultural exhibit.
“The museum is really trying to stretch its boundaries by having something contemporary, something traditional, something historical and try to hit the interests of everyone going forward,” Van Dyke said. “The museum should have something for everybody.”
Greeting guests first in the museum is “Then and Now — Beyond Tradition” by Linda Fiedler. Some abstract, bright and bold, the quilts transition from shockingly bright and rigid to soft-toned, delicate, nature-inspired creations. Winning awards at various shows such as the International Quilt Festival and the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival, Fiedler is known for her free motion, strikingly emotional visuals, and this exhibit demonstrates the ebb and flow of her style.
“It’s a progression of how her work has transitioned. … Part of it is all geometric shapes … then it goes into nature and depicts more nature-esque scenes,” marketing and events coordinator Danielle Stockbridge said.
“Inspired by Van Gogh” is an exhibit in the Magruder Gallery dedicated to artistic interpretations of Vincent van Gogh’s “Vases with Red Poppies and Daisies.” Curated by three artists in Central Virginia’s Fiber and Stitch Art Collective, the diverse arrangement of works includes various textile and color creative liberties with multiverse titles such as “What if Van Gogh Loved Purple” and “ If Van Gogh Had Met Georgia O’Keeffe.” The floral two-and three-dimensional pieces will remain in the gallery until April 18.
At the top of the staircase is a collection of quilts from the museum’s vault to celebrate the suffrage movement. Executive Director Susan Farmer selected each quilt across eras to paint an idea of how vocal women were allowed to be in society. Included in the space is a traditional piece from the temperance movement and an elaborate stitching from the Victorian period.
“Because it is the 100-year anniversary of women getting the right to vote, I got quilts from each time period to tell their voice,” Farmer said. “During the Victorian period, women started to stand up and protest.”
Virginia voted against ratifying the 19th Amendment in February of 1920, but the federal law was passed the summer of that year. Still, the state legislature delayed its ratification until 1952.
Layers of new and old come to life in Jenny Emry’s collection of quilts in “Rescue, Repair, Recycle, Reinvent.”
Before becoming a quilter, Emry was a graphic arts student at the Pratt Institute and worked as a scientific illustrator at the American Museum of Natural History. Collecting unfinished quilts was merely a hobby for Emry until she began repairing the pieces and eventually dabbled into designing her own quilts with the salvaged cloths.
Farmer said hand- stitching brilliant and quirky upcycled pieces with all-over spiral circle designs is another example of one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
“She’d find them at yard sales and thrift stores and repurpose them into art. She just takes old quilts people didn’t want and turned them into new work,” Farmer said.
Nearly all works in Van Dyke’s exhibit in Galleries I, II and III upstairs are from 2020 and serve to draw parallels for both artists and visitors between quilting and modern art forms.
“It became clear to me that many times their work is based off patterning,” Van Dyke said. “The mosaic, she is a mosaic artist, so it was just a matter of changing the design elements. The large metal piece in the window of the dress, she is a metal sculpture. So most of them were working in a medium that was familiar to them but changing the design into a quilt design.”
Opening day of the museum for the 2020 season was Tuesday, but some featured artists and curators are attending a reception on Saturday from 1 to 3 p.m. to discuss their projects with the public.
Also looming in the future is National Quilting Day on March 21 and the museum’s 25- year anniversary on Aug. 1. Open Tuesday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., the museum transitions new exhibits into the galleries every few months to keep guests on their toes.
News-Record 2/21/20
A dark and haunting rendition of the national flag features bones instead of stripes and crooked teeth that are reminiscent of stars on strips of dental X-rays and magnetic resonance imaging.
Modern, abstract and historic — the latest exhibitions at the Virginia Quilt Museum aim to redefine the public’s perception of quilts.
Trudi Van Dyke curated “No Fabric/ No Rules” to inspire artists around the region to take quilting technique approaches and apply them to a work in their preferred medium for a cross-cultural exhibit.
“The museum is really trying to stretch its boundaries by having something contemporary, something traditional, something historical and try to hit the interests of everyone going forward,” Van Dyke said. “The museum should have something for everybody.”
Greeting guests first in the museum is “Then and Now — Beyond Tradition” by Linda Fiedler. Some abstract, bright and bold, the quilts transition from shockingly bright and rigid to soft-toned, delicate, nature-inspired creations. Winning awards at various shows such as the International Quilt Festival and the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival, Fiedler is known for her free motion, strikingly emotional visuals, and this exhibit demonstrates the ebb and flow of her style.
“It’s a progression of how her work has transitioned. … Part of it is all geometric shapes … then it goes into nature and depicts more nature-esque scenes,” marketing and events coordinator Danielle Stockbridge said.
“Inspired by Van Gogh” is an exhibit in the Magruder Gallery dedicated to artistic interpretations of Vincent van Gogh’s “Vases with Red Poppies and Daisies.” Curated by three artists in Central Virginia’s Fiber and Stitch Art Collective, the diverse arrangement of works includes various textile and color creative liberties with multiverse titles such as “What if Van Gogh Loved Purple” and “ If Van Gogh Had Met Georgia O’Keeffe.” The floral two-and three-dimensional pieces will remain in the gallery until April 18.
At the top of the staircase is a collection of quilts from the museum’s vault to celebrate the suffrage movement. Executive Director Susan Farmer selected each quilt across eras to paint an idea of how vocal women were allowed to be in society. Included in the space is a traditional piece from the temperance movement and an elaborate stitching from the Victorian period.
“Because it is the 100-year anniversary of women getting the right to vote, I got quilts from each time period to tell their voice,” Farmer said. “During the Victorian period, women started to stand up and protest.”
Virginia voted against ratifying the 19th Amendment in February of 1920, but the federal law was passed the summer of that year. Still, the state legislature delayed its ratification until 1952.
Layers of new and old come to life in Jenny Emry’s collection of quilts in “Rescue, Repair, Recycle, Reinvent.”
Before becoming a quilter, Emry was a graphic arts student at the Pratt Institute and worked as a scientific illustrator at the American Museum of Natural History. Collecting unfinished quilts was merely a hobby for Emry until she began repairing the pieces and eventually dabbled into designing her own quilts with the salvaged cloths.
Farmer said hand- stitching brilliant and quirky upcycled pieces with all-over spiral circle designs is another example of one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
“She’d find them at yard sales and thrift stores and repurpose them into art. She just takes old quilts people didn’t want and turned them into new work,” Farmer said.
Nearly all works in Van Dyke’s exhibit in Galleries I, II and III upstairs are from 2020 and serve to draw parallels for both artists and visitors between quilting and modern art forms.
“It became clear to me that many times their work is based off patterning,” Van Dyke said. “The mosaic, she is a mosaic artist, so it was just a matter of changing the design elements. The large metal piece in the window of the dress, she is a metal sculpture. So most of them were working in a medium that was familiar to them but changing the design into a quilt design.”
Opening day of the museum for the 2020 season was Tuesday, but some featured artists and curators are attending a reception on Saturday from 1 to 3 p.m. to discuss their projects with the public.
Also looming in the future is National Quilting Day on March 21 and the museum’s 25- year anniversary on Aug. 1. Open Tuesday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., the museum transitions new exhibits into the galleries every few months to keep guests on their toes.
