Two Women, Two Songs
An Exhibit of Contemporary Art Quilts
by Margaret J. Miller and Claire Favro
Jewel Box Theatre Gallery, Poulsbo, WA
May 20 – July 25, 2003
Gallery Hours: Tuesday and Thursday, 2 p.m. – 5 p.m.
And on Friday and Saturday nights of performances, 8 p.m.
The following piece was written by Margaret J. Miller. The words were enlarged and mounted on the wall to greet visitors, to educate newcomers to the world of contemporary quilt making, and to set the tone for the show.
The world of quilt making is vastly different now than it was in the early days of this country, when quilts were utilitarian pieces, made hurriedly to keep families warm in the harsh conditions of early settlements. Quilt making has been ongoing throughout the history of this country, but it has waxed and waned in popular consciousness. The United States' bicentennial celebration in 1976, and a landmark exhibition of Amish quilts hung at the Whitney Museum in New York, marked the beginning of the current quilt making fervor, which has burgeoned into a 1.8 billion dollar industry. This movement has spawned thousands of cottage industries, new careers and products, and the development of the kinds of quilts you see in this show.
A survey done in 2000 described "dedicated quilters" as those who spend $500 or more on quilting annually: they account for 94% of the total market. A description of a single "dedicated quilter" would be: female, 55 years of age; college educated, has a room in her home dedicated to quilting and sewing. Her average household income is almost $75,000; she has been quilting for over ten years, and started over 14 quilting projects in the past 12 months. She owns at least two sewing machines, and often uses her computer to access internet sites related to quilting to learn tips and new techniques, to find out about quilting patterns, to shop for fabric, and to download free quilt and quilt block patterns.
Quilt making for many women is much more than assembling utilitarian pieces, or duplicating the work of others. More important is the avenue of creative expression it provides. Such is the work surrounding you in this show. What you see here is the mark these two quilt makers are making on the world; the trail of color they leave behind as they proceed on their life's journey. The joy they experience by losing themselves in the creative process is part of what they want to share with you as you enjoy the ambiance these pieces provide.
These quilts are Margaret's and Claire's theme songs—the notes of grace they are adding to the world. In these days of unrest and instability, it has never been more important to be a creator of color and beauty with the work of one's hands; creating objects that give voice to messages from one's soul. The fact that these quilted art pieces are created from the humblest of materials, fabric and thread, makes them that much more approachable and comforting.
The following photos are a tour around the gallery, starting to your
left as you enter the gallery space. All pieces are for sale except Starburst
II. For prices of individual pieces, please contact me at margaret@millerquilts.com.
| Left to right: | ||
| Chaplin’s Checkers 65" x 71" The name of this quilt derives from the figures printed in the border triangles. |
Bloomin' VI 70" x 70" Most of the blocks in this quilt (except the four in the center) are created from only six triangle shapes. The visual complexity comes from cutting those triangles out of multiple fabrics rather than only one. |
Sea Route 59" x 59" An experiment in using square and rectangular versions of the same pieced block in a quilt. The technique which resulted is called "Bloomin’ Quilt Grids". |
| Left to right: | ||
| Sea Route 59" x 59" (see above) |
Bloomin' V 79" x 79" A "Bloomin' Quilt Grids" piece, which began by sewing together strips of teal fabrics, graded in value from light to dark. |
Starburst II 53" x 47" In this piece, a traditional quilt block was drafted into a wedge shape, rather than into a square or rectangle. The design for this quilt began with six circles on a piece of graph paper. |
| Left to right: | ||
| Starburst II 53" x 47" (see above) |
Gaslamp Quarter 70" x 68" Another experiment with squares and rectangles; this time, with only one diagonal seam per unit. One light strategy was used in the upper triangles, a different one in the lower triangles. |
Comet 61" x 61" There are only two shapes in this quilt, wedges and triangles. But there are two kinds of pieced blocks, and the mirror images of each, used to create this piece. |
| Left to right: | |
| Comet 61" x 61" (see above) |
Sunrise, Sunset |