Quilts as Art

      For a while now, my pals Jean and Jan have been telling me to go to the Visions Art Museum at Liberty Station in San Diego.  They know I love to quilt, and Visions is a museum dedicated to promoting and appreciating quilt as fine art.  I am so thankful I took their advice and visited! (check out www.visionsartmuseum.org for a cyber-visit...you may not get to experience the textures and colors in person, but it's worth a gander.)

     I arrived at the museum early this morning, determined to do something for my brain rather than join in the frenzy of last minute shopping for stuff we don't need.  If the early bird gets the worm, my was fat and juicy...I managed to piggy-back on a tour lead by an artist who teaches "Artful Quilting" through Adult Learning at San Diego City Schools.  One of the students, Sally, took me under her wing (another bird cliche...).  

     It turns out Sally is also a docent at the museum and had the inside skinny on how to curate a quilt show.  To say these pieces are stunning is an understatement.  Many of the artists dye their own fabric.  Some use a technique called "sun printing."  Sally explained that the artist brushes a special chemical on the fabric, then places leaves or other objects on top and leaves it in the sun.  I remember making pictures on paper using a similar technique in Girl Scouts as a child.  A variety of fabric, additional paint, and finally stitching create more layers of design to these contemporary pieces.  

    The teacher pointed out the rhythm of the stitching.  One piece was whole cloth silk rather than patchwork.  The artist painted a design on the fabric, then with silk embroidery floss hand-sewed an amazing texture and design.  One woman said she would go crazy sewing in that detail.  The teacher said hand-stitching is a meditative process.  You are not out of your mind, but in your mind.

     As a novice quilter, I am still quite taken with how quilts are assembled.  I like to look at the back to see what the artist has done with the side most people never see.  (Perhaps all those years as a journalist looking at the underbelly of life left its mark...)  Touching quilts is a big no-no, but my new friend Sally whipped a white glove out of her purse to show me the backs. A Japanese artist whose work was included in this juried show used a beautiful kimono on the back of a geometric quilt.  It was stunning: a total surprise.  The teacher said the back of a quilt should be like fine lingerie.  Not everyone gets to see it, but you know it's there.

     My quilting is no where near the quality of the pieces I saw today. But isn't it wonderful there are places we can go to see inspiration and imagination at work.  And it's equally wonderful when we run into a person like Sally, who is open to sharing her knowledge and has a white glove in her purse!