Censorship Hits the Quilt World
The news that a relatively new magazine titled, “Quilter’s Home,” has been banned from sale at all JoAnn Fabric Stores, across the country, came as a surprise yesterday. The magazine, released on January 27, 2009, is the brainchild of former television show producer, Mark Lipinski. Before discovering that his true calling was quilts and expressions of humor, Mark was a producer of the Oprah show.
In a statement published on the Quilt Art mailing list of about 3,300 active art quilters and lurkers, it was revealed that an article by Jake Finch, author of two quilting books, has caused quite a stir. Reportedly, Jake interviewed art quilters whose work is a little “on the edge.” The magazine was specially-wrapped in clear cellophane to prevent unsuspecting children from stumbling across the suggestive images contained therein. The quilts in question were previously vetted and displayed in art venues by the handful of art quilters in question.
Lipinski, through the words of Finch in a subsequent statement, is not calling for a boycott of JoAnn Fabrics. He believes the chain store is a vital part of the crafts industry, and he does not want to inconvenience his readers who might wish to avoid shopping there now, out of loyalty to him or the magazine.
Any publicity, whether good or bad, is still publicity. Everyone will now clamor to try to get a copy of this magazine, just to check it out for themselves. I don’t blame them. In fact, I made some phone calls yesterday, and no stores within a driving distance to me have the magazine yet. The issue in question is the March 2009 edition.
I guess it all depends on what anyone would call objectionable, but after seeing the previews of violent movies, I find violence to be far more obscene than any quilt that depicts the human body … unless the quilt is just totally done in bad taste and is crass and nasty. Since I have not seen the quilts in question, I will reserve any judgment, and am posting this to alert you, just in case you’re curious, too.
Either the art of quilting has reached a new high or a new low. It will be up to the readers to decide.
Patricia Cummings
Quilter’s Muse Publications
