04.11.08
Posted in Quilts, Quilts: Art v. Craft at 1:03 pm by Administrator
If you visit an art museum, you will achieve a sense of the kind of art work that was worthy to be saved. If you visit a museum with a quilt collection, you will see quilts that were chosen to be retained in a permanent collection.
Quilting has always been a “copy art.” For that reason, we have a zillion “Log Cabin” quilts. Many other standard, published, quilt block names include a string of additional, acquired names, from print publications.
In the 1990s, decided “camps” of quilters were established: those whose quilts were exact replicas of those published in books and patterns; and those who copied the great masters, in the world of fine art. Yet other quilters who attempt to utilize only their original designs. Occasionally, drawing the line between who is an art quilter and who is a traditional quilter is difficult. Some quilters are versatile and engage in both types of quilting.
For the masses, who are not designers, and do not want to learn the skills to be one, “copying” means that they can create attractive quilts whose designs have been generated by a professional. Without worrying about color or fabric choices, a quilter is able to concentrate on achieving proficiency in craftsmanship. In Japan, students of needlework and quilting follow a “master,” as anyone could tell you who has ever attended classes in Japanese embroidery at Calloway Gardens in Georgia.
We all want to make pleasing quilts so, again and again, like water running downstream, we turn to quilters and artists of the past for inspiration. One of the most compelling quilts I have seen, in recent years, was a blue and white, award winning quilt made by Linda Franz, when it was on display at the Vermont Quilt Festival. Is the design totally original? No! It is based on a quilt made by England’s famous novelist and quilter, Jane Austen.
Likewise, the Civil War quilt made by Jane Stickle in Vermont, has achieved fame as a result of the work of a professional in the quilt world: Brenda Papadakis, with her Dear Jane book. We have seen and been amazed by the original quilt that is held in the Bennington Museum in VT. Hundreds of quilters have rushed to replicate the tiny blocks.
Is there a stigma to revisiting and making patterns that have historical meaning, for one reason or another? I think not. There is not more value in being an “art quilter,” than in choosing to be a “traditional quilter.” The future is now and relies on innovation, but our roots are in the past. I believe we can successfully honor all quilts, and choose for ourselves the types of quilts we wish to make and the methods we like the best.
Patricia Cummings, Quilter’s Muse Publications and Virtual Museum
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02.23.08
Posted in Quilts at 4:26 am by Administrator
I have always thought that the Bear’s Paw quilt pattern is a romantic one. It reminds me of the hardships faced by earlier settlers. Bears have been in the news a lot lately. Last night, I watched a TV special about Polar Bears and Grizzly Bears. It seems that because of climactic change, their territory is coinciding and in at least one documented cases, the two kinds of bears have interbred. I digress.
A few weeks ago, I was in an antiques shop when I spotted a 40 1/4″ square quilt with Bear’s Paw blocks. This is the craziest amalgamation of anything I’ve ever seen. The top is all nineteenth century fabrics and the back is twentieth century fabric with Sunbonnet ladies. Part of the quilt is hand quilted, but not consistently the same, from block to block. One block has two bright pink ties that appear to be acrylic. The binding is store bought and the batting appears to be polyester. The quilt is quite a mix of different ages of components.
One of the interesting features is that the “paw” of each block is a light print surrounded by dark prints. It is only when one looks more closely that one can even notice that the design is “Bear’s Paw.”
Bears are very “cute” and very lovable. Several years ago, one passed in front of our car, with her two little cubs. I was happy to be inside the car. As they get more used to humans, they become more bold. Someone I know had a bear on her porch, looking in through a glass door. That, to me, is a little too close for comfort. In search of food, they will even break windows to get into a house, an amazing thing to view on the television.
I like Bear’s Paw quilt blocks and while I was telling you about the unusual quilt, I thought I’d share what little I know about bears, which in actuality, is barely nothing.
Patricia Cummings
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02.21.08
Posted in Museum News, Quilts at 2:32 am by Administrator
Today, we left New Hampshire early in the morning and traveled to Vermont, where we picked up I 91 south to Massachusetts and then I 84 south through Connecticut to Waterbury, south of Hartford. The amount of snow still on the ground changed considerably as we headed south, until there was none in sight in the area we went. Migrating hawks were lined up in the bare trees, or were soaring, or were on the ground eating their kill. I must have seen thirty of them on the way down. Very late afternoon, as a passenger on the way back, found me studying the interior of my eyelids for awhile. I’m like a little kid. I often fall asleep in the car. Hmmm … or it is zzzzz?
The reason for our trip was to visit an exhibit of antique quilts at the Mattatuck Museum. The exhibit is called “Cover Stories” - Quilts and Bed Coverings from Regional Collections. The quilts will be in place until March 23, 2008.
Entering the building, we heard two ladies being buzzed in at another entrance. Their first question to whomever they encountered was “Where are the quilts?” They sounded like ladies with a mission. They entered the room and one of them headed right to a quilt, grabbed it in a bunch in her hand, within three inches of the prominent “Do Not Touch” sign. She reeled back in amazement and said, “Mercy me! Why ever would they have such a sign?” She dropped her hand.
I was busy enjoying the old quilts when I heard one of the ladies say, “Don’t they have any ‘good’ quilts, any “newer” ones? At that juncture, I wondered if they understood the word, “museum.”
Turning to one of these older gals, I asked if she is a quilter. She replied, “Heavens, no. I quilted years ago. Now, I can’t be bothered.”
It was obvious that neither of the pair knew a thing about what they were seeing and could make heads nor tales out of what the fuss was all about.
Here’s the rundown of what I remember. I think that anyone who loves quilt history would break a leg to get to this exhibit, but maybe those of us who love old quilts are odd ducks. Somehow, I don’t think so.
As one turned the corner, after first coming in the door, there was a blue and white quilt with both indigo and resist-printed fabrics. Next to that was the most stunning, blue, calimanco, glazed wool and linen quilt that is in the finest condition of any I’ve seen here in New England. The wool and flax were raised on the farm where the quilt originated.
Directly across from that was a (nine patch) Whig Rose quilt whose shapes were different from any I’ve ever seen. A quilt with squares of Chintz fabric, oddly set with alternate blocks, had a Chintz border of the same fabric. At the time this was made, I would imagine the fabric was expensive, to get that much of it.
Two Crazy Quilts hung side by side. Both were in excellent condition and truly representative of their genre and time period. There was a lot of surface decoration, including painted fabrics, Kate Greenaway designs, lots of floral motifs, stitches, and all that you would expect from fine example of this type of mid-1880s, non-quilt.
There was a Friendship quilt from 1861 and it was fun to study all the different fabrics that had been used in that. Another quilt was made of vertical rows of hexagons, with a name stenciled into the center hexagon, with brown ink.
A marvelous all-silk Lily quilt adorned a bed in the gallery, in colors of red, green and cream. It looked to be beautifully-quilted. There was a gorgeous Log Cabin quilt with 12 blocks across and 14 blocks down, all in silk, and in excellent condition. This would have been in the category of a “show quilt,” at the time it was made.
There were other Star quilts, pieced quilts, etc., each of them unique and a feat for their day, or any other day. I’m especially enamored of Crazy Quilts, so I lingered there for a long time. They were a visual feast.
Upstairs in the museum, there is a huge button collection on display. Waterbury used to have an active factory for making buttons, so that accounts for some of the mounted examples. Some parts of the museum are undergoing renovations, and the cafeteria and gift shop are both shut down right now. We did have a surprise, by taking the stairs to exit. There is a “pillar print” quilt for a four poster bed that is hanging in the location of the stairs landing. If you are not from New England, you would mistakenly call this quilt a “T” quilt or a “Cut out” quilt. Beware! We are watching!
Wonderful day! I recommend this exhibit! Thanks to my friend Carol for telling me about the exhibit. I am sorry to report that the quilt being “mauled” belong to “sue.” I am happy to say that it appeared “to be none the worse for wear.”
Patricia Cummings, http://www.quiltersmuse.com
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