Friday, October 21, 2011

Colorado Venture

I just spent the past few days in Colorado. While there I was able to return to the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museumhttp://www.rmqm.org/. I had been able to visit the museum last May during the SAQA Visioning Conference. This time it was much quieter and I was treated to a personal tour by one of the volunteers.

The museum was hosting two exhibits - one was a stunning collection of quilts by Ann Elliott. The appliqué and hand embroidery was amazing. Check out this close up:

The museum was also displaying the work of art quilter, Kathie Kerler and some works from their permanent collection. The juxtaposition of the traditional and art quilts really worked in ways that surprised me. I found myself more attuned to the similarities in craftsmanship of all the quilts rather than the differences in composition. For example, Ann's quilts had a good deal of hand embroidery in them. Note the very effective and exquisite use of hand stitching in the close up of one of Kathie's art quilts.

From Golden, where the museum was located, it was a quick trip over to Lakeside where I was able to catch the Re-Visioning Fiber exhibit that Rebecca Benson had organized. I was really delighted to have the opportunity to see some of the quilts of SAQA member, Nancy Cook in the exhibit. I have followed Nancy's work through the Vision Project and met her last May at the Vision Conference but this was my first opportunity to view her quilts in person. They were wonderful. I had heard Nancy describe her techniques and seen photos but nothing compares to viewing in person.  My photos definitely do not do her work justice as the lighting, among other factors, was not optimal. However, here is one of Nancy's displayed works and a close-up which shows hand stitching, obviously a theme of appreciation for me that day!



 As you can expect, I came home energized and inspired, ready to create more myself!

2 comments:

  1. I can see why you came home inspired. Nancy's work is amazing!

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  2. Definitely inspiring! I am fascinated by the rice-like seed stitches in Kathie's work and want to look more closely at it.

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