Quilt National 2009 :: Quilt National

Anne Smith
Calon Lân ©AW
58 by 51
Recycled fabric; hand pieces and dyed, hand and machine appliquéd, hand embroidered and quilted

Artist's Statement: The old Welsh hymn "Calon Lân" sings of a pure heart. This quilt is a celebration of contented times, everyday blessings, and simple gifts.

Kathleen Loomis
Memorial Day ©KL
100 by 86
Cotton; machine stitched

Artist's Statement: As of Memorial Day, May 26, 2008, there were 4,083 U.S. military dead in Iraq. Here is a flag for each of them.

Jen Swearington
The Sea Dream ©JS
44 by 46
Bed sheets, rusted-silk binding, shellac, gesso, ink, charcoal, graphite, acrylic medium, dye; painted, machine pieces and quilted

Artist's Statement: I thrill in imaging and illustrating stories that have yet to be written. I hope you will bring your own tales to my drawings among the stitches.

Sue Akerman
Africa Scarified IV ©SA
56 by 67
Organza, teabags, cotton, cotton batting, beads; machine and hand embroidered, machine and hand stitched

Artist's Statement: I have always been intrigued with aerial views--the scars we humans make on our planet and on things around us. I have vivid memories as a little girl of cows being branded--scarred for life. Humans, for greed and self gratification, will ride roughshod over everything, not worrying about the end result or the marks they make and leave. Be gentle on this place!

Sue Cavanaugh
Ori-Kume #1 ©SC
39 by 29
Cotton sateen, dye;shibori-stitch resisted, hand quilted

Artist's Statement: This work explores surfaces and what lies beneath the surface. What was once there--now gone--that makes the surface what it is today? I'm especially drawn to old stucco buildings--with partially eroded surfaces that suggest the passage of time. I'm drawn to openings--in vessels and the bark of a birch, black holes in the universe, and the rabbit hole that beckoned Alice.

Paula Kovarik
City ©PK
38 by 42
Cotton; machine pieced, hand stitched, machine quilted

Artist's Statement: As a quilter, I strive to allow the unknown in. I believe that there are many silent, invisible messages available to us at every moment in life. They can wrap us in anxiety, love, confusion, or hope. I work in a stream-of-consciousness manner--manipulating, reorganizing, and layering the fabric and thread in a way that mimics my thoughts. My quilts are a way of showing the invisible connections that we become aware of only upon reflection.

Susan Krueger
Swallowing Roses ©SK
31 by 41
Cotton, fabric paint; batiked, discharged, image transferred, appliquéd, embroidered, hand and machine quilted

Artist's Statement: This piece is about falling for various societal myths regarding Power, Fame, Beauty, Luck, and Money--the things we wish for. Notice the tiny images from Mexican lottery cards, women celebrities from the entertainment section, and fruit from seed catalogs. I could get all "feministy" on you and talk about the pressures to undermine women psychologically and politically but, suffice it to say, swallowing roses involves lots of physical and emotional training.

Britt Friedman
Grey Grasses IV ©BF
54 by 37
Polyester/cotton, paint, photographic images; painted, composed

Artist's Statement: I try to use the medium in innovative ways. My main source of inspiration is the natural world. I think that I have succeeded in combing all these elements--photography, design, paints--in my present work. I hope the viewer will take pleasure in it.

Glenys Mann
Horizons #61: Memorial ©GM
60 by 52
Wool blanket, knitted-wool baby shawl, silk thread, silk roses, plant dye; appliquéd, hand knitted and stitched

Artist's Statement: Finding a plastic, flowered, white wreath at a memorial site for a young person who had drowned made me think about the use of the wreath icon as a memorial for those who had died. Just beyond this memorial was another that had a similar wreath molded into the headstone dated 1867. More than 140 years earlier, the wreath image was used to denote the passing of another spirit in the same spot.

Catherine Kleeman
Family Reunion ©CK
40 by 32
Cotton, dye, paint; screen-printed, painted, fused, direct appliquéd, machine quilted

Artist's Statement: This piece is a continuation of my "Windows" series. Frames, mullions, and transoms create a diversity of interesting forms and become a launching point for endless explorations. Windows are also a metaphor--reality viewed through a window, self-reflected in the window, the truth distorted, intentionally or not. The negative shapes also speak--the unseen, the unspoken, the undone. Family Union embodies all of this and more!

Judy Rush
Silence ©JR
33 by 40
Cotton, silk, linen, cotton embroidery floss; hand stitched, cut, mended

Artist's Statement: Silence is made up of many layers of fabric with separate but related compositions on each piece. After I hand stitch the layers together, I begin to cut into them. As I work toward revealing different parts of the layers, I discover that they are a lot like my own layers. It is difficult to cut into some parts, so I leave them be. I guess they are not yet ready to be revealed.

Sandra L. H. Woock
Blue Bamboo/Blue Breeze ©SLHW
54 by 62
Cotton, cotton batting, polyester and rayon thread; painted, machine pieced and quilted

Artist's Statement: Blue Bamboo is my transitional series, using my usual x's and o's in a more literal matter to create my imagery. Living in the DC metro area, I am fascinated by the bamboo that grows wild. Included in my imaginary garden, this prolific plant requires no maintenance to keep it under control and adds a sense of order to nature's chaotic growth.

Linda Levin
City with Footnotes VIII ©LL
40 by 49
Cotton, cotton/polyester, assorted fabrics, textile paint; machine stitched

Artist's Statement: This piece is one in a series about my impressions of New York, where so much visual information assaults the eye. The challenge lay in organizing all of it while keeping alive the excitement, the color, the motion.

Erin M. Wilson
Miscellany ©EW
20 by 61
Cotton, dye; machine pieced and quilted

Artist's Statement: Once in a while, it is good to make something of the leftovers. This quilt continues a series focusing on spontaneous design, small scale piecing, and the stories that emerge from abstract compositions of color and shape.