Art Beat

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Quilts Cross O ver

COU RTE SY OF TH E WORKS GALLER Y, PHI LAD ELP HIA

Today's quilt artists move their medium off the bed and onto the wall
with vivid hues, photo images and more.

COU RTES Y OF TEXTILE A RTS C ENTRE, CHI CAGO

0

ne hundred years ago, the idea of
hanging a quilt on a wall would have
seemed impractical, if not absurd. But
over the past two decades, quilts have
become art objects meant to dazzle
the eyes more than warm the toes. As
they have been raised from beds and furni-
ture to grace the walls of houses-- and of gal-
leries— they have covered not only new
spaces but new artistic terrain as well.
'We're seeing more and more surface em-
bellishment," says Hilary Morrow Fletcher,
coordinator of Quilt National, a biennial, ju-
lied quilt show in Athens, Ohio, produced by
the Dairy Barn Southeastern Ohio Cultural
Arts Center. "More quiltmakers are dyeing
their own fabric and using techniques like
cyanotype, which involves transfening a pho-
tographic image to cloth. Quiltmakers don't
want to use only three solids and four cali-
coes. In today's quilts, the number of fabrics
can seldom be counted easily."
The current rise in innovative quiltmaking
was spurred by a renewed interest in the tra-
ditional craft. In 1971, New York's Whitney
Museum of American Art held a show called
"Abstract Design in American Quilts," which
highlighted the similarities between vintage
quilts and modern ait Shortly thereafter came
the bicentennial, which led many American
artists to make commemorative works, much
as their ancestors sewed centennial quilts.
But as today's quiltmakers are quick to point
out, quilting could not have inspired either
curators or patriots if it had not had enduring
appeal.
"It's very accessible," points out Paula
Nadelstem, a quilter who works in an espe-
cially nonpastoral setting— New York City.
"Anyone can pick up needle and thread.
There's no investment in unique materials,
or even in learning something highly specif-
ic, like how to weave or paint."

by Laurel Graeber

Above, a hand-embroidered quilt by Judith Larzelere, "Color Plus Color; below, Kathy Weaver's
"Panama— Been There Before?" is silk-screened, painted, stitched and appliqued.

Laurel Graeber is a New York-based writer who specializes
in home design. She wrote the text of Color. Natural
Palettes for Painted Rooms, published this past spring by
Clarkson N. Potter.

STYLE • FALL 1992

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