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TAPESTRY page 49

Mary Silber

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Michigan who recently toured
Israel. She was so moved by the
sight of one of Judaism's most
holy spots that, upon her return
to the United States, she began
working on a replica quilt of the
Wall, complete with open seams
to mimic the
cracks
into
which visitors
slip prayers.
Three quilts
by Vivian Got-
tlieb of Ann Ar-
bor will be in
the exhibit: a
gray silk ab-
stract, a scrap
quilt
with
small squares,
and a third
work depicting
the story of a
mermaid. The
latter was in-
spired by a
piece of lace,
delicately deco-
rated with little
mermaid fig-
ures, that had
been her
grandmother's.
Mrs. Gottlieb has been quilt-
ing since 1963. Her 3-year-old
needed a mat to use at nursery,
so his mother decided to make
him one. "It was so much fun,"
she says, "that I just went on
from there."
Today, she spends hours and
hours — "forever" is how she de-
scribes it — making a single
quilt. They are difficult to part
with, she admits.
Though quilting is an age-old
art, many of the quilts included
in the show are as fresh as the
latest New York fashion trend.
Their designs are sharp, angu-
lar, unquestionably modern.
Their themes chart contempo-
rary events.
One of the artists in the show
is Marilyn Henrion of New
York, whose featured works
were inspired by the recent stu-
dent uprising in China and the

death of teacher-astronaut
Christa McAuliffe.
Mrs. Silber also opted to in-
clude a number of handmade
ritual objects, from tallitot to
Torah covers. She couldn't re-
sist. "People were sending them
to me, and I just
fell in love with
them."
After picking
which pieces to
use in the exhib-
it, Mrs. Silber set
out to display
them, a job she
calls "almost as
artistically
important as the
art itself." Every-
thing is taken
into considera-
tion: size, color,
theme. "I had to
think of the total
picture," she ex-
plains.
Many of the
quilts will be on
sale; the most ex-
pensive
is
$25,000. But no
one should balk
at such a price, Mrs. Silber in-
sists. "Even at that, the artist is
earning about 10 cents an hour.
Quilts are really a labor of love."
Though Mrs. Silber doesn't
make quilts herself, she often
travels the country, lecturing
and appraising quilts as well as
serving as curator of numerous
exhibits. She also restores old
quilts using pieces from her an-
tique fabric collection.
By the time the exhibit opens
here, Mrs. Silber estimates she
will have spent at least two
years working on this one show.
Still, she says, it pales in com-
parison when considering what
most artists will spend making
just one quilt.
"It is," she says, "absolutely
awesome — the time, passion,
energy and desire women put
into quilts."

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