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Quilting As An Art Form:
A Family Of Patches
FRANK PROVENZANO SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
uilting is a craft, right?
Perhaps an art? Actually,
quilting is an old craft
that's becoming a new art,
som • es referred to as "paint-
ing with fabric."
Of course, since an estimated
1 billion people around the world
call themselves quilters, there's
a reasonable doubt whether any
quilt could be original. But just
like any art, the truest measure
of the artistic value of a
quilt is found beneath the
surface. And when it comes to
quilting, that means you
have to looking beyond the stitch-
ing.
Original fabric patterns have
distinguished the work of local
quilters Muriel Jacobs, Anita Su-
dakin and Dianne Wolman.
Within the last 12 months, their
quilts have gone from the Janice
Charach Epstein Museum
Gallery in the Jewish Communi-
ty Center to the Yeshiva Univer-
sity Museum in New York City,
where theywill hang until the end
of February. The East Coast quilt
exhibit features the work of fab-
ric artists from around the coun-
try.
"Only in the last 20 years have
quilts been shown in galleries,"
said Ms. Sylvia Hershkowitz, di-
rector of Yeshiva University's
gallery. "Quilting was a colonial
craft in America — a functional
craft to keep warm. We're
wrapped in textiles from the time
we're born. They're our earliest
am
protective coverings," she said. "I
think that's the appeal."
The quilting display is part of
Yeshiva University gallery's
broader exhibit featuring the
treasures of Dubrovnik, the port
city on the Adriatic Sea where
500 years ago Jews found refuge
from the Spanish Inquisition. Al-
though the gallery shows a wide
range of work of emerging Jew-
ish artists, this is its first quilt
show.
During the last two decades,
innovative quilters have replaced
the old approach of traditional-
ly patterned quilts with more
expressive, bolder fabric arrange-
ments comparable to painting
styles like cubism and impres-
sionism.
"It's no longer the little old lady
sitting and doing country quilts,"
said Mrs. Jacobs, a Bloomfield
Hills resident who calls herself a
"crazy quilter," a reference to her
quilting style, not a characteri-
zation of her temperament. Mrs.
Jacobs' quilts are an intermix of
material cut in irregular shapes
joined together in a stitching pat-
tern that dates from the Victori-
an age. Woven into the quilt is a
range of mementos, such as but-
tons, beads, old earrings — and,
sometimes even lace gloves. She
also uses the log cabining tradi-
tional quilting technique, in
which the material is layered in
a folding pattern.
Technically, quilting is putting
together a series of sandwiched
pieces of fabric. Anita Sudakin's
There's a top "A Quilt About
decorative layer, Israel."
the middle or
batting, and the backing. The
three elements are joined with
stitches such as herringbone,
feather, lazy-dazy and surface
stitching.
"We're letting loose, we're not
losing templates. We're doing our
own thing," said Mrs. Jacobs, who
picks up fabric at estate sales, an-
tique shows and at out of the way
places when she travels.
She's now cutting up neck ties
to form a 15-inch, rectangular
mini quilt. Her normal-size quilts
are typically at least twice that
size.
Mrs. Jacobs' quilts, purses,
necklaces and foot stool cover-
ings are available at the Carol
James Gallery in Royal Oak. Her
quilt prices range from $500 to
$900.
Mrs. Jacobs began quilting
when she grew bored with needle
pointing and intrigued watch-
ing her daughter quilt. She has
been at it for more than
10 years.
"Everything is so plastic in
our world," Mrs. Jacobs said.
"But a quilt is a very tactile art
form. When you come into a
quilt show, the first thing you
want to do is to reach out and
touch."
Anita Sudakin, a Birmingham
resident, has used her quilts to
make statements about the