This article will appear in the Fermilab Today Science Newsletter. There is a reception this evening. If you live in the area please attend. There will be wine and cheese. I will be working and unable to attend, so you should go and drink my wine and eat my cheese
New exhibit flaunts a rising art form
My Quilt Shimmering Foliage 82” x 82”
A violent particle collision ignites a heated core, spurring brilliant streams of color in every direction and unveiling the mysterious Higgs boson, as imagined by the art piece titled “The Heart of the Matter.” The story was fused and embroidered by artist Susan Jackan into an art form rising in popularity: the quilt.
“Stitched Together – Art & Science: Art Quilts by Midwestern Artists,” now in the Fermilab art gallery, is showcasing 28 quilts referencing science and nature. Themes range from endangered sea turtles to string theory. One quilt even has a matrix barcode that can be deciphered by smart phones.
Artist Laura Wasilowski channels warm memories of a prairie near her childhood home in Minnesota for her piece titled “Chicory.”
“It’s about the origins of who we are,” she said, in reference to the general motif of fundamental sciences in the quilts.
Wasilowski is an artist and representative of the Studio Art Quilters Association (SAQA) (http://www.saqa.com/), which promotes the art quilt through education, exhibitions, publications and professional development. The show is done in partnership with the Professional Art Quilters Alliance (http://artquilters.org/), a regionally-based group promoting fiber art development.
Wasilowski creates her quilts most often through an improvisational approach, starting with hand-dyed fabrics. She would then work in the direction that the shapes and colors inspire her. For a quilt like “Chicory,” she would invest at least 40 hours of work.
“The quilt is a piece of art and not for the bed,” said Frieda Anderson, a representative also from SAQA. “People are expressing their ideas on fabric in many ways.”
Anderson’s comparatively enormous nature-inspired quilt, “Shimmering Foliage,” took about four months to create.
Georgia Schwender, curator of the Fermilab art gallery, felt the quilts would find the right audience at Fermilab.
“I didn’t want to just have quilts,” said Schwender. “I wanted to tie in the artwork with the state-of-the-art science we do here.”
Stitched Together (http://www.fnal.gov/pub/Art_Gallery/current_show/index.html ) is on display now through January 20, 2012. An artist reception will take place today between 5 and 7 p.m. after a tour of Fermilab.
Such a great design.
I love house quilts.
I love words in quilts, it isn’t always done well but I thought these two examples were great.
I love Linda Roy’s work. She had another quilt Wistful Willow that I really loved that won in 2008.
I loved the treatment of hair in this quilt.
I am always attracted to the traditional album quilts. This one had a particularly stunning border.
I meet Barbara when I taught at Sisters this year. Such beautiful work.
This reminds me of a Charlie Harper print.
I am home from Houston and so excited to be here. George and I went to the lake to walk in the RAIN! It was beautiful, refreshing and the colors in the landscape looked so crisp. We were in doggy heaven.
I thought I would share with those of you who were not able to make it this year some of the quilts that caught my eye. Remember, there is no rhythm or reason why I like something, I just do and I like to take pictures to look at over and over again.
This is the Artist Village that Kathy York organized. It was so wonderful to see it in person. So many of the houses were bigger than mine.
My house. It had trilliums growing around the base of the house and copper electroplated windows and doors with an oak leaf tile roof.
My friend Lois Podolny made this fabulous quilt. I loved the way she used the different fabrics and the decorative stitches from her sewing machine. It was breathtakingly beautiful.
