June Issue 2002
Quilts from the Carolinas at the Mint Museum of Craft + Design
The work of quilt artists in North and South
Carolina will be featured at the Mint Museum of Craft + Design
in Charlotte, NC, in recognition of the National Quilt Association's
33rd Annual Meeting and Quilt Show to be held June 25-30, 2002,
at the Charlotte Convention Center. Fourteen quilts were selected
from 120 entries in a juried Carolina Quilt Invitational,
ranging from those applying traditional fiber techniques to current
design, material and construction innovations. Quilts from
the Carolinas will be on display through Sept. 8, 2002, in
the Jones gallery.
"The diversity, colors, material and design of contemporary
quilts are truly extraordinary," stated Melissa Post, MMC+D
Curator. "It's fascinating to compare them with several of
the historic American quilts from the Fleur and Charles Bresler
Collection that is on display in the permanent collection galleries."
Appealing qualities of quilts include technique and sources of
inspiration. Like its craft counterparts in ceramics and glass,
quilt design has undergone experimentation and technical innovations
with amazing results. Barbara Webster explained that her Beet
Greens quilt was created from fabric custom printed with reactive
dyes from a digital photograph of beet greens growing in her garden.
The quilt was designed on computer. The printed fabric was cut
apart and assembled into the final design.
Susan Webb Lee's Hello Darkness is a whole-cloth quilt
composed of fabric batik-printed with wax, folded and submerged
in a bleach solution to form the pattern. Claudia Reynolds' Autumn
Colors is machine pieced and appliquéd with free form
machine quilting. Jo Ann Amidon's Somewhere Along the Way I
Went Crazy was "intended to be something entirely different,"
stated Amidon. "But when I quit struggling with it, it 'went
crazy'. Each time I thought I was through, it wanted another bead
or two. Crazy it was, crazy it became."
Quilting can be a mixture of creativity and therapy. Gail Ferrick
stated of her quilt Warriors of the Light, "Grief
is life's opportunity to grow by embracing your dark side - anger,
pain, abandonment, loneliness. The growth comes as you work towards
wisdom and enlightenment. These masks are the elements of my dark
side - my warriors in the fight for wisdom and enlightenment."
Sherri Wood (You're Title Here #1) adds, "I have come
to believe that powerful art requires a balance between thought
and action. This requirement can be met through intuitive, improvisational
process, like a gift that is at once both received and found."
The exhibition checklist includes: Heather Allen, 32B Warwick,
Asheville, NC; Jo Ann Amidon, Somewhere Along the Way I Went
Crazy, Columbia, SC; Stephanie Ballentine, If Ye Abide
in Me, Charlotte, NC; Susan E. Brown, Hot Stripes,
Durham, NC; Gail Ferrick, Warriors of the Light, Columbia,
SC; Patti Frinzi, Savannah Shadows, Charlotte, NC; Ann
Harwell, North Carolina Botanical Garden, Wendell, NC;
Patricia Kilburg, Romanesque VII, Taylors, SC; Susan Webb
Lee, Hello Darkness, Weddington, NC; Claudia Reynolds,
Autumn Rhythm, Charlotte, NC; Bernie Rowell, Mountain Diptych/Golden
Oaks, Candler, NC; Christine Tedesco, Architectural Squares,
Pendleton, SC; Barbara Webster, Beet Greens, Burnsville,
NC; Sherri Wood, Your Title Here #1,Durham, NC
For more info check our NC Institutional Gallery listings, call
704/337-2000 or check the website at (www.mintmuseum.org).
Mailing Address: Carolina Arts, P.O. Drawer
427, Bonneau, SC 29431
Telephone, Answering Machine and FAX: 843/825-3408
E-Mail: carolinart@aol.com
Subscriptions are available for $18 a year.
Carolina Arts
is published monthly by Shoestring
Publishing Company, a subsidiary of PSMG, Inc.
Copyright© 2002 by PSMG, Inc., which published Charleston
Arts from July 1987 - Dec. 1994 and South Carolina Arts
from Jan. 1995 - Dec. 1996. It also publishes Carolina Arts
Online, Copyright© 2002 by PSMG, Inc. All rights reserved
by PSMG, Inc. or by the authors of articles. Reproduction or use
without written permission is strictly prohibited. Carolina
Arts is available throughout North & South Carolina.