May Issue 2002
Quilts from the Carolinas at the Mint Museum of Craft + Design in Charlotte, NC
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 information 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
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Carolina Arts
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