This was the first year I had been to IQA Houston in many years, but I saw several trends that may not be new to others but were to me.
The artist name is Naoko Takeshita. She called the quilt "Green
Message"
I loved the muted palette, the exquisite hand embroidered clover flowers and the wonderful quilting. The texture is wonderful. It is hard to see, but this was one of the quilts with muted, patterned background fabrics. They add a real richness to the piece.
This is another of the muted backgrounds. The artist used a small stripe for the background. Wonderful hand applique work. This is another quilt where I do not have records of the quilter's name.
Loved this piece, called Tulip Fire by Susan Stewart, with its lovely textures, the embroidery, the exquisite quilting and the textures. Notice the pin tucks in the center of the top photo. This is another with a muted stripe for the background.
Another trend I saw was pictorial quilts with small pieced elements to add interest and depth to the imagery. In the top photo look at the interest added between tree trunks with pieced elements, also in the path, and the front vegetation. Sizes of pieces reminded me of the "watercolor" quilts of a decade or more ago, but in a new presentation.
I have a couple more IQA groups of photos to add, so let me know if your find them of interest.
Thanks for reading,
Nancy
Posts
Thanks for sharing these, Nancy. All are beautiful; I am curious about the number of years taken for completion, especially with hand quilting and/or embroidery, and I've been toying with piecing bits of my landscapes...
ReplyDeleteMargaret, good question. A friend of mine used to do traditional quilts for judged competition with significant piecing, hand applique and embroidery and she figured that she could do one a year. She did other quilts during the year as well, but only one with that amount of time invested.
ReplyDeleteNancy
I do find them interesting! Thanks for sharing your experiences Nancy. I've see the pieced background concept come up a number of places recently too.
ReplyDeleteNancy, the artist of the first quilt was indeed Japanese: Naoko Takeshita. She called the quilt "Green Message" and every single part was done by hand. She said it took her "years"-yeah, no kidding! What an extraordinary piece. I enjoyed reading your perspective on the quilts in Houston-I did not notice all the muted backgrounds.
ReplyDeleteJenny, it does not surprise me that it took her years to do. The quality of the work and the level of detail was tremendous.
DeleteThe piece 'Tulip Fire' is incredible! I haven't seen pintucks used like that on a quilt before, so that's interesting.
ReplyDeleteYes, the pin-tucks used like this were new to me. I have seen full quilts with texturing including one in the Seasonal Palette exhibition, but not the subtle addition to a larger piece. Stewart used a nice variety of bold touches combined with very delicate touches to great interest.
ReplyDeleteNancy
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