AUGUST 2017
Reclaiming the Past by Laura Petrovich-Cheney
Hurricane Sandy struck New Jersey and New York in 2012, when I happened to be out of the country. A friend sent me a nighttime photograph taken from Brooklyn looking toward Manhattan, which was completely dark. While I feared for the city, my next thought was “Oh, no! What about the Jersey shore?” New Jersey artist Laura Petrovich-Cheney was there. Her solo exhibition of five wooden “scrap quilts” at the Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, Massachusetts has the poignant title What Remains. Using traditional and contemporary quilt patterns, Petrovich-Cheney creates complex and vibrant forms from Hurricane Sandy debris that was salvaged by the artist from dumpsters, refuse piles, and local waste stations. Her meaningful practice explores issues of loss, identity, memory, and renewal. Ultimately, the work symbolizes the beauty of enduring misfortune and creating something meaningful from the wreckage. By referring to her works as quilts, this artist situates herself in the historical continuum of content-laden memorial quilts. The exhibition opened on October 22, 2016, the four-year anniversary of the day Hurricane Sandy hit the New Jersey shore, and closes on November 12 of this year.
Celebrating Handmade at the Museum of Arts and Design (NYC)
Counter-Couture: Handmade Fashion in an American Counterculture celebrates the handmade fashion and style of the 1960s and 1970s. Often referred to as the hippie movement, the Counterculture swept away the conformism of the previous decade and professed an alternative lifestyle whose effects still resonate today. Moved by the rejection of a materialist and consumerist interpretation of the American Dream, Counterculture youths embraced ideals of self-sufficiency and self-expression. Against the backdrop of the Vietnam War protests and the civil rights movements, hippies, flower children, and idealistic young people shunned the cultural standards of their parents, embraced the struggle for racial and gender equality, used drugs to explore altered states of consciousness, and cultivated a renewed dimension of spirituality. The show embraces craftsmanship, cultural commentary, and critical thinking in fashion practices—from the couture to the conceptual—across multiple generations. In keeping with MAD’s dedication to investigating studio process in modern and contemporary art and craft, this exhibition highlights how fashion, as an expanded field of craft, serves as a platform for artists and designers to explore ways of making that champion artistry, expressiveness, and social responsibility—from concept to product. Organized by Bellevue Arts Museum, Bellevue, Washington, and curated by Guest Curator Michael Cepress, closing on August 20.
13th Quilt Nihon at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles
The 13th Quilt Nihon Exhibition features more than 30 quilts from the Japan Handicraft Instructors’ Association, an organization that has promoted handcraft arts through training and publications in Japan for nearly half a century. On display are quilts made by some of the most talented and respected artists from Japan and the Pacific Rim. The 13th Quilt Nihon Exhibition, in accepting quilts designed along both traditional and contemporary lines, seeks to collect the best examples of modern Japanese quilt making. The JHIA Encouragement Award for quilters under the age of 35 also serves to promote the future of this vibrant art form. The exhibition continues until October 25.
Visions Art Museum Explores Humor in Contemporary Quilt Art
San Diego’s Vision Art Museum presents Funny Bone, 28 quilts featuring various takes on humor by six artists: David Charity, Jamie Fingal, Wendy Huhn, Nancy Lemke, Pam Rubert, and Kathy Weaver. Beth Smith, curator, explains the concept behind this exhibition: “ I felt that the best part of curating this exhibition was inviting a group of artists who all work differently and who approach the theme of humor differently. And yet even with the diverse interpretations of humor and with the diverse techniques used in the work, the light-hearted feeling continues throughout the exhibition.” Closing on October 8.
http://www.visionsartmuseum.org
Jane Lovell’s Collection at the Shelburne Museum
Jean Lovell, a resident of Carmel, California and longtime friend of Shelburne Museum, has been collecting historic bedcovers since 1979. Pieced Traditions: Jean Lovell Collects features donations and loans from Lovell’s collection of historic quilts. Assembled over more than three decades, the collection is particularly rich in colorful, eye-catching designs. Highlights in this exhibition of 11 quilts include dazzling Amish and Mennonite quilts from the 19th and 20th centuries. The show is on view until October 31.
So sorry to see you go, I’ve enjoyed your blogs tremendously. I know you will do well as a SAQA editor
Your blog has made me feel in touch with the wider world of art quilting and I will miss it, but I’m glad you are taking on the new Art Quilt Quarterly. I am looking forward to it.