Sunday, March 04, 2007

Quilting Gains Popularity as Modern Artform

Here is a lovely article (sorry no online pictures) of my friend Linda's article in this morning's Sunday paper.

Quilting Gains Popularity as Modern Artform
By LINDA COMINS Arts & Living Editor

Quilting, like many of the fiber arts, is becoming increasingly popular as people from a broad spectrum of ages and occupations turn to this vintage form of needlework for utilitarian or artistic purposes.As varied as the forms that modern-day quilting take are the theories advanced to explain this growing trend. Some observers see it as an attempt to reclaim traditional crafts and home-style skills in times of uncertainty and turmoil, while others see the interest in the fiber arts as being emblematic of a desire to expand the definitions of artistic expression.It also has been suggested that members of the Baby Boomer generation, particularly women, have more time at this stage in their lives to utilize the basic sewing skills that they acquired in their youth.Offering a sociological spin on the phenomenon, longtime quilter Laura Cramblet of Bethany observed that historically, “craft making increases during war times.”Wheeling resident Cheryl Ryan Harshman, who enjoys making fused quilts, commented, “Women have traditionally had to provide comfort and warmth for their families with whatever they could lay their hands on. Women, after all, are the gatherers. Today, we still like making something out of nothing and the sense of accomplishment and the god-like sense of true creation.”The Rev. Theresa Kelley, an accomplished seamstress and quilter, views the trend as cyclical. “It comes in and out of vogue. It’s the same thing with knittting today. It’s really become the thing to do,” the Wheeling resident said. “It’s cyclical — things go in, things go back out.”Harshman also thinks the current popularity may be, in part, because “the Baby Boom women are at a point in their lives where they have some extra time. Baby Boom women might have been taught sewing skills as young girls, perhaps one of the last groups to learn to sew. “Quilting takes a lot of time. Our generation is just now having time to do it,” said Harshman, who is library director of West Liberty State College’s Paul N. Elbin Library. “Baby Boom women are interested in making baby quilts and family heirlooms, but also there is a new generation of young women who are discovering all types of fiber arts. Twenty-year-olds are knitting and making things by hand. It is very satisfying and it is very empowering. It’s something that we’ve forgotten about for a few years.”Kelley commented, “Quilting has really gone from the quilts Grandma used to make, which were most functional, to the art form. That’s where things take off. I have seen quilts priced at $25,000. They are works of art. There’s that nuance to what we imagine quilts as bed coverings.”Cramblet, who works at Bethany College’s Phillips Library and organized a library-sponsored quilting festival for three years, related, “Nowadays, in a lot of the churches, women in churches have taken it (quilting) up again as service projects, for military overseas, for nursing homes’ lap robes. Also, I’ve noticed that a lot of the young girls are being taught by the women of the church, like it used to be long ago, which is kind of neat to watch that.“It seems like a lot of crafts have come back big time — embroidery, beading,” said Cramblet, who also has taught quilting classes. “It sort of comes in waves.”Whatever the reasons, the renewed interest in quilting has resulted in larger numbers of entries in shows and exhibitions, and in expanded membership for guilds and groups.Wheeling resident Vicki Crawford has seen membership in the Fort Henry Piecemakers quilting guild increase from about 30 participants to more than 70 members today, with participants ranging from a college student in her 20s to women in their 80s. “A lot of people like to sew,” she said.Quilt expert and author Linda M. Poole, who spoke at the Wheeling Artisan Center during the Heritage Quilt Show in February, remarked, “Quilting has become increasing popular over the years. It brings the quilt maker a sense of warmth, camaraderie amongst fellow quilt makers and accomplishment. There is excitement in every step of making a quilt. The amazing abundance of fabric today aids the quilter in getting her thoughts and choices of colors into her quilt just as she imagined.”Poole, who hails from Milford, Pa., also commented, “Women are a powerful circle when they gather and I believe that is one of the most magnetic influences to the popularity of quilt making. We hold one another up in times of sadness and we celebrate each others’ achievements.”Crawford had a practical reason for learning to quilt 20 years ago while living in North Dakota. “If you don’t have a hobby when you live in North Dakota, you’ll go absolutely crazy. You’re snowed in some times for days,” she said. “My neighor said, ‘Let’s learn how to quilt.’ Another neighbor was a licensed teacher. Four of us learned from her.”With the colorful results of her skill and craftmanship displayed throughout her family’s home, Crawford, who has taught the art of quilting to other people, said she loves quilting “because I love to see how it turns out. I look at a pattern in a book, then pick out completely different colors.”The Fort Henry Piecemakers guild meets at St. Mark Lutheran Church, 141 Kruger St., Wheeling, at 7 p.m. on the second Thurday of each month.Visitors can attend meetings twice before being required to pay a nominal annual fee to join. Sessions start with a short business meeting and show-and-tell time. “Sometimes we have guest speakers or members do demonstrations,” Crawford said.The guild provides members with “such a good fellowship,” Crawford remarked. “I have met so many people through the quilt guild. You just have a bond.”Poole commented, “Quilters are the most caring and sharing women I know. They make quilts for those they love, and for those in need. Community projects bring women and men together. It is the most warming feeling to give of yourself through your stitches and have someone genuinely love and care for your creation. The tools we use and techniques may have changed, but in the end, the final result is the same, someone will have a piece of your heart and love given to them through your quilt. It is a legacy and a treasure to receive one. We are still making history.“I find that you can move to a new town or across the country and make friends easily within other quilt guilds,” Poole said. “A quilt show may be in a town where you are traveling and you will never feel alone once you enter a room of quilts. Enthusiasm, smiles and encouragement are usually the main priority of meeting a quilter. It doesn’t matter what your skill level is, there is always someone eager to teach you and an instant bond is created.” Currently, Crawford is one of six quilters doing a row-by-row project. “I’ll do the top row, then send it to the next person,” she said. Three of the participants live in Wheeling, two are from Morgantown and one is serving in the military in Massachusetts.Members of the guild also make quilts for charity, which they will be doing at St. Mark Lutheran Church from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, March 17, in observance of National Quilting Day, Crawford said. During the day-long marathon, quilters will be finishing a group of quilts to be divided equally between the YWCA Wheeling’s Family Violence Prevention Program shelter, the Gabriel Project of Wheeling and a program that provides quilts for sick babies, she said.Leslie McGlumphy, who formerly owned a quilting shop in Wheeling, donated batting and fabric to the guild. Some guild members now are making quilt tops that will be finished during the March 17 session, Crawford said.Kelley, an Episcopal priest in Wheeling, inherited her love of quilting. “Grandma was a quilt-aholic,” Kelley quipped. “She clipped patterns out of the newspaper ... There were places where you could mail order for a pattern. I have one of hers from 1932, in the original envelope.“She (her grandmother) was the one who taught me how to quilt. When I was 16, I made my first quilt, with her assistance, of course,” Kelley said. “I can remember her going down to the feed store in Dillonvale and getting the flour sacks ... She would take kids’ clothing and made quilts.”Kelley, who also has joined a new knitting guild and sews professionally, returned to quilting about 10 years ago, to use up fabric scraps that were “overflowing” in her residence. “I’ve made everything from king-size quilts to wall-size wall hangings,” she said. “I tend to like things that go fast — big block patterns. I like immediate gratification. I’m not going to sit and hand sew half-inch squares together.”Kelley admits to having “a pretty healthy stash” of fabric and “a small fortune” invested in magazines and books about quilting. In her diocesan-related travels, she enjoys visiting fabric stores, quilt shops and yarn shops in various cities as far away as Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. In the quest for fabric, she said, “Those with persistence and perseverance will triumph.”Poole remarked, “Once you have decided on your design, the real thrill comes when you enter your quilt shop and choose from the amazing color pallets before you. You are never alone when you make a quilt. Inside the shop you will always find knowledgeable and friendly people to help and other quilters that share your passion. There really is no mystery to how exciting and popular quilting is once you have been bitten by the quilt bug.” Recalling her introduction to the craft, Cramblet said, “I started quilting way back in 4-H days, basic patchwork quilting. When my daughter became engrossed in sports and I had to take her everywhere and sit, I got into it big time. Once I got my skills down basically well, I went to the different large quilting areas in Pennsylvania Dutch country, in Lancaster, Pa., and trained with some of the biggest-name quilters. I kept learning more and more.”Poole concluded, “Our grandmothers did not have the same availability of fabrics, books and magazines as we do, but the process is the same. We come together, we design our quilts and we enjoy the process. We still make utilitarian quilts to use on our beds or keep us warm on a cold night and make art quilts to be appreciated by ourselves or others to hang on their walls or in a museum. Whether the year is in the 1800s or the new millennium, a needle, fabric and batting have not changed along with a quilt maker’s love for her craft.”

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PURLS OF WISDOM

"Color is the real substance for me, the real underlying thing which drawing and line are not."
--Sam Francis

"The great man is one who never loses his child's heart."
-- Philosopher Mencius

"We wear our attitudes in our bodies."
-- Patti Davis

Colour embodies an enormous though unexplored power which can effect the entire human body as physical organism.

Colour is a means of exercising direct influence upon the soul.
--V. Kandinsky
I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way.. things I had no words for.
--
Georgia O'Keeffe

Nothing is really work unless you'd rather be doing something else.
--
J. M. Barrie, Peter Pan

Faith is like driving a car at night. You never see further than your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.
--
E. L. Doctorow

Somebody once said that people become artists
because they have a certain kind of energy to release, and that rings true to me.
--Dale Chihuly