SAQA Indianapolis

I have been on the go for about 6 weeks now, traveling, sewing, going to our son’s college graduation, then wedding, driving to Indianapolis to the SAQA exhibit at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, teaching, and working on 2 new projects…PHEW!  It’s been an exciting, challenging, and joyful period.  These sentiments drive my work.

At the same time, it’s really difficult to see how the country I live in is being torn asunder by violence, racism, and the endless diatribe from the media about how different we all are, and how we can’t relate to one another.  This awareness and language also drives my work, however, I’m calling Bullsh*t.

Last year I did one pro-life piece, but I don’t yet know how a political piece is going to fit into what I want to create.  I’m kicking around some ideas.  A friend of mine on facebook put it pretty well…”It would be really nice if somehow we could stop making assumptions about entire groups of people based on the negative actions of a few of them.”

If you have a political work that you’d like to share, please do so…medium doesn’t really matter as much as content.  How do others express their concerns and political views?  I’ve seen a number of really moving pieces, but want to find my own voice in this.  I believe we can all disagree with each other 100%, but still have respectful dialogue.

Back to the SAQA exhibit at the Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA)…  first, let me say that the Indianapolis Museum of Art is a really spectacular museum.  It’s a beautiful, modern, really lovely facility set in acres and acres of gardens and trails.  Worth the trip.  The SAQA exhibit at the Waller Gallery is on the first floor and free to the public.  Since the exhibit is based on Marie Webster’s quilts, most are floral, but what really struck me when I walked in was how many diverse techniques and interpretations there were.  A couple of years ago (2012) I heard Susie Brandt talk about textiles moving forward, and she said she believed that more and more digital fabric would be incorporated in traditional methods.  That was evidenced here, as well as silk backgrounds, more traditional quilting techniques, and what looked very much like a mono-print reproduced digitally.  The exhibit explores lots of different interpretations of traditional quilts.  Well done, SAQA.

If you are driving through Indiana, this is well worth the trip.  If you would like to see the original Marie Webster quilts, they are upstairs and admission to the museum is $18.00.  Also well worth it.  There is literally something for everyone here!

I also really love sculpture as an art form, and there’s numerous sculptures on the IMA grounds, as well as a great down-town Indy Canal Walk, which winds through downtown, is extremely well-maintained, and you end up at the zoo, crossing a bridge also covered in sculpture.

Modern Poinsettia

Morning Glories

Sonia Brown Martin with her work

Massachusetts Ave park sculpture

Upcycled sculpture

Bridge on the way to the zoo

And finally…my first truly “modern” piece.  It’s 24″ W x 68″ H

The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters, Score 1: Use only 2 colors, use only 1 shape (“triangles”) and complete in 1 day.

Cheers,

Beth

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