Posted on November 23, 2015 by Beth Markel

It’s been wildly busy here…2 quilts are on their way next month to “CIRCULAR ABSTRACTIONS Bull’s Eye Quilts,” at the Muskegon Museum of Art.  Another quilt is on its way in December to the International Quilt Study Center & Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska as part of Art Quilts of the Midwest exhibit, and my new favorite, Spring Storm was accepted into Road to California.  While all of that is very exciting, even thrilling, I’d like to share something closer to home.

A couple of months ago, I joined a small, local art quilt group, and recently we challenged ourselves to a topic – “Ascending” and had to come up with how we interpreted that topic in an approximately 12” x 12” quilt.  This week we brought in our pieces, and I could only say, “Wow. What a talented group!”  We all have very different backgrounds, experiences, ages, and even nationalities, but like all quilt groups…the art unites us.  Numerous techniques were used, different styles, some pieced, some TAP transfer paper, some with ultra-suede applique…all really different…all really beautiful!

Now go back up and look again.  The one that looks like an Escher print with the black/grey with red figures is really intriguing.  The Eifel Tower was done by a woman who is French, finished just before the ISIS attacks.  The Stairway to heaven, the Jacob’s ladder piecing with Jacob’s ladder flowers on top…the Dome, the hot air balloon which is stuffed…all really interesting!  This brings me back to what inspires us as artists?  What do we use to tell our tales or express ourselves?  Is growth hard, or just a progression?  Why are some unwilling to move outside their comfort zone?  I return weekly to one of my favorite quotes from Albert Einstein:

“I have no special talent, I am only passionately curious.”

Finally, I’d like to post a couple more really beautiful images from the SAQA exhibit at AQS in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  These are intriguing, beautiful, almost haunting images that have stayed with me for months – from the exhibition ‘Wide Horizons’.

Berlin-Reichstag by Hilde Van Schaardenburg of the Netherlands

 

I don’t know all of the techniques used by this extremely talented group, but I could look, and look, and look at these quilts.

 

Silence 2 by Karin Oestergaard of Denmark

 

Cheers,

Beth

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