Hello again!
I hope you all enjoyed the latest post about Quilt Market.
As promised, I am back again with another post but this time I will be focusing on the quilt show that was displayed at Market.
I umm'ed and ahh'ed about what this post should be because there are so many GORGEOUS booths at Market... but I came to the conclusion that they have been featured a lot via numerous social media channels and blogs.
Also, my mind is stuck on the quilt show... one exhibition in particular.
Between Me and the World: Identity and Activism in Quilts.
This part of the exhibition was sponsored by EverSewn and, in my opinion, it featured some of the best work because of the emotional response one got from viewing the quilts.
It is always a pleasure to view the quilt show - it is HUGE! It's really impressive and the variation in work is truly inspiring. The heart sings as you walk the isles because of the workmanship.
Between Me and the World was no different however it had an extra layer of emotion that I wasn't expecting. It might have just been me... but I shed a tear multiple times while absorbing this work and their messages. The reaction was visceral because the messages were strong and clear - a lot of them touching on the gun violence issue which I think gives credence to how important this issue must be to many in the USA and globally.
This exhibition of work featured a lot by Thomas Knauer. Thomas collaborated with other quilters but his name cropped up constantly.
Thomas Knauer is a quilter, teacher, author and fabric designer. He has a strong focus on quilt activism and you can read more (and see more work!) on his website HERE.
My words are useless here. I am going to let the quilts and maker's descriptions do all the talking.
My hopes here are these quilts speak to you, and encourage you to explore the hidden meanings behind your quilts. They sure did for me!
My hopes here are these quilts speak to you, and encourage you to explore the hidden meanings behind your quilts. They sure did for me!
xoxo
Lucy C Kingwell
Excess
By Thomas Knauer and Lisa Sipes.
Machine Pieced and Quilted
Each of the 1600 blocks in this quilt represents a life lost to domestic violence each year. The finished quilt hangs over 13 feet long and the fact that it inevitably overflows onto floor signifies the terrible excess of each of those deaths.
It is stitched with excerpts from the Violence Against Women Act that was help up, and allowed to lapse, in Congress due to political infighting at the time this quilt was made.
Self-Portrait with Illness: Anonymous
By Thomas Knauer and Shelly Kamp
Machine Pieced and Quilted.
The design of this quilt is based on the barcode from my last hospital wristband. The barcode allows staff to simply scan me to verify by identity before performing tests. While this may be useful, it also created a profound sense of anonymity, of not quite being human. It is just that sterility off experience that I hope comes through in this quilt.
Tea and Skittles
By Thomas Knauer
Machine Pieced, appliquéd and quilted.
I have turned the shooting target that was sold after the killing of Trayvon Martin into a baby quilt and quilted it with text from the boy's obituary. This quilt questions a society that claims to protect children, even as it sees children of colour as threads and as targets.
One Child Is One Too Many
By Thomas Knauer and Joanne Harris, Loraine van Dommelen Davis, Nancy Williamson, Mary Kolb, Nona E. Davis, Cherry Heinrich, HelenMarie Marshall, Linda Kurella, Kelly Kehlmann-Smith, Zrinka Bilusic, Barbara Vanderfleet-Martin.
Machine Pieced, appliquéd and quilted.
Each year scores of children die in gun incidents and gun accidents (negligent homicides), whether as a bystander to a violent crime, by being in the wrong place when a gun is accidentally fired, or through gaining access to an unsecured gun. This quilt is a protest against the pervasiveness of a gun culture that allows these feathers to occur and does nothing to prevent them.
We Are Not Targets
By Thomas Knauer and Kathie Chyrywaty and Shelly Kamp.
Machine Pieced, appliquéd and quilted.
In appliquéing an abstracted shooting target onto a traditional string quilt I hope to make something that is simultaneously beautiful and repellant. This is a quilt that brings the threat of violence to one of our most intimate and vulnerable places. In quilting it with chains of paper dolls, I hope to bring that visceral response back out into the wider world as a demand for safety in all places.
Palimpsest: Pride Flag
By Thomas Knauer and Lisa Sipes.
Machine pieced and quilted.
By quilting a Double Wedding Ring (the traditional wedding quilt pattern) into a patchwork Pride Flag, this quilt speaks of same-sex marriage not as a statement but as intimate relationship. This quilt emphasises the comfortable companionship rather than the political debate.
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