16th Quilt Japan exhibit, at the New England Quilt Museum

 

Flower Spinning, detail.

With a small group of friends I took in the an exhibit of award-winning quilts from the 16th biannual Nihon (Japan) quilt competition. This show is sponsored by the Japan Handicraft Instructors Association.  Quilts may be entered in three categories: Traditional, Contemporary and, a new category for this competition, Miniature. There are cash prizes and the winners are exhibited first at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum and then at select international destinations. for a number of year now, the New England Quilt Museum has been one of the venues.

Flower Spinning, Kazuyo Minami.

 

The Director of the museum, Nora Palermo, introduced us to a delightful docent, Mary, who gave us some of the background on the competition. She noted some general changes in the "flavor" of the entries this year, including the addition of beading and other embellishments on some of the quilts.  Beads are used in the exquisite miniature quilt below; the color palette seems appropriate in this year of "Barbie" pink.

Heart Beating, Kaori Akamatsu.

It's a lttle difficult to see in my image but there are beads at at the centers of some of the blocks as well as on the ribbon bow motifs. The hints of blue and yellow balance all the shades of pink and mauve nicely.

Heart Beating, detail.

Another outstanding miniature quilt is below, a Mariner's Compass variation in vibrant colors. The curator and staff did a great job hanging the quilts so that the objects "played" nicely together, not an easy task with so many varied, strong approaches to color.  The maker says that the title of this object is a play on words.

Piece, Peace, Peace Sing, Miyoko Watanabe.

 

Another quilt with an intriguing title, and strong visual impact, is the work below, with the intriguing name of Octopus Arabesque. According to the wall text, the octopus is a symbol of good fortune, as the sound of octopus in Japanese, tako, sounds just like the word takko, or happiness. 

 

Octopus Arabesque, Chizuko Kojima.

 The quilt above has quite a visual impact from quite a distance, which reminds me of something a visual art instructor once told our class: the viewer should see one aspect of a work at a distance of, say, twelve feet, then something more at a distance of six feet and finally a distance of six inches should reveal some new aspect of the design, maintaining the interest of the viewer.

Although all the quilts feature breath-taking workmanship, not all the quilts have much impact from a distance - many are meant to be enjoyed primarily at a close distance I think, such as the quilt below, in shades of red and pink.  The Irish Chain pattern, normally a graphically emphatic design full of movement, is here disjointed and discontinuous. The applique and pieced motifs deployed  asymmetrically on top of the piecing make for a very busy surface.   However the applique, piecing and embroidery are masterfully done and the border is especially delightful.

 

Chatty little birds!, Kikue Nishiya.

Chatty little birds!, detail.

 

Below is a red and white quilt in miniature - about 30" square.  In the wall text the maker share that she could only work on this detailed quilt during the day, with natural light. The quilt is primarily machine stitched.

 

The Beginning is a Red House, Yasuyo Kon.

The Beginning is a Red House, detail.

As much as I love red and white quilts, the quilts featuring a variety of traditional fabrics - many vintage - were a special treat as I drank in the profusion of polychrome prints, stripes and hand-dyed materials.

With My Whole Heart, Toshiko Akashi.

With My Whole Heart, detail.

 

With My Whole Heart, detail.

One thing I really like about the quilt above, in addition to the fabulous Japanese fabrics, is the artist's use of a traditional technique called Cathedral Windows, where layers of fabric are folded to form a "window" into which a square of contrasting fabric is inserted. The method uses a lot of fabric thus resulting in a heavy artifact. The technique is not often seen in quilt shows, as it is perceived, along with the traditional yo-yo quilt, to lack scope for artistry and some quilt shows even banned quilts which employed the technique. 

However, as Lynne Edwards demonstrates in her wonderful book Cathedral Window Quilts, variation on the traditional approach can result in stunning results.  Ms. Akashi employs the technique very effectively in her quilt, providing a release between the central motif and the corner blocks. 

Below is another quilt which features an enchanting assortment of fabrics; I've always had a special fondness for the Grandmother's Fan pattern, which Ms. Honda used for her border blocks.

 

Kaleidoscope, Mutsumi Honda.

Kaleidoscope, detail.

 

Kaleidoscope, detail.

 

Some of the quilts pack a punch without the intense embellishment but through emphatic pattern and contrast such as the quilt below, which makes the most of striped and gradient fabrics.

 

Crack of Time - Hazama, Mutsumi Honda.

 

View of gallery.

View of gallery.

 

One of my favorite quilts presented images of a small city with a fishing tradition. According to the wall text:

Salmon come up the Miomotegawa River in Murakami City, the northern part of Niigata Prefecture.  In winter, salmon are hung to dry under the eaves of ordinary homes in the streets where machiya (traditional townhouse [sic]) buildings still stand.

The artist has done a great job of rendering the objects and buildings without becoming too literal. (Iyoboya means salmon in Japanese.)

The City of Iyoboya, Miyoko Sekiya.

The City of Iyoboya, detail.

To finish up this blog, I'll just post more of the miniature quilts; that such tiny pieces could even be manipulated is a feat in and of itself but the designs are also delightful.  Apologies for my shadow on the images - these quilts were placed in a display case.  Each miniature quilt is about 20" square.

Hanabiyori [Flower Park], Yoko Yehara.

The Garden with Butterflies, Terumi Goto.

 

 Finally a little quilt which punches above its weight, below. Think those are beads creating the arabesques? No - zillions of Colonial knots; a Colonial knot is a kind of cousin to the French knot.  A symphony in texture - low relief sculpture in fiber.

 

Arabesque, Yuki Yokoi.

 

Arabesque, detail.

Timna Tarr at the New England Quilt Museum

I Woke Up Like This, 2021.

In August a group of friends met me at the New England Quilt Museum. We journeyed to the city of Lowell to see the Quilts Japan exhibit, but there's usually more than one exhibit at the museum and, indeed, we got a "bonus" in the form of the show Circuitous Routes: the Quilts of Timna Tarr. Ms. Tarr lives and works South Hadley, Massachusetts. 

 

From the exhibit wall text:

Timna Tarr comes from a long line of quilters, but did not begin quilting until after studying art history in college.  She bought her first longarm machine in 2001 and began quilting clients' quilts shortly thereafter. 

Her nationally award-winning quilts are in private and corporate collections and [have] been seen in exhibits, publications, and on The Quilt Show and QuiltingArts TV.

Ms. Tarr's techniques include piecing and applique and she utilizes both techniques to create her  photo mosaic quilts, which remind me a bit of the work of painter Chuck Close and quilt artist Ruth McDowell. She explains her methodology in her book Stitched Photo Mosaic Quilting and teaches the techniques in workshops.

The Neighborhood Association, 2022.

The Hare Apparent, 2019.

Exhibit overview.

The Duchess of Dirt, 2018.

The Queen of Calico, 2018.

The last portrait is of the artist's cat, Caleigh.  This enjoyable exhibit is on view through September 30, 2023.

Quilts by Tomie Nagano - Celebrating Mother's Memory.

Our Beautiful Earth, 1994.

Just before the end of the year DH and I went to the New England Quilt Museum, in Lowell, Massachusetts, to see an exhibit of quilts by artist Tomie Nagano.  Ms. Nagano (born 1950) is originally from the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, and now splits her time between Dedham, Massachusetts and Hokkaido. 

 

 

Our Beautiful Earth, detail.

Windows, 1996.

Windows, detail.

Double Irish Chain, 1998.

Double Irish Chain, detail.

She began making quilts when her mother gave her  many old kimonos, indicating it was Tomie's task to give these family heirloom fabrics a new life, what we now call "upcycling".  Ms. Nagano adapted several traditional American quilt patterns for the project of reusing and preserving these precious textiles, as well as other fabrics she collected.  Every artifact is hand-stitched and hand-quilted by Ms. Nagano.  And this is after the time-intensive work of deconstructing the old kimonos, or other garments, from which the fabrics are harvested. Most of the works in the exhibit date from the 1990's.

 

 

Octagon Stripe, 1994.

 

 

Octagon Stripe, detail.

Many of the quilts feature primarily indigo fabrics, with accents of yellow and orange.  The consistent color palette makes the overall exhibit very visually cohesive. Many Japanese textile processes are on view, too, including woven stripes, kasuri (like ikat weaving), and stencil resist printing.

 

Gallery overview.

Hiyakka Ryurun (100 Kimono Flowers Blooming), 1993.

 

Hiyakka Ryurun, detail.

 

Ms. Nagano works at a large scale, in the tradition of wall-covering tapestries, and her quilts have a lot of presence.  Sometimes the quilts are paired, making them even more monumental. The paired quilts below were inspired by the Okhlotsk Sea, near her Hokkaido studio.

 

Okhlotsk Blue 1 and 2, 1991.

Ms. Nagano and her family donated several of her quilts to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts: https://collections.mfa.org/search/objects/*/%22tomie%20nagano%22/images?page=1

This should ensure the preservation of those fabrics so precious to her family, truly celebrating her mother's memory.

 

Okhlotsk Blue 1 and 2, detail.

Laura Petrovich-Cheney - Wood Quilts at the New England Quilt Museum

Homesick, 2020, detail.

 

We recently visited the New England Quilt Museum to see this exhibit, Wood Quilts, by Laura Petrovich-Cheney. I had previously seen a small selection of her salvaged wood sculptures, with designs inspired by patchwork quilts, at the Fuller Craft Museum.  It was great to see even more of her work, which is on view through December 31, 2021.

 

Homesick, 2020.

 

Gallery overview.

 

Ms. Petrovich-Cheney uses shop tools - band saws, sanders, etc. - to cut the salvaged wood into her desired shapes. She doesn't paint the pieces; the colors are as found.  A video of her process is here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8ptQAvhLUs

 

Roll with the Changes, 2021.

  From the wall text:

Creating abstract patterns is my way of dealing with life's ambiguities and uncertainties.  After Hurricane Sandy, when that storm destroyed my childhood home, I realized how quickly home and community could be destroyed and forever changed.  After the devastation, I collected the wooden debris that was scattered throughout the remains of the broken communities.  My takeaway from the storm left me more compassionate, empathetic and acutely aware of how life altering an unexpected event can be.

Heart Centered, 2021

Heart Centered, detail.

 

Wall text, cont'd:

Dresser drawers, kitchen cabinets, cedar siding, doors - anything made of wood is now my raw material.  I believe that material has memory.  I never paint or repair what I find - the faded colors, scratches, nail holes mark the passage of time and are vital remainders of a once-lived life.  Working with discarded materials invites exploration of ideas universal to the human experience: nostalgia, second chances, renewal, memory, and the beauty of imperfection.

All Directions Point That Way, 2021.

The traditional quilt patterns referenced in the wood sculptures include Blazing Star, above, and Postage Stamp (many, many tiny pieces) below. In the piece below, an early work, Ms. Petrovich-Cheney utilized wood from damaged structures, found after Hurricane Sandy, and purpose-painted new birch wood squares.

 

Onezie, 2015.

Onezie, detail. All squares are 1" in size.

Center Stage, 2015.

Around it Goes, 2018.

Plaid, 2018.

Some of the designs, such as the one above, are inspired by woven textile designers, including Anni Albers, Lenore Tawney and Julia Bland. 

 

Plaid, detail.

Crazy Quilt, 2021.

 

Other influences which Petrovich-Cheney acknowledges include Indian textile artisans, including Premaben Versinh Dangera, a rural villager who makes quilts in her own improvisational style.

 

Pathways (Find Your Way), 2019.

 

And lastly, a wood quilt based on an updated kaleidoscope pattern; the skillfully placed colors just vibrate.

The Light in Your Eyes, 2021.