From September 13 to 16, 2012, Canada has the place dʼhonneur at the 18th Carrefour Européen du Patchwork and will be exhibiting in LʼÉglise de la Madeleine. International award winning textile artist and quilter, Sandra Reford, was asked to curate a body of work that is of an exceptional technical standard and that represents the current state of quilting and textile art in her country, Canada. The Canadian exhibit is just one of many in the carrefour. The event organizers are expecting 22,000 visitors to grace the Val DʼArgent area this September.
The first quilter to be introduced is Yvonne Mullock. Her story is unique.
I'm the lead artist on this
community led quilting project. The project involves the skills and expertise
of 23 individual quilters, 2 church groups and the local artisans guild
'The Wind and Waves', all of whom reside on Fogo Island and Change Islands -
Newfoundland, Canada. Our collective aim is make beautiful, locally-made quilts
for a 29 roomed 'Fogo Island Inn', currently being built in Barr'd Islands,
Fogo Island.
Here are four of the quilts. All images are credited to Yvonne Mullock.
Made by AnnMarie Newman
Made by Doris Budden
Made by Iris Newman
Made by Iris Newman
Judith Tinkl lives in Ontario and her quilt Oma/Opa/Obi made in 2011, is in the show.
It measures 73" wide, 63" high, machine pieced and hand quilted made from Opa's ties, Oma's fabric and a
Japanese obi with buttons. Oma Opa Obi is a work that
incorporated many of the elements of traditional quiltmaking. The fabrics are all recycled and have a personal
connection. My mother-in-law died in 2010 – her husband had died in 1996 – but
I found all his ties (and other clothes) in her cupboards. The star shape in the piece is constructed from the
ties. She was a dressmaker and I found a bolt of brocade silk in her sewing
room. It was very bright but the back had a lovely subdued pattern and texture
which I used to frame the work. I had long stored a black Japanese obi and the
silk had a lovely damask pattern which caught the light in interesting ways
depending on its orientation. This I used to surround the star.
Next up is Karen Neary from Nova Scotia. Here is how Karen describes creating 'Log Canada'.
I have a real love for red and white quilts, and
this one started simply as a full-sized red and white “Courthouse Steps” log
cabin. The weekend I made the top, my sons were away on a Cub/Scout camping
trip so I had three full days to sew (bliss!) I sewed all weekend and had it
finished by the time they returned home. Perhaps it was seeing the badges
and uniforms on the boys that put me in a patriotic mood, but when I had the
blocks pieced, they made me think of our flag. A red maple leaf was
appliqued in the centre of each block, and a wavy edge added to the border to
emulate a flag blowing gently in the breeze. I used the same maple leaf
to draw a vine for the border, and a wreath for the white areas and had these
motifs expertly quilted by Jacqueline Pohl of The Vintage Quiltery in
Gladstone, Manitoba. Jacqueline did her usual spectacular quilting.
Log Canada has been very well received: it toured the United
States as part of the first “O Canada” exhibit with International Quilt
Festival, made an appearance in a booth at Quilt Canada in Calgary and was
featured in the book “Canadian Heritage Quilting” which I co-authored with
Diane Shink.
Riel Nason lives in New Brunswick. She tells us about her quilt.
My quilt is called the 2010 Selvage Sampler and was made to
celebrate my first year of quilting. I have been intrigued by the
idea of quilting with selvages from the very first time I saw a picture of a
selvage project online. It is
such a new area of quilting too, with so much territory to explore. I
wanted to go beyond simple string squares and see what I could come up with.
So, I saved all my selvages from my first year of quilting, and then, as is the
tradition for many beginner quilters, I made a sampler quilt to test my
skills.
Hope you enjoyed taking a closer look at the quilt talent in Canada!
Check back on Friday to see our progress on 'Stitch Across Canada'.
Check back on Friday to see our progress on 'Stitch Across Canada'.
Love all of them, especially the string quilt - what patience!
ReplyDeleteA wonderful post showing some of our Canadian flair. I do notice though that these are mostly quilters from Central and Eastern Canada. What about the West?
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