I am delighted to offer METAMORPHOSIS, a large and powerful early work by Michael James, arguably the most important quilt artist at work today.
The diamond-shaped quilt measures more than 9 1/2 feet between its top to bottom tips and hangs on a specially designed A-shaped frame.
Michael James has long been recognized as one of the world's leading quiltmakers. Examples of his work are included in numerous private and corporate collections as well the collections of the Newark Museum, the Museum of Arts & Design in New York, the Renwick Gallery of the National Museum of American Art (Smithsonian Institution) in Washington, D.C., the Mint Museum of Craft + Design in Charlotte, North Carolina, the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, Kentucky, and the International Quilt Study Center and Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska. Michael currently serves as Department Chair and Ardis James Professor of Textiles, Clothing and Design in the College of Education and Human Sciences at the University of Nebraska/Lincoln
METAMORPHOSIS, which Michael made in 1983, is 84 inches square and measures 115 inches between its top and bottom tips. It is mounted to hang diagonally on a special A-shaped frame. The composition is a complex combination of curved and straight seams, all rendered with Michael's trademark precision and acute sense of color.
METAMORPHOSIS was originally commissioned for the headquarters of a major US corporation. After many years on exhibit, it was in need of some repair and has just been conserved by Michael's studio assistant, Leah Sorensen-Hayes, who worked under his close supervision. She repaired some tears and replaced some degraded fabric, in many cases using matching pieces of the original fabric that Michael still had in his studio stash. (Full documentation of the work done on the quilt is available.)
The quilt is now effectively new and looks as fresh and crisp as it did when it first left Michael's studio nearly thirty years ago.
Michael' s early quilts are tightly held in public and private collections and very rarely come into the marketplace.This is a major early work by Michael and a truly rare opportunity for any serious collector of contemporary quilts.
METAMORPHOSIS is offered for $21,000.
For more information or to purchase, contact Robert Shaw.
The Art of the Quilt is proud to offer COMPOSITION, another stunning early work by Michael James.
Created in 986, this gorgeous strip-pieced quilt is made up of 64 blocks of shifting color and pattern that create an interlocking overall composition that is far more than the sum of its parts. At the time he made this quilt, Michael James was pushing hard against the grid structure of traditional piecework, and the wide range of light and dark colored stripes set a complex group of rhythms in play against the eight-over-eight geometry that underlies the quilt's design. The quilt's wide range of rich, carefully graduated color and tone and combination of solid-colored and printed fabrics keep the viewer's eye in constant motion, providing an endlessly delightful play of light and dark visual yin-yang.
Michael James' early quilts are tightly held in public and private collections and very rarely come into the marketplace. This piece was in a private collection from 1988 until its original owner's recent death. This is a highly unusual opportunity.
The quilt, which measures 53 inches square, is in perfect and totally original condition. It has a hanging sleeve attached to its back and is ready to be displayed and enjoyed.
Made from machine-pieced and machine-quilted cotton and silk, the quilt is signed and dated "M. James © 1986" at lower left.
COMPOSITION is offered for $9,000.
For more information or to purchase, contact Robert Shaw.
I was saddened to learn that Ardis James died on July 7. No one has done more for quilts and quiltmakers than Ardis, who, with her husband Bob, collected more than a thousand antique and contemporary pieces and founded the International Quilt Study Center & Museum at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. The NY TImes printed a lovely obit, which tells her story far better han I can. She was a remarkable woman, and every quilt lover and maker owes her a debt of thanks for so generously sharing her passion.
Here's a link to a wonderful lecture about quilts and two-dimensional design by the painter and art professor David
Hornung.
Every quiltmaker and person interested in how quilts work and why they matter should watch this. The images are small and pixilate a little when blown up, but they are clear enough to understand, and what Hornung has to say is fascinating. Hornung knows quilts inside out: he made a few wonderful quilts in the 1980s, one of which, "Orange Construction," is in the collection of the International Quilt Study Center & Museum in Lincoln, NE, where he gave this lecture.
David Hornung is also the author of a terrific book on color, which I also recommend highly.
The Art of the Quilt is now offering an expanded range of special exhibitions of both historic and contemporary quilts.
Our offerings include several wonderful shows curated by Julie SIlber, the curator of the legendary Esprit Quilt Collection and one of the world's leading experts on Amish and other historic quilts.
Please download the pdf below for detailed information about the exhibitions and how to bring one of them to your museum or venue.
I am delighted to welcome Judith Larzelere to The Art of the Quilt.
Judith studied painting at Rutgers, where she earned her MFA, and has been making distinctive abstract quilts full time since 1978. Her work is included in the collections of the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, the International Quilt Study Center and Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska, and the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, Kentucky, and in the corporate collections of Bristol Myers/Squibb, SAS, the First National Bank of Boston, and the Federal Reserve Bank in Philadelphia.
For the past fourteen months, Judith has been working on a series of quilts that rely on chance placement of colors. These powerful new quilts, three of which are pictured below, do not emphasize the form and structure of traditional design principles. Judith explains, "For the past thirty years, I have been using cloth and color more or less as an expressionist, concerning myself with movement, color interaction, and the creation of mood. I now feel the need to move into new territory beyond my own familiar strategies. My newest quilts are contain the barest minimum of traditional elements of an art piece so that I can focus exclusively on creating a vibrating color field. Colors with varying ability to advance off the picture plane are chosen in order to create spactality without form, composition, or subject.”
Photons, 2010
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Luminosity with Purple and Green, 2011 |
Each of the three quilts illustrated above is available for $9,0000.
Contact Bob for more information or to purchase.
I am pleased to offer THE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE QUILT/SCREEN , a unique and remarkable quilted art work by Justine Nauman-Greif.
Justine made this complex, multi-layered work of sadness, awareness, and hope in 1995, while she was writing a college thesis on domestic violence and the quilt as metaphor. A quilted fabric Mobius strip stands at the center of the quilt as a metaphor for the social “fabric” of domestic violence. Dancing women, representing those who have escaped the continuous cycle of violence, dance in the black and blue universe outside the strip. Eight neat appearing house facades touching the strip hide the violence that takes place inside them; their window are black and their doors are closed.. However, each of the houses opens on a velcro hinge to reveal words and pictorial scenarios taken from stories told by abused women whom Justine interviewed. These include: “I was stalked from town to town,” ”They just thought it was our business, and they didn't want to get involved,” “I got all packed to leave and I realized I had nowhere to go,” and “he kicked the bathroom door .. the mirror shards were everywhere... my hand was bleeding.” A statement by The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence is also hidden within one of the houses. Three narrative interviews are printed on fabric windows on the back of the quilt, and ghostly images of women are quilted over the printing on the window panes, representing all that is left of their sense of themselves.
The Domestic Violence Quilt/Screen is pictured and discussed in my 1997 book The Art Quilt.
Cottons, velcro, and fabric paint, mounted with glue on a folding wooden ladder frame with fabric hinges. Hand and machine appliqué, hand and machine quilted, some figures hand painted, computer printed text.
72 x 66 inches (H X W) Each of the three panels is 20 inches wide.
$5,000
Contact Bob for more information or to purchase.
I am very sad to learn of the passing of Jean Ray Laury, who died on Wednesday March 2.
Jean was the godmother of modern quiltmaking, a quiet and modest force of incalcuable strength and influence. She was a friend to everyone who met her, and she will be sorely missed by everyone she touched with her remarkable spirit, her art, and her example.
I am now offering a selection of quilts by Radka Donnell at the reduced price of $2500 each.
This is a rare opportunity to own work by a living legend, one of the pioneering early quilt artists.
I have a number of quilts in inventory that are not shown on this site, so pleaese contact me if you are interested in seeing more.
A Gentle Takeoff by Radka Donnell, detail
I am very pleased to welcome Joan Schulze to The Art of the Quilt.
Joan Schulze, at her Potrero Hill studio in San Francisco . (Maria J. Avila Lopez/Mercury News)
Joan Schulze is an internationally acclaimed mixed media quilt, collage, and fiber artist and poet who has been exploring her own distinctive approach to the quilt medium for nearly forty years. She was one of only fourteen artists chosen to be part of the genre-defining 1987 exhibition "The Art Quilt," curated by Michael Kile and Penny McMorris, and her work is represented in the collections of the Museum of Arts & Design in New York, the National Museum of American Art's Renwick Gallery/ Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.,, the Oakland Museum, Visa International, Kaiser Permanente, Adobe Systems, Inc., the John M. Walsh Collection of Contemporary Art Quilts, and many other important public and private collections in the U.S., Europe, and Japan.
Joan says "I love the idea of quilt. The layering, the fact that it can be reversible, that you can plug into this great and varied history of bed covering and with a little push you can enter a new world of walls, ceilings, or installations. It is the best of all worlds for me.My choices in creating a piece usually come from my travels and can be read as pages in a journal. I am enamored with surfaces and how they disintegrate over time. I layer and scratch away to reveal what is beneath the surface, much like the effect one sees on old frescoes, illuminated manuscripts, and urban walls. These erasures and fragments are combined, manipulated and rearranged to form a new experience. Quilting is still important. It now functions as drawing with echoes of the tradition."
I will be posting a number of pieces by Joan in the coming days. Here, to start, is a recent work called Aromatherapy. It is 31 inches square and is available for $3500.
I highly recommend Sandra Sider's new book Pioneering Quilt Artists, 1960-1980: A New Direction in American Art to everyone interested in the early history of the art quilt movement. In addition to all its detailed and often new information, the book includes 52 color photos of early quilts by artists both well known and undeservedly forgotten. As I write in the preface to the book, "This is a study that will enrich the understanding and appreciation of everyone who cares about American quilts and quitlmaking. I commend it especially to contemporary artists, both for the historical background it fills in and for the inspiration and knowledge they can draw from they women and men who helped to create the world they now inhabit."
Susan Shie had a solo exhibition of twenty-one of her quilts at the Festival Of Quilts in Birmingham, England, the largest quilt exposition in Europe, earlier this month. While there, she was interviewed in a great video you can watch here. |
Here is Susan talking about The KT Card Back, the piece she made to be used as an image on the back of the cards she is holding, which are part of a new deck of tarot cards based on her
Kitchen Tarot Series
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As you can see, The KT Card Back is a mirror image intended to look essentially the same whichever way the card is held. And, it has everything in it;—pairs of St. Kildas, pies, cups, crescent moons, cats, colanders, juicers, grinders, and not one but two kitchen sinks! Notice how facelike the upside down sink is too.
The KT Card Back by Susan Shie
I am delighted to announce that the Shelburne Museum has acquired Joan Lintault's quilt "The Other Messengers." Shelburne has one of the oldest and most important collections of American quilts in the country, and this represents a major step into the world of contemporary quilts for them. Joan has also donated more than twenty antique quilts from her collection to the Museum, which plans to mount an exhibition of Joan's own works along with some of her donations next year.
I currently have a large inventory of quilts by Radka Donnell and by Gayle Fraas and Duncan Slade available.
A number of the Fraas and Slade quilts are part of their Watermarks Series, based on flags from the International Code of Signals.
Please contact me if you would like information or photos of more of their work.
Ram Island
2004
Dye painted cotton with fused metal foil, hand and machine stitched.
36 x 36 inches (45 x 46 inches framed)
$6000
Merchant's Row. Flag Series.
2008
Dye painted cotton, hand and machine stitched.
18 x 30 inches (24 x 36 inches framed)
$3500
Last Day of the Year
2009
Dye painted cotton, hand and machine stitched.
24 x 24 inches (36 x 36 inches framed)
$3500
I am delighted to offer a groundbreaking early art quilt, Pancakes, Butter and Syrup Quilt by Ros Cross, made in 1973.
This remarkable early "soft sculpture" art quilt and accompanying rug were chosen to be included in the first major museum exhibition of non-traditional quilts, "The New American Quilt," which was presented in 1976 by the Museum of Contemporary Crafts in New York (now the Museum of Arts and Design). "The New American Quilt" also included works by Helen Bitar, Lenore Davis, Radka Donnell, Gayle Fraas and Duncan Slade, Elizabeth Gurrier, Susan Hoffman, Joan Lintault, Molly Upton, Wenda von Weise, and Katherine Westphal.
Ros Cross was born in the United Kingdom and says,"The pancakes quilt was my response to the onslaught of American food (huge proportions) upon my arrival from the UK in 1973."
The quilt and rug are sold. For more information about them, click here.
I am delighted to be adding Joan Lintault's wonderful Alphabet Soup to The Art of the Quilt's offerings.
This is one of Joan's masterpieces, combining wit, whimsy and great beauty in a richly complex composition full of subtle but extraordinary technical skill. A reviewer for the New York Times said it brought quilt making to "a new level of obsessiveness," and described it as "dense with information, a cornucopia of images including stylized letters, a recipe, fancy decorated soup bowls and vegetables so luscious and fresh you can almost taste them."
Click here for more information.
We have just added four stunning studio quilts by the renowned UK artist Pauline Burbidge to our offerings.
Pauline Burbidge |
Applecross Quilt |
(The above photos of Pauline Burbidge and her quilt are by Keith Tidball.)
The Art of the Quilt is delighted to be offering several extraordinary quilted pieces by Montana artist Nancy Erickson.
Click here to see all our quilts for sale.
"Patience" by Nancy Erickson, (detail)
The San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles has acquired Birth of tenderness by Radka Donnell, part of her recent "Paradise Dozen" series. The purchase was made possible by a donation from The South Valley Quilt Association in San Jose in honor of their recently deceased member, Kathleen Underwood.
Several other quilts from the "The Paradise Dozen" are still available from The Art of the Quilt. Contact us for more information.
Birth of Tenderness by Radka Donnell. Collection of the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles.
Robert Shaw's latest book—American Quilts: The Democratic Art, 1780-2007—was published in December.
American Quilts: The Democratic Art 1780-2007 is the first truly comprehensive study of the art of American quilts and quiltmaking.
Sumptuous, informative, and engaging, this is the ultimate book on American quilts as art. Written by one of the leading scholars in the field, it’s a fascinating chronicle of the growth and evolution of an art form with a rich heritage. Not only does author Robert Shaw provide an insightful look at quilting aesthetics, he places the craft in its historical, cultural, and socioeconomic context, providing a visually lush journey through American history.
This opulent volume starts with old-world traditions and goes up to date, examining key moments that had an impact on quilting culture—including Amish emigration, slavery and the Civil War, the Depression, new sewing technology, and the Bicentennial. More than 350 stunning images capture a rich variety of work created by people from all walks of life.
Hardcover with dust jacket. 10 x 10 inches. 384 pages, More than 350 stunning images.
Order your copy now!
"Surely the most important quilt book ever! I hope it will get people talking more about quilts as art."
—Laura Fisher, author of Quilts of Illusion and Home Sweet Home: The House in American Folk Art
"American Quilts: The Democratic Art, 1780-2007 is so outstanding that words practically fail me. Robert Shaw's writing, as always, is eloquent and enjoyable, and the quality of the photography (so sharp and consistent!) is a joy. I thought Bob had pretty much covered 'definitive' with his previous writing about quilts, but he has re-defined definitive with this wonderful new book. It is just amazingly good!"
—Mary leman Austin, former Executive Editor, Quilter's Newsletter
"American Quilts: The Democratic Art, 1780-2007 is a fascinating read and an excellent addition to the history of quilt making. This book, thoughtful and well researched, simply exudes an energetic clearness about makers and their works, decade by decade, epoch by epoch. Beautifully printed on heavy stock with clean, clear, sharp color images, the book is chock-a-block with quilts, many new, never seen or rarely seen; their images are printed large, filling entire pages. It is thrilling to see so many quilts not encountered before! There are quilts with such fresh imagery no matter when made and quilts so inspirational in concept that any of them cannot fail to renew one’s enthusiasm and love for this medium. In addition, considering how rapidly the contemporary movement is developing, often overshadowed by commercialism, one cannot fail to appreciate more than ever that there is still a human being (Robert Shaw) who knows and can write about the history of the contemporary movement from its infancy."
—Nancy Crow, renowned quilt artist, teacher and author
"American Quilts: The Democratic Art, 1780-2007 is a must-have book at A bargain price. There are a good number of thick books, stuffed with photos, purporting to detail the history of quilts in America. Many are pretty, few are complete, and none can match this new book by curator, collector and writer Robert Shaw. This sumptuous masterpiece is a thorough study of the key eras in the flowering of quiltmaking in the U.S., written by someone deeply versed in the major collections. This book represents a culmination of a long career and one of the most thrilling aspects is the inclusion of stunning historically significant quilts that haven't been published widely or at all. Another reason to cheer is that it brings quilting history up to date: the indispensable volume by Roderick Kiracofe, The American Quilt: A History of Cloth and Comfort ends in 1950, so it doesn't include the quilting renaissance that began in the 1970s. Given the breadth of the history covered and the high quality of the photographs, I find the price just staggeringly reasonable, meaning there is no excuse for not acquiring this book if you care about quilts. This one's a keeper."
—Meg Cox, author author of The Quilter's Catalog and President, The Alliance for American Quilts
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Signed and personally inscribed copies are available for $45 postpaid (in the US). Send a check to me at 435 Longmeadow Drive, Shelburne, VT 05482, or you can use a credit card to send a payment to my email address via PayPal. Be sure to let me know how you would like the inscription to read |
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Amish Abstractions: Quilts from the Collection of Faith and Stephen Brown will be on view at the de Young Museum in San Francisco through June 6, 2010. The exhibition features 48 full-size and crib quilts made in Amish communities in Pennsylvania and the Midwest and dating from the 1880s to the 1940s.
The exhibition catalogue, which includes an essay by Robert Shaw, explores the origins, techniques, and context of these visual masterpieces. More than seventy-five quilts originating in communities throughout Pennsylvania and the Midwest from the 1880s to the 1940s are presented in full color along with contributions by three quilt experts: Joe Cunningham, a well-known quilt artist, author, and lecturer; Robert Shaw; and Janneken Smucker, a doctoral candidate at the University of Delaware specializing in quilts from the Amish and Mennonite traditions.
The 128-page hardcover, published by Pomegranate Press in association with the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, is available from the de Young Museum store. |
