A Slice of Florida...

 

After visiting the quilt exhibit in Dunedin, our merry band of travelers drove the short distance north to Tarpon Springs, and the Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art. That's where "Floridian Flavors: Characters, Culture, and Cuisine" is on display. It's a juried exhibit by Florida quilt artists and members of Studio Art Quilt Associates. Quilt artist Gretchen Brooks of Gainesville offers a cross-section view of citrus fruit in her colorful "Citrilicious" quilt. Kiwi, pink grapefruit, lemon... you can almost taste the flavors.

In another entry, Gretchen Brooks examines "What Lies Beneath" Florida's waterways. She used so many fabrics, fibers, and stitched embellishments in this absorbing wallhanging.

Martha Wolfe, a California exhibit juror, displayed this quilt made from her time spent on the beaches of Florida. It's titled "A Time to Quilt (Tern, Tern, Tern)" and was made using a raw-edge applique technique.

Doris Hulse of The Villages captured the "Fisherman's Intent" in this story-telling quilt. She transferred her photograph of a charter boat captain deftly cleaning the day's catch. She then over-painted the image with Inktense color blocks and heavily machine quilted it.

Do you feel as if you are looking at a vintage tea towel or cartoon place mat? Those old Florida images were the inspiration for "Florida Spirits", an absorbing hand-painted and appliqued piece by Susan Rienzo of Vero Beach. Look close to see all the details from space launches to flip-flops and beach umbrellas.

Florida's many clear freshwater springs are a big attraction in the state, and "I'm Okay" is  an entry by Brenda Shutter of Titusville. She expressed an image of an adventurous cave diver returning to the light and the water's surface by using textile paints mixed with glow-in-the-dark paint.

Seminole piecing is a patchwork method perfected among members of the native Seminole tribe. Strips of colorful and intricate pieced patterns are sewn together in horizontal bands. Often seen in skirts, jackets and other clothing items as well as dolls, the piecing method is also popular in quilting. The image applied to the background of Trish Hodge's (Sarasota) "Homage to Seminole Quilters" shows a native stitcher wearing a traditional Seminole pieced skirt and sewing on a hand-crank sewing machine.

One of our travelers, Kay Smith (Ocala), also had a Seminole-style pieced quilt titled "Tamiami Mosaic" on display. Kay has made several beautiful and prizewinning quilts using this method. She grew up in Miami and her family would often visit the Seminoles in Dania, Florida. She was amazed at the colorful designs the women pieced using hand-crank machines in their Chickee huts that had no electricity. She added embroidery to mimic the rick-rack that was often a part of the Seminole designs.

If you'd like to know more about the Seminole style of piecing and history, here's a link to the Florida Museum's site with in-depth information. And if you'd like to see more of the quilts in this wonderful exhibit, click this link to visit the SAQA slide show.

Visiting inspiring quilt shows like this one just makes me itch to stitch!

Color Explosion Road Trip...

Three intrepid quilting friends and I took a two-hour drive to Dunedin Fine Art Center (DFAC) in Dunedin, Florida, recently to visit and appreciate some wonderful quilt exhibits. Top billing at the museum went to The Tentmakers of Cairo exhibit, shown here. Based primarily in "the market of tentmakers" in Cairo, Egypt, the men who stitch these pieces, are a combination of artist, maker, and entrepreneur.

There were a lot of quilts beautifully displayed. The color washed over us the minute we entered the room.

The art form, which features intricate applique motifs stitched on a whole-cloth background, began in a utilitarian way. At one time, the homes of nomadic people in Egypt were constructed with canvas walls and roofs. The tentmakers began to enhance the plain inner walls with bright stitched elements like those seen in these quilts.

You can see the detail, expressiveness, and imagination of the designs in this close-up photo.

Cotton textiles are used for the motifs which are accented with stitchery. You may be able to see that the background fabric is often a more canvas-like cotton, as in this example, which is heavier than quilting cotton. I couldn't help but consider how tough that is on the hands when sewing through the layers. And the men sew quickly and prolifically, which you can see in a 3-minute video from The Quilt Show I'll link here.

The profusion of color and design is very absorbing for viewers. While no longer used for walls and roofs of dwellings, the quilts still have a ceremonial use for weddings, funerals, and faith celebrations. And art collectors purchase them for wall art. DFAC offered a price list for any of the pieces that were for sale.

The tentmakers were teaching a class in their methods at the museum.

There was also an exhibit titled The Return of Velvet Elvis. Local artists could try their hand at painting on a black velvet background, in a style reminiscent of the 1950s when images of Elvis Presley were popular. I thought this entry captured our last year-and-a-half quite nicely! There were other exhibits at the museum as well, and we also attended the Studio Art Quilters Association show in nearby Tarpon Springs, Florida. More photos from those in my next post.