Mendofleur

Working consistently now on my fabric designs/collages, I have been thinking a great deal how I came to this medium many years ago in the early 80’s.  There had been renewed interest in quiltmaking with the 1976 Bi-Centennial.  Previous to this, Jonathan and Gail Holstein had organized the first major exhibit of quilts at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York on July 1, 1971 titled “Abstract Design in American Quilts”.  This exhibit launched the sleeping quilt world into the forefront of upscale craft and art.  Julie Silbur became the first curator of the Esprit Quilt Collection in San Francisco focusing on the very graphic and colorful quilts of the Amish.  It seemed everyone was talking about quilts.  I had always had a keen interest in quilts.  My grandmother always had a quilt frame set up in her spare bedroom and always had a quilt in it that she was hand quilting.  Her needlework was exceptional.  Below is a photo of her probably taken in her teens.  She was a marvelous person…sweet, generous, and immensely creative.

At this time I was facing some transitions in my life that were difficult.  I was exploring much feminist thought at the time.  I read Judy Chicago’s Through the Flower and was taken in and inspired by her ideas.  I decided to make a quilt to represent my changes and I titled it “Through the Flower”.  I did not realize I should have written her for permission.  However, when it was completed, I mailed her a photo and she very kindly wrote back congratulating me on my work and success. The quilt block for this quilt I aptly chose primarily because of the name, bleeding heart.  I surrounded the woman with this symbolism, and it took on a life I barely could have anticipated at the time.  My quilt was chosen as one to be exhibited in a small museum titled “A Decade of Transition 1972-1982″.  It was my first all hand-stitched quilt.

My next quilt was an experiment with handwork combined with machine quilting. I was disappointed with the results of the machine quilting, but I was trying to figure a way to create quilts that were quicker to finish even though I loved the hand quilted look.

I decided to take a workshop from Michael James who was promoting quilts as art and traveling the country teaching.  My next quilt was the result of this workshop.  It was appliqued, machine pieced and machine quilted.

Now I was on to graphic designs, quilts that were more structured and architectural….for me a little distant but a reflection of my life. Below are several more in this series.

The bars in this quilt were a translation of my life.  I was only aware of this years later as I looked back on the imagery.

It was now 1985.  I was facing the dissolution of my marriage.  I was also teaching contemporary quiltmaking at an art gallery and had the last exhibit of my quilts at this gallery.  One quilt for which I do not have a photo clearly represents the turning point in my life.  I never returned to this medium until now, 24 years later.