Mendofleur

I had the recent advantage of viewing a first time solo exhibit of Richard Saja’s work at the Shelburne Museum in Vermont. We both clearly have a common love, textiles. In 2005, Richard founded Historically Inaccurate Decorative Arts in order to find new ways of presenting old textiles, particularly French toiles combined with a tradition of hand embroidery. Pictured above is some of his work. Below is a toile used as a bedcover and embroidered with great embellishment.

I first came across Richard Saja from a internet quilt history list that I belong to. I thought his interpretations quirky but delightful in all their seeming irreverence. We often look at things in such a predictable, known way that it is sometimes refreshing to be jolted out of our normal response or expectation. Then the mind seems to begin that fun path of exploring other possibilities in its own path of creative expression. When I discovered he was exhibiting at the Shelburne, I felt it was like a stroke of luck for me to be there at such an opportune time.

This is titled “Botanikos Wallpaper” and was his first wallpaper pattern. It takes its inspiration from 19th c. botanical prints. Saja has arranged the wallpaper’s flowers, leaves, cones and seeds to suggest facial expressions. Again he has tweaked the traditional just enough to delight and surprise.

Tomorrow I will feature the other parts of this exhibit. As a side note, I have not had any internet service on Monday or today since returning from the East. I am writing this in a coffee shop. Hopefully, we will get back to steady service by the weekend.

For more on Richard Saja go to his blog at