This 12 months’s ‘Quilt Present Season’ is about to get underway, and I’m excited. QuiltCon 2023 is simply across the nook! I’ve missed attending quilt exhibits in individual over the previous few years and look ahead to sharing the expertise of viewing – and speaking about – the quilts with my fellow quilt lovers. Whereas I’m pretty accustomed to learn how to discuss quilts, many of us could also be questioning: precisely how do you consider a quilt?
Generally, I discover coloration, design, and texture of the quilts on show could be a bit overwhelming. The place do you begin? Different occasions, I could fully miss a worthwhile piece of artwork as a result of I’m distracted. With that in thoughts, we requested the gifted Frances O’Roark Dowel to share her prime recommendations on – and speaking about – quilts.
The next is an excerpt from from QuiltCon Journal 2023 “Speaking About Quilts: Tips on how to have richer, extra significant conversations about quilts.”
You’re strolling the QuiltCon present ground when a selected quilt attracts your consideration. Perhaps you find it irresistible. Perhaps you’re baffled by it. The individual standing subsequent to you appears equally enthralled or appalled. You look at one another – clearly, you each have opinions to precise.
“So, what do you suppose:” you ask.
“It’s so cute!” comes the reply.
Perhaps you’re happy with this change, however what in order for you extra? In any case, why come to the massive present in case you can’t dig deep into the the reason why some quilts stir your soul and others go away you unmoved? These explorations don’t solely assist us articulate why a quilt speaks to us, additionally they inform our personal inventive course of after we return dwelling, impressed and able to sew.
So, how do we’ve richer, extra significant conversations about quilts? I wish to counsel that the very first thing we do is transfer away from the “I prefer it/I don’t prefer it” binary. We’re not quilt judges, we’re quilt lovers, and many people are quiltmakers with a vested curiosity in understanding how quilts work.
Frances continues with unbelievable perception from quilt judges and professionals who assist make clear methods to collect your ideas a couple of quilt; observe quilting tendencies; critique quilts rigorously; and apply verbalizing your observations. As well as, she shares “Ten Ideas for Wanting At – and Speaking About – Quilts.” Learn on for her professional recommendation on answering the query: how do you consider a quilt?
1
Say what you see. What colours, shapes, textures, or components do you discover? How is the quilt quilted?
2
Contemplate the quilt’s total building. What methods has the quilter utilized in making the quilt?
3
Contemplate the quilt in context of its class. How does this quilt mirror the hallmarks that distinguish the class?
4
What tendencies in quilting does the quilt mirror? How does the quilter make the pattern their very own?
5
What ideas may the quilter have been enjoying with? Is the maker exploring a design or method, or making a press release of some kind?
6
Jurors consider quilts on visible impression, innovation/originality, visible enchantment, and extra. Given these classes, what do you suppose stood out for the jurors after they chosen this quilt?
7
Are there methods through which this quilt disrupts your expectations? Are there tensions throughout the design or building?
8
What’s authentic concerning the quilt? What units it other than related quilts?
9
Contemplate the quilt in context of the present. Does it mirror different quilts? How does it stand aside, if in any respect?
10
Learn the artist’s assertion concerning the quilt. How does it illuminate the quilter’s intentions? Does it change the way you view or perceive the quilt?
In regards to the Writer
Frances O’Roark Dowell first mixed her love of storytelling and quilt making in her 2016 novel Birds within the Air, adopted by the quick story assortment Margaret Goes Fashionable.
She at the moment leads a thriving neighborhood at Quiltfiction.com the place the second quantity of her historic quilting collection A Friendship Album is being launched. Click on right here to comply with Frances on instagram (@offkilterquilt)!
Having fun with this text? Join our e-newsletter!