Arts & Crafts Center
QUILT CONVERSATIONS,
with work by Jo Ann Mize and Mary Anne Fitzgerald,
will remain on exhibit through noon October 9, 2010.
Quilts strike a chord with almost everyone, whether made from the scraps joined and tied in the simplest version or intricately stitched for competition, or experimental and pushing the boundaries of what can be done with fabric, thread and batting. Today, it is often possible to find covers that claim to be a quilt but are mass-produced, poorly designed, with stitches that are big and uneven. The quilts exhibited here are a different sort. They pay homage to the best traditions of quilting while recognizing the technical advantages of sewing machines and brightly colored fabrics purchased just for a special project.
Quilters can be involved in several different types of conversations as they attach fabric, batting, and backing into a warm and comforting whole, often in intricate designs and colorful patterns. Traditionally, quilting bees meant stitchers getting together with others in the community to complete a large and complex task, all while chatting and catching up on local news, politics, recipe, and what not as they worked. Put even two quilters in a room and they will quickly start exchanging ideas, images, and opinions.
But, quilters also need to converse with the materials and their own creativity. What fabrics look well together? Is the fabric suited to the pattern and design? What kind of border? How will it be pieced? Will there be appliqué? Will it be tied or quilted? Is this for decoration or basic warmth? How many of those things can be combined successfully? What about the merits of pure handwork (slow and tedious) vs. the new machine techniques that offer different ideas? How far outside the box of quilting do I want to go-if at all? Hopefully, creativity and sensitivity to color and design of the artist will match the technical sewing skills to produce the sort of work seen here—a mix of many traditions and techniques. These quilts bear witness to the skill of careful needlework joined with the joy of texture and color, filled with a sense of accomplishment. Join the conversation– let us know what you think and bring a friend along. The Artists Her true passion, however, is for appliqué techniques. At its most basic, this means using a needle to stitch one piece of material onto another in the desired design, turning under the top piece so there are no raw edges and no stitches showing. A demanding task, it requires the ability to hide stitches underneath the sometimes very small pieces attached to the background. Ultimately, the entire piece is then also quilted with patterns, again with tiny little stitches. The goal for most first rate quilters is to have no fewer than eleven stitches to the inch, all of them evenly sized. Three of Mize’s quilts in this exhibit are wonderful examples of this painstaking technique. In Times and Seasons, she narrates the circle of seasons, and uses her quilting to outline and highlight many of the shapes which were first appliquéd. In Garden Lattice, she uses a print fabric to form her flowers, joining the fabrics with nearly invisible stitches, giving the appearance of a single piece of material. The real showpiece, however, is her stunning Baltimore Album quilt. This design, first made popular in the 1840’s, was often used to showcase a needle workers skills. The designs in each block are intricate and demand total commitment and focus. The continued popularity of these quilts is an indication that quilters still like to see if they can meet the test. In this case the results are stunning. Not only has Mize worked individual blocks with rich and vibrant designs, but she has added three dimensional elements and quilted the entire piece in half inch squares, eleven stitches to the inch, all beautifully even. Mary Anne Fitzgerald first learned to quilt in Galax Virginia, by cutting squares for her mother. She laughs, “I was about five years old!” Mary Anne spent much of her adult life in Mebane, North Carolina, where her desire to quilt was subject to the demands of her job and family. After the death of her mother and baby sister, both ardent quilters, Fitzgerald vowed she would continue their tradition. Her first project was to piece and tie quilts for 19 grandchildren. Eventually Fitzgerald settled in Covington, began quilting for others besides those family members, and opened a quilt and antique shop. In the process of finding someone to teach quilting, she learned of Jo Ann Mize’s reputation and “one thing just led to another.” Today Mary Anne continues to piece and quilt, her love of color and fabric often driven by her plans to donate the results to nursing homes and orphanages. She says her next big project is to paint an image of Humpback Bridge and then quilt it, something she has done once before “but it didn’t stick around very long.” Mary Anne’s love of color and traditional quilting forms is particularly evident nthe simple but effective “Patchwork” and the Star wall hanging; her love of contemporary fabric design is evident in the Stack and Whack quilt on the ladder beside the steps. QUILT CONVERSATIONS, with work by Jo Ann Mize and Mary Anne Fitzgerald, will remain on exhibit through noon October 9, 2010.
Born in Alleghany County, Jo Ann Mize is a homemaker and the wife of a minister. Like many quilters, Jo Ann began quilting as a child with traditional hand quilted techniques. She continues to learn new techniques and explore new ideas as well, and has now been quilting seriously for more than 20 years. She has taught quilting at Mary Ann’s Antiques and Things in Covington since 2006. For the last three years, she has been machine quilting (“long arm”) for the public.
