Contemporary Quilt Art exhibit to open at Peninsula Gallery May 4

The Peninsula Gallery in Lewes will present a celebration of color with four accomplished quilt artists whose work has moved beyond traditional quilt-making. Contemporary Art Quilts will display a modern side of quilting through abstract shapes, dramatic lines, and rich color in pieces large and small.

The designing and construction of quilt art can be arduous. The artists exhibiting at the Peninsula Gallery all have similar processes. They work improvisationally, allowing spontaneous decisions to lead them to the finished result. The artists cut each shape individually, place one shape or a configuration of shapes on their design wall, then stand back and analyze the composition. This work can be physically demanding, up and down a ladder, evaluating each step in the process. Then, the quilters piece together the configurations in an often complex machine-sewing process. Finally, the artists quilt the piece by stitching a design through all the layers at once, using dense stitching with various threads to create depth and texture.

It is important to note that the artists quilt their own works. Without rulers, they guide the rotary cutting tool the way a painter guides the brush. This allows for motifs to evolve freely and the development of playful figure-ground relationships. All of the participating artists have studied with quilt artist Nancy Crow, one of the leading figures in the art quilting movement of the 1970s and ‘80s.

Marina Baudoin of Silver Spring, Md., first learned to sew while in the Peace Corps at a remote post in the Congo where she fell in love with the colors of West African fabrics. She later earned a master’s degree in textile design, becoming a weaver, then an art quilter. Baudoin has displayed her art quilts in exhibitions such as Quilts=Art=Quilts, and Circular Abstractions, an exhibit curated by Nancy Crow, and at the American Quilter’s Society show where she has received many awards. She is an accomplished long-arm quilter and uses her expertise to quilt for other acclaimed artists.

Julia Graziano of Syracuse, N.Y., came to fiber art through an appreciation of traditional quilting. She truly allows each step in her process to determine the next. In the works exhibited in this show, Graziano utilizes paints, dyes, and heavy stitching. Her work has been accepted into Quilt National, Quilts=Art=Quilts, and Circular Abstractions in Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Mich. Graziano is also a long-arm quilter, and has quilted for several accomplished artists.

Anne Hammond of Silver Spring has an extensive list of achievements as a quilt artist. Most recently, she has been juried into Quilt National and Quilt Visions, achieved first place at Quilt Festival Houston and was awarded Best Modern Quilt at the American Quilter’s Society show in Lancaster, Pa. She also has been featured in several magazines. The pieces showing at the Peninsula Gallery represent Hammond’s broad range of skills as a quilter and an artist. She is inspired by geometric shapes and uses a bold color palette of predominately hand-dyed fabrics.

Sarah Pavlik of Lewes has curated this exhibit with the support of Peninsula Gallery owner Tony Boyd-Heron. Pavlik has been juried into Quilts=Art=Quilts, and Form Not Function in Indiana, as well as the Strathmore Art Center, Black Rock Center for the Arts, and Ratner Museum in Maryland. Currently, she is working on a series of bullseye quilts, using a four-plex and three-plex design. Despite the complexity of this art medium, Pavlik is passionate about fiber art and cannot imagine life without the experience. “I can’t not do this!” she said. “I am always looking for the beauty relationships between line, shape, and eventually color, looking for tension, and always discovering something more about myself in the process.”

The exhibition will open Saturday, May 4, and a reception will be held from 5 to 7 p.m., Saturday, May 11, when the public is invited to meet some of the artists. The exhibit will continue until Tuesday, May 28. The gallery is located in the shops at the Beacon, just across the canal bridge on Savannah Road in Lewes.

For more information or to preview the show, go to www.peninsula-gallery.com or call 302-645-0551.