Textiles and the Triplett Sisters

A while back I mentioned we’d be starting a non-consecutive series on using artistic principals to use reproduction fabrics in a contemporary quilt. The first element I wrote about was Deconstruction.  However, several people told me it was really the use of color that made it contemporary, not my structure.  So, that seemed like the perfect topic for the next article.   Usually when working with reproduction fabrics, the textile designer tries to replicate the colors originally seen in that period quilt.  Frequently a lot of browns are used and a sepia tint is even given to other brighter colors to give those colors “age.” Remember that some chemical dyes turn brown over time, particularly if fugitive. Note the colors in this reproduction palampore by Mary Koval available for purchase in our etsy shop.  It’s beautiful...

Hopefully by now you’re singing along with your favorite version of the song “Feeling Good!” This year started off with a bang, being featured on “The Quilt Show” video on New Year’s Day on collecting and later in the week on indigo resist. The Triplett Sisters have an exciting year planned and can hardly wait! So, we hope you’ll be thrilled to join us in several of our quilting adventures. First, we will be launching our first ever Block of the Month quilt. It really is an adventure for us, with all the details to be worked out. It is based on an 1856 Friendship Quilt from the Poos Collection and will also have a modern hand-painted option too. So, stay tuned for more details! Did I mention that the antique friendship quilt is also featured in...

At various times this year I’ve had three friends ask me if I was familiar with the quilts from Gee’s Bend. Yes, of course, I answered.  Theses quilts are an important contribution to the African-American visual and cultural art scene in the US. However, these quilts are from a small group of about 50 women in the collective and do not reflect the full artistic range of African American quilting. So, it is exciting to see the first African American Quilt Conference spearheaded by Marla Jackson coming to fruition. Approximately 10 different quilt exhibitions will be held concurrently for the conference at multiple locations in Lawrence, KS including: The Spencer Museum of Art, The Lawrence Arts Center, and the Lawrence Public Library.  The exhibitions will include a broad range of quilts by Aisha Lumumba, Viola Burley Leak,...

Magic Realism was initially coined by Angel Flores in 1955 for a group of Latin American writers. These writers wrote about a person that lived in the world we know, but experienced different reality or world view. Since that time, the definition has come to be used more broadly and evolved into different art forms. For Susan Carlson, the term has come to mean realism with a sense of whimsy. Her exhibit and book by the same name, "Specimens", gives us specifics on the species using a fabric collage of fun textures and colors. She has created a salt water crocodile that is 20 feet long, because “that is what is truly awesome about this species.” The enormity of the creature is hard to visualize until you see it in person or with people for scale....

Quilting vintage has become the short hand phrase for taking a vintage linen or textile and quilting it with a domestic machine or long arm. The “Oh my!” that comes along with a viewing of the new textile work usually has two completely divergent meanings. “Oh my, how dare that quilter ruin an antique or vintage quilt top or blocks with machine quilting! That piece should have been hand quilted in the style of the period!” Or the other side, “Oh my isn’t that a beautiful work of art! The fiber artist has brought new life to a textile that would have been destroyed or languished in a junk bin. ” The International Quilt Festival – Houston had two special exhibitions that showcased this genre of textiles: For the Love of Linens, and Twisted. Cindy Needham...