In 2017, The Triplett Sisters embarked on an adventure to see an amazing chintz exhibition at the Fries Museum in the Netherlands. Because of the Dutch long held love of chintz fabric, as well as the millions of yards of chintz imported into the county by the Dutch East India Company, the Fries Museum has a wealth of fabric available to create an exhibit. If you’d like to see more of the Chintz in Bloom exhibition, be sure to check out the Feb 13th vlog which will feature more than 25 images from the event. Don't forget to subscribe and like the blog, so you can see future exhibitions too.
Several “tree of life” textiles were selected for the exhibition, including one in an antique quilt owned by Joes Meester of the Netherlands. The tree of life image is a fundamental part of most cultures providing symbolism in religion, philosophy, and society. Even carved stone and cylinders dating back to ancient Mesopotamia contains images of the symbolic tree of life, also known as tree of knowledge, sacred tree, world tree etc.
The exhibition also showcased a recently made version of the tree of life center panel by Renuka Reddy. She created the textile using the ancient techniques of India, which are very labor intensive. After several years of continuing to admire this quilt, I asked permission to re-create the panel. However, as I sat down to hand paint the textile, I hated to directly copy someone else’s artwork, even if it was created more than 200 years ago. Instead I created my own version of the tree of life panel inspired by this Dutch quilt. QTC has reproduced my hand painted version and I’m pleased to now offer these panels for sale at this link. As you begin to create with this panel, please send me photos of your quilts or wall hangings. I can’t wait to see what this panel inspires in your creativity.