There are 17 artists in the complex who will be participating: quite a change from eight years ago, when there were five of us. We were the first artists in the complex, which is filled mostly with small businesses. Built in 1881 or so, it was the original headquarters of J & J - then known as Seabury and Johnson. My studio is on the second floor, right above that blue car. This is only one of the buildings in the complex.
Here is what the complex looked like originally. The Seabury family kept the complex when Robert Wood Johnson moved to New Brunswick, NJ, and the Seabury family descendants still own and manage it. How cool is that??
After we left the studio, we headed for the Montclair Art Museum to see the QUILT exhibit, From Heart to Hand: African-American Quilts from the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts. I consider myself pretty jaded, if the truth be known, when it comes to quilt exhibits. But I have to admit this was wonderful. There were 30 quilts from the Montgomery Museum's permanent collection, featuring the delicious and moving narrative quilts by Yvonne Wells. I managed to take a few pictures of her work, but oh, my - they don't begin to give them justice!
This quilt shows a couple dressed in their Sunday best for church.
When I looked at this baseball quilt, I noticed that all the players in the field were white. Then I saw the batter. This quilt was a tribute to Jackie Robinson's first game in breaking the color barrier in baseball.
It is pure delight.
Here is one that predates the "Modern" quilt movement
And another one by a quilter who had never heard of Nancy Crow.
Those were the highlights of my day. Stay tuned for tomorrow's adventures.
8 comments:
Superb quilts - thanks so much for posting these.
Beautiful place and I love your house quilt.
What a cool place to work - and lovely to hear a bit about its history. The quilts you have shown are great - I especially like the baseball one.
INSPIRING works!
Love your Totem 2 and thanks for the heads up on the Montclair Show...maybe I can get to it.
I love YOUR quilt! Hope it's a really great show. xoxo
Love all the quilts! I love the color of your quilt!!! We have an artist "complex" that was originally a shirt factory that reminds me of your building!
Love the quilt show and your comments! The truth is that nothing is ever really "new," and we're just reinventing the wheel over and over or reinterpreting the old. What's perceived as "modern" is on so many levels really quite old.
But that's OK, it doesn't make it any less fun or attractive. Gwen Marston is one modern quilter who has always realized and recognized how much we can and should learn from early quilters. But we all do it, regardless of whether we realize or recognize it.
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