Quilts from TCQC 11-23-08

Auctions have been very good to the Thomas Contemporary Quilt Collection. Some are for causes or organizations that I support and I do sometimes pay more than a retail cost for something I like very much. These two quilts are examples, they were purchased in two different years from the "One Foot Square" auctions for the Studio Art Quilt Associates.

"Grand Tour 2" Linda Colsh 2007 One Foot Square
This quilt is mysterious and provocative, as are all of Linda's current work. It draws me in to look at the details and find new patterns. Some artists don't like to give their quilts a title because they want the viewer to see what they see, rather than what the title tells them to see. Most of the quilts in the TCQC retain their titles in my mind, but a few don't. I don't see this quilt as "Grand Tour 2", but as "Old Lady with a Blue Chicken". I don't know that Linda intend the blue shape to be a chicken, it just resembles that in my mind.

"Gentle Reminder" Linda Colsh 2008 One Foot Square

Another mystery from Linda that makes me look again and again. Those wonderful twisted trees (or are they dried seed pods?), the two old stooped ladies passing each other in silence, the "icicles that droop down over a gridded window and the upside down lamb on the left border. Do these tell a story? Or is it the shapes that draw them together.

The monochromatic color of these quilts appeals to me, I wonder if it is my childhood in Portland, OR, that makes the rather dreary values feel comfortable? Or do they give me the feel of twilight, my favorite time of day?

Linda creates her own fabric with dyes and stencils and screens and printing and.... and.... and... I don't know some of the methods she uses, but I admire her proficiency with all of them.

http://www.quiltart.org.uk/lindacolsh.html