Getting quilts out of storage for a presentation is always exciting, because I can only hang about six quilts in my house - depending on their size. I did a program for the San Luis Obispo Quilters last week, so my friend Liz came over and helped me get the quilts out and package them for the drive north. Now we have rolled them up again and put them on the shelves for storage. But I have pulled out some to replace those that have been hanging for about five months. A whole new "gallery" to enjoy for a few months. Usually I try to switch them out every three or four months, but sometimes it is for a shorter or longer time, but never more than six months. They need to rest.
"Copper Tree" a quilt by Joan Colvin will be up in my hallway in September. But you can enjoy it now in this re-posting from September 2009.
"Copper Tree" Joan Colvin 2003 26"W x 65"L
This quilt is on page 38 in Joan's book "Joan Colvin: Nature's Studio". For quite a few years I had been asking her to sell me one of her quilts, but it never seemed to work out. Then in 2005 we were both at Asilomar and she had this quilt to show the students - the perfect quilt for me - I wrote the check and brought it home.
Great fabric selection, some are her own hand dyed (or discharged) fabrics - the little twigs in the background are a commercial batik fabric with a pattern of sea coral - and she included silk ribbon and copper wire ribbon twisted to make some of the branches. With a studio light on it the copper sparkles as I walk past the quilt. It has a ethereal beauty common in Joan's work.
Joan died just a year ago, Sep 9th, 2007, a great loss to the art quilt community.
Someone pointed out that this is confusing. This is a re-post from 2009. Joan died in 2007 just a few years after I purchased this quilt from her.
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