My Experience Checking Out the European Patchwork Meeting Last Year
French Fancy
For 20 years, the European Patchwork Meeting has taken place in the Val d’Argent, France. This beautiful area, part of Alsace, is worth a visit in its own right; when you factor in a fantastic four-day quilt show, I’m amazed at how few English voices I heard.
It’s an easy journey to get there, flying from one of three American airports directly to Basel, and then just over an hour up the motorway, into the foothills of the Vosges mountains. The show felt bigger and better than the last time I visited eight years ago, but it was just as friendly. There was a bus for visiting the 22 different venues across the four villages, which meant no worries about parking.
There were many different languages being spoken. Surprisingly, compared to most US shows, there were significantly more male visitors, many of whom actually seemed to be engaging with the work, rather than trailing behind their wives, carrying the bags and looking bored.
It’s an easy journey to get there, flying from one of three American airports directly to Basel, and then just over an hour up the motorway, into the foothills of the Vosges mountains. The show felt bigger and better than the last time I visited eight years ago, but it was just as friendly. There was a bus for visiting the 22 different venues across the four villages, which meant no worries about parking.
There were many different languages being spoken. Surprisingly, compared to most US shows, there were significantly more male visitors, many of whom actually seemed to be engaging with the work, rather than trailing behind their wives, carrying the bags and looking bored.
An International Flavor
Although some American artists were showing their work this year, the exhibition has a distinctly European feel, and I came away more enthusiastic and inspired than from other shows I have visited recently. This European joie de vivre also carried over to the traders.
There were some fascinating materials, threads, and other goodies for sale, which I haven’t seen in the US—and I’m not just talking about the fantastic local sparkling wine! One review cannot possibly do justice to all the amazing work on display, so rather than cover it all; here I am going to write about the competition quilts, which give a good flavor of the show.
The competition had the theme ‘Imagine...’, which allowed for all kinds of amazing interpretations, from outer space to John Lennon’s famous song, and many more between. The overall winner was Durchbruch – Breaking Through by Monika Schiwy Jessen.
In this piece, Monika conveys the impression of nature reclaiming what humanity takes away from it; the flowers growing in cracks of walls, the peeling back of layers of wallpaper. The beauty of this quilt comes from the band of color pushing its way up through the black and white surface. It comprises of lots of tiny little pieces, hinting at many more precious items hidden beneath the surface.
This work asks us to use our imagination, to think about what lies beneath the surface. In my view, Marita Lappalainen’s quilt Sweet City is all about the materials. She used thick felted wool; some, if not all of it, from old sweaters and other pieces of knitting.
There were some fascinating materials, threads, and other goodies for sale, which I haven’t seen in the US—and I’m not just talking about the fantastic local sparkling wine! One review cannot possibly do justice to all the amazing work on display, so rather than cover it all; here I am going to write about the competition quilts, which give a good flavor of the show.
The competition had the theme ‘Imagine...’, which allowed for all kinds of amazing interpretations, from outer space to John Lennon’s famous song, and many more between. The overall winner was Durchbruch – Breaking Through by Monika Schiwy Jessen.
In this piece, Monika conveys the impression of nature reclaiming what humanity takes away from it; the flowers growing in cracks of walls, the peeling back of layers of wallpaper. The beauty of this quilt comes from the band of color pushing its way up through the black and white surface. It comprises of lots of tiny little pieces, hinting at many more precious items hidden beneath the surface.
This work asks us to use our imagination, to think about what lies beneath the surface. In my view, Marita Lappalainen’s quilt Sweet City is all about the materials. She used thick felted wool; some, if not all of it, from old sweaters and other pieces of knitting.
Her composition is simple, but very effective—how many of us would have been able to leave that large area of yellow ochre color without any stitching? I doubt many, but that’s what makes this such an interesting quilt—it’s the opposite of what we would do normally.
Another ‘naïve’ style quilt was Imagine Aliens are Landing by Andrea Angermann and Sigrid Sudhous from Germany. It comprises 84 little squares, each with a childlike drawing of aliens or UFOs executed in crayons and textile pens.
It is simply machine-quilted and the border, which is colored grey with oil sticks, bears the legend ‘...Aliens are landing’. Yes, it’s simple, but also imaginative and fun, and I love the expressions of their aliens; they’re wonderful.
Marianne Burr’s technique is the polar opposite of that used by Andrea and Sigrid and is highly sophisticated. She uses her hand-painted and dyed silks and intense hand-stitching to create her pieces. This one, which won the Apliquick Prize, was called Cosmic Communication. It’s a piece that can be admired both from a distance and close up.
Shin-hee Chin is a fine artist, passionate about textile and craft techniques. She creates fiber sculptures and installations, but also art quilts like this one, Homage to Sonia Delaunay. Sonia Delaunay was a 20th Century artist, known for her use of color and geometric designs.
She is a favorite of many textile artists, not only because of her amazing paintings, but also due to the fact she designed fabrics and made garments. In her homage, Shin-hee has used an unusual technique of wrapping fabric around cord and using this colorful cord coiled together to create the surface of her quilt.
The faces of Sonia, young and old, were painted on top of two of the circles, circles being one of the motifs associated with Sonia. I like how the circles are given energy by expanding out of the basic rectangle of a quilt, swirling around the two faces, linking young and old.
Imagine That! by Marisa Marquez references another influential 20th century painter, albeit one with a completely different style: René Magritte. Like Magritte, who sometimes ‘appropriated’ other painters’ images, Marisa has ‘appropriated’ a Magritte painting and used it as the basis for her work. Instead of a head, a light bulb full of cogs is represented, signifying the amount of thinking required to get an idea or inspiration.
The details on this quilt are impressive, including a key brooch and a lock buttonhole. The person has a little bird on his shoulder and pocket watch on his hat. As with any good surreal work of art, there is no explanation of these items. It is left up to the viewer to interpret or make up their own story.
As a quilter though, what can be appreciated is that each brick on the background wall has a different quilting pattern. Unsurprisingly, this well-executed quilt won the Bernina Prize.
Continuing on the theme of famous people, Maria Stoller from Switzerland represented 104 people on her quilt ...all the people.... Actually, that’s not quite right. It’s actually 103 people and a dog! Each person has their first name embroidered besides them and many were instantly recognizable to me such as Barack (Obama), Albert (Einstein) and Cleopatra.
Others I didn’t know, whether through different celebrities being admired in Switzerland, my general ignorance, or the depicted people being Maria’s friends. Maria’s message is that all our lives are woven together, and although we may not notice it on a daily basis, decisions made by Barack Obama and others affect us too, even if we live thousands of miles away.
Another ‘naïve’ style quilt was Imagine Aliens are Landing by Andrea Angermann and Sigrid Sudhous from Germany. It comprises 84 little squares, each with a childlike drawing of aliens or UFOs executed in crayons and textile pens.
It is simply machine-quilted and the border, which is colored grey with oil sticks, bears the legend ‘...Aliens are landing’. Yes, it’s simple, but also imaginative and fun, and I love the expressions of their aliens; they’re wonderful.
Marianne Burr’s technique is the polar opposite of that used by Andrea and Sigrid and is highly sophisticated. She uses her hand-painted and dyed silks and intense hand-stitching to create her pieces. This one, which won the Apliquick Prize, was called Cosmic Communication. It’s a piece that can be admired both from a distance and close up.
Shin-hee Chin is a fine artist, passionate about textile and craft techniques. She creates fiber sculptures and installations, but also art quilts like this one, Homage to Sonia Delaunay. Sonia Delaunay was a 20th Century artist, known for her use of color and geometric designs.
She is a favorite of many textile artists, not only because of her amazing paintings, but also due to the fact she designed fabrics and made garments. In her homage, Shin-hee has used an unusual technique of wrapping fabric around cord and using this colorful cord coiled together to create the surface of her quilt.
The faces of Sonia, young and old, were painted on top of two of the circles, circles being one of the motifs associated with Sonia. I like how the circles are given energy by expanding out of the basic rectangle of a quilt, swirling around the two faces, linking young and old.
Imagine That! by Marisa Marquez references another influential 20th century painter, albeit one with a completely different style: René Magritte. Like Magritte, who sometimes ‘appropriated’ other painters’ images, Marisa has ‘appropriated’ a Magritte painting and used it as the basis for her work. Instead of a head, a light bulb full of cogs is represented, signifying the amount of thinking required to get an idea or inspiration.
The details on this quilt are impressive, including a key brooch and a lock buttonhole. The person has a little bird on his shoulder and pocket watch on his hat. As with any good surreal work of art, there is no explanation of these items. It is left up to the viewer to interpret or make up their own story.
As a quilter though, what can be appreciated is that each brick on the background wall has a different quilting pattern. Unsurprisingly, this well-executed quilt won the Bernina Prize.
Continuing on the theme of famous people, Maria Stoller from Switzerland represented 104 people on her quilt ...all the people.... Actually, that’s not quite right. It’s actually 103 people and a dog! Each person has their first name embroidered besides them and many were instantly recognizable to me such as Barack (Obama), Albert (Einstein) and Cleopatra.
Others I didn’t know, whether through different celebrities being admired in Switzerland, my general ignorance, or the depicted people being Maria’s friends. Maria’s message is that all our lives are woven together, and although we may not notice it on a daily basis, decisions made by Barack Obama and others affect us too, even if we live thousands of miles away.
Her construction technique is also lovely. These portraits were stitched on transparent fabric, floating over a more traditional whole cloth quilt, with the word ‘Imagine’ embroidered on it.
I suppose it was inevitable with the theme ‘Imagine’ that one of the quilts would reference John Lennon. What wasn’t inevitable was that it would be so accomplished. Imagine all the people... by Sandra Van Velzen of the Netherlands won the France Patchwork Prize.
On an appliquéd background of subtle fabric, she created a crowd of people, with the head of John Lennon on the left hand side. The right hand side has the bright colors of the peace movement with the title words coming over them.
Like many other pieces selected, this composition is very strong and well thought through. Helen Dickson was the only UK quilter represented in the competition. Her take on ‘Imagine’, In the Library at Night, won the QuiltMania Prize. What if all your much-loved literary characters came alive at night and climbed down from the bookshelves?
Taking many childhood favorites, she represented the books on the shelves, using their familiar covers with various escapees coming out from the pages. Instantly recognizable were Sherlock Holmes and Peter Pan, along with various animals such as a raven, a giant octopus, a whale, a parrot and a mole.
I also liked the more subtle choices such as a hint of claws clutching the copy of Jurassic Park. All in all, a highly imaginative quilt, which engaged me for ages as I tried to get all the literary references and remember the names of the characters.
Finally, one quilt I just have to include because I loved the colors. It sang out to me across the room, with its bright blues and rust-colored browns. Suze Termaat of the Netherlands had created the striking design of Imagine based on the well-known poem by Robert Frost the Road Not Taken.
I suppose it was inevitable with the theme ‘Imagine’ that one of the quilts would reference John Lennon. What wasn’t inevitable was that it would be so accomplished. Imagine all the people... by Sandra Van Velzen of the Netherlands won the France Patchwork Prize.
On an appliquéd background of subtle fabric, she created a crowd of people, with the head of John Lennon on the left hand side. The right hand side has the bright colors of the peace movement with the title words coming over them.
Like many other pieces selected, this composition is very strong and well thought through. Helen Dickson was the only UK quilter represented in the competition. Her take on ‘Imagine’, In the Library at Night, won the QuiltMania Prize. What if all your much-loved literary characters came alive at night and climbed down from the bookshelves?
Taking many childhood favorites, she represented the books on the shelves, using their familiar covers with various escapees coming out from the pages. Instantly recognizable were Sherlock Holmes and Peter Pan, along with various animals such as a raven, a giant octopus, a whale, a parrot and a mole.
I also liked the more subtle choices such as a hint of claws clutching the copy of Jurassic Park. All in all, a highly imaginative quilt, which engaged me for ages as I tried to get all the literary references and remember the names of the characters.
Finally, one quilt I just have to include because I loved the colors. It sang out to me across the room, with its bright blues and rust-colored browns. Suze Termaat of the Netherlands had created the striking design of Imagine based on the well-known poem by Robert Frost the Road Not Taken.
She challenges the viewer to imagine which route they would take at a crossroads. Thinking about its theme, one of things I like is that although the paths diverge, it looks like some of them may merge again in the future, signifying that there is no right or wrong path.
Although these quilts were selected for the European Patchwork Meeting and it is now over, they were on tour around Europe, and they were displayed in Vicenza in Italy back in February, Stiges in Spain in March, Prague (Czech Republic) in April and Nidau in Switzerland in May.
Although these quilts were selected for the European Patchwork Meeting and it is now over, they were on tour around Europe, and they were displayed in Vicenza in Italy back in February, Stiges in Spain in March, Prague (Czech Republic) in April and Nidau in Switzerland in May.