A Unique Exhibition

In Their Own Right, opening night. Several of my artworks are in the background.

Last night was the opening of a  summer exhibition at The Beth K. Stocker Art Center. This fiber exhibition, In Their Own Right, presents the work of the four women who have curated The Artist as Quiltmaker exhibition: Ricky Clark, (the founder), Sue Copeland Jones, Ruta Butkus Marino, (the currt curator), and me, Gayle Pritchard.



Sue Copeland Jones, Ruta Butkus Marino and Gayle Pritchard at the
opening of In Their Own Right. My work is in the background on either side
one of Ruta's pieces, the lovely blue composition in the center.



The exhibit presents a wide range of styles, and includes artwork created over a period of twenty years or more. Surprisingly, the broad range of work fits together fabulously, creating a resoundingly beautiful visual experience. Though not intended to be a retrospective, I will tell you from an artist's perspective, it is really fun to be able to show work from various stages of your career. It allows the viewer to get to know you a bit better, and to see your work in a new context. Luckily, I was able to borrow some of my artwork from the owners to include in the show.



On loan from the owner, this piece is Masks II: The Joybringer. It was fun to
see it again, and to be able to hang it for In Their Own Right. On the pedestal
to the left is my assemblage, Love Voodoo, which sold at the opening.
Ricky's Amish-style house quilt is in the background.



All the artwork fits together so beautifully, as here: Sue's work at far left and right
(far right is April Harvest beside Tuesday Dreamings), and Ruta's amusing
piece, Birth of Bob, on the left

Ruta's work, Grandifloragargantua, greets visitors to the gallery.

If you're visiting the North Coast this summer, please stop by In Their Own Right, The Artist as Quiltmaker XV, or any of the other many related exhibits and events. For all details, please click on this QuiltConnection link.

Uncommon Threads: Relevant



My book on display in Athens, Ohio



I was honored to appear on the Diane Rehm show live in Washington, D.C. One sister-in-law came with me, we stayed with another sister-in-law, and I got to visit my half brother right before he passed away.

I was invited to present a lecture on my book last night, one program of half a dozen on my schedule for this spring. When Uncommon Threads: Ohio's Art Quilt Revolution came out five years ago, I never dreamed that there would still be so much interest in the story of the contribution Ohio artists made to the emergence and evolution of the art quilt.


At the local Barnes and Noble bookstore, my tArty artist group friends all came out to support me. The fabulous Susan Shie, part of my tArts group, was one of the artists featured in my book.

 re-read my book yesterday in preparation for my lecture, and when I was finished I thought, "I am so glad I wrote this book." If I hadn't written it, I would want to read it. I am so glad I wrote it, so privileged to tell the story of the amazing artists I interviewed, and happy that I put in writing the revolution that occurred right here in Ohio back in the day.

In Cincinnati, after a radio interview, I arrived to a large crowd, and was happy to see some friendly faces in the audience, such as old friends Susan and Dave Voegtly and David Walker, also featured in my book.

 I must admit it bothers me that new practioners in my field do not seem familiar with the pioneers in their chosen art medium. I look at the magazines out there today, what still exists in our new media world, and I wonder if many of the young artists featured are aware that what they are doing has already been created? I wonder if they have done their homework, have studied what came before as artists should do?


At the Textile Museum in Washington, D.C., I actually got to speak at one of my favorite museums. Of all the lectures I have given, this audience had the best questions.

The famous Malaprops bookstore in Asheville, NC was the last stop on a swing of several book signings from Cleveland to Dayton to Quilt National, the Kennedy Museum and several others. Bonus: I got to visit my daughter, and one of the artists in my book, Jane Reeves.

Back home, a lecture for the Textile Art Alliance, a fabulous organization focused on the fiber arts.

Details, details, Part One



Detail of my Sgt. Pepper-esque
Jacket for Peter B. Lewis

 By nature, I am oriented to details. I have found this to be an odd quirk of my otherwise creatively driven personality. Some of my artist friends don't seem to have this side to their personalities, and it only seems to apply to many artists when it comes to their work. For me, I inherently pay attention to the details. It doesn't matter what I am doing. Planning a garden? Learn every name of every plant. Measure the amount of sunlight in every area of the yard at each time of the day. Do this for a week. In each season of the year. Writing a book? Interview every person in the field who was alive at that time. Read every issue of Quilter's Newsletter Magazine from its inception, (and make detailed notes by subject) so you can have the proper questions prepared for your interview subjects. You get the idea. I'm not what is fondly called these days, "anal"; I'm just thorough, and obsessively so. It's just the way my mind works.

When I am creating a new art piece, after the thrill of creating the actual composition has passed, I love the layered stitching and embellishment part of my process the best. 

Recycled tags for my TagTalk cards wait to be taken to my downstairs sewing spot. On the right, a four drawer catcher for fabric scraps takes the overflow from my wire fabric storage. Knits and flannels are at the ready under my pinning wall, while a holiday order waits to be ironed at my mini ironing station.

You can see this on my Masks III, below.



When it comes to construction by stitching, my love of details transfers easily from creating my artwork to my designing my Magic Baby line of clothing. You would never know I am focused on the details, however, by looking at my studio at the moment:



On my sewing table, various "piles" wait their turn.
The embroidered black velvet is up next.



Here, a snowflake swing dress waits for its binding,
while a design experiment sits underneath until
I have more time.



My studio only looks like a mess. Since I have little space, I make piles, then work my way through them each week.





Into the Swing of Things

Home, one of my mixed media paintings

This past week, my life slowly began to return to normal. As I have written before, in my world, family comes first. Over the past month, family duties called, and frequently! My primary duty has been as nurse to my husband, as he recovered from foot surgery. Between carting ice bags, food, a guitar, laptop, tea and water up and down the stairs of our home, I had little time to think about work. When I wanted to work, I had to find alternatives to sewing, since my studio is right next to our bedroom, and I didn't want to wake my sleeping giant with the noise of the sewing machine motor.

Along with some new handwork, a baby quilt for my etsy shop, I re-read a few books, including one of my favorites, How the Irish Saved Civilization. I took the time to also read a new book from the Ohio University Press Ohio Quilt series, Philena's Friendship Quilt, the same series in which my first book appeared, Uncommon Threads: Ohio's Art Quilt Revolution. It was actually nice to have some time to read for pleasure.

A new book, which just came out, and which I have not yet read, was written by former Shelburne Museum curator Robert Shaw. Entitled American Quilts: The Democratic Art - 1780-2007, Shaw's book promises to be a great read. As a leading scholar in the field, Shaw's previous books, including The Art Quilt, numerous articles, and his concise introduction to Art Quilts: A Celebration, have vastly contributed to an understanding of the art quilt movement in the United States.

To get back into the swing of work, and with fall coming on here in the midwest, I moved my 'garage' workspace into the house this week. My upstairs studio, with just one very large work table, does not have enough room for me to spread out and work on some of my other design items. I needed a place to work on my TagTalk greeting cards, collages made from recycled clothing tags and product packaging.

By moving a few side chairs in my family room, I was able to create a space to organize my vast collection of tags. It's nothing fancy, but has already improved the speed of my composition process.

Some of my TagTalk cards

So, as you can see, I have been busy, as I get back into the the swing of things. As the days shorten, and winter approaches, I look forward to many happy hours of sewing bliss.

Hearing Voices

Last year, I was part of a small group show with my local artist group, affectionately known as "the tArts." The show was held at the lovely and spacious Stocker Gallery at Lorain County Community College.

The tArts in the 2008 configuration: Christy Gray, Tina Rossi, Gayle Pritchard, Christine Mauersberger, Lois Carroll, Susanne Gregg, Jill Milenski, Susan Shie, at the opening of Flavors of Fiber in 2008.

One of the pieces I made for the show, I Hear Voices, was inspired by a song my husband wrote, Simon Says. It's a fairly large piece, given the work I have created in the past years, and attempts to tell the story in fabric. The installation image of the piece doesn't quite do it justice, because of my limited photography skills.

I Hear Voices in My Head by Gayle Pritchard, 2008.

All of this is to give a little background to the video I have posted to my blog. My husband, Chris, who has been a musician all of his life, also happens to be the most creative human being I know. Today, he made a video integrating the song, his photography and my art piece. I hope you will enjoy it.

Talking About Art Quilts

Gayle Pritchard speaking at the Textile Museum, Washington, D.C.

While most of us who make art quilts love all types of quilts, not all art quilters enjoy studying about all types of quilts. For me, though, research and study have always been a part of the equation. I was a kid who read encyclopedias, after all.

Writing, teaching, lecturing and making art combine every one of my passions. First, they all connect into my deep love of history and family genealogy, providing a way to "leave a trace" of my life. One of my favorite writing books, Leaving a Trace by Alexandra Johnson, dovetails perfectly with my passion for research and writing about my life, and the lives of others. It's a great read, and has terrific prompts which I have used repeatedly in making art.

In my office, in fact, all over my house and in every closet, I have stacks and stacks of research material about quilts, art and history. Did I already mention my passion for reading non-fiction and doing research? For many decades I have collected material and put it into files by category. I have hundreds and hundreds of early quilting books and magazines. From these materials, I have pulled information of interest about trends, people and events, and put them into files. I did this long before I even had an inkling that I would ever write a book about the subject, but the passion for organizing it all really helped when I actually sat down to begin writing. Even though my book, Uncommon Threads: Ohio's Art Quilt Revolution, is about the evolution and emergence of the art quilt movement in Ohio, I discovered through my research how inevitable the emergence of the art quilt was, and why specifically Ohio became the epicenter for the early movement.

Luckily, I am a people person. This engages my desire to teach others what I have learned, either through writing, giving lectures or teaching art workshops. When one has a passion, it is a joy to share it with others. That is precisely what I will be doing tonight, in Columbus, Ohio.

I have lectured almost non-stop on the subject of art quilts since my book came out several years ago. The audience is always full, the questions many, and the response gratifying. No matter where I have been, and almost without exception, regardless of the audience, one question continually arises: What is an art quilt? My simple answer: an art quilt is the end product of an artist's idea.

I am pleased that interest in the subject of my book has not waned. Tonight I will be with the Columbus Metropolitan Quilters at 7:00 p.m. If you are in the area, check out their website for location directions, and please come by. In the fall, I will be speaking in the Cleveland area, and invite any of you to come for a listen. Event listings are always on my website. If you can't attend in person, I have two NPR podcast interviews, one from the Diane Rehm Show, and one from WXVU in Cincinnati, Ohio (click on "Uncommon Threads" to listen.) I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

One final thought to all of you artists out there: remember to document your work. You don't have to organize your scribblings, (an abhorrent idea for most,) but please keep your papers. Trust me, some crazy research buff will want to look at them some day.

Threads of Inspiration

Inland Seas Maritime Museum
I was asked to write a guest blog last week for Subversive Stitchers: Women Armed With Needles on the subject of entering juried exhibitions, and obliged happily. Having been involved in all facets of juried exhibitions, as an artist entering a show, a juror selecting artwork for a show, and a curator managing the show, I have a lot to say on the subject. My comments only just scratched the surface. Check it out if you’re interested, and post your comments or questions.

One thing I really love about working in the fiber arts field is how supportive the community of artists, curators, and galleries is. The support and interconnectedness is only enhanced by the amazing growth of websites and blogs. When I was first starting out twenty-five years ago, I read everything I could get my hands on, and worked really hard to develop my work. I set aside Mondays as my 'paperwork day', (oh, to have only one day a week of paperwork again) and used that time in part to fill out entry forms and prepare slides to enter. When I moved back to Ohio from Philadelphia, I began to meet a larger group of artists, first in northeastern Ohio, and then around the state and the country. Through organizations such as the Art Quilt Network I found support and mentoring that buoy me to this day. I feel obligated and honored to pass along the favor.

There are still a ton of artists who work with textiles in northeastern Ohio. As I wrote about in my book, Ohio has long been an epicenter for fiber art, especially since World War II. We are lucky to have high profile regional organizations such as the Textile Art Alliance and galleries devoted to fiber art, such as Ginko Gallery in Oberlin, Ohio. Attending an exhibition opening, as I did last Friday night, is usually a chance to say hello to fellow artists, who always come out to see new work and to be supportive of the artists exhibiting.
The opening for Threads of Inspiration was held at the Inland Seas Maritime Museum in Vermilion, Ohio. Located next to the historical museum and right on the coast of Lake Erie, it was a lovely setting. The artwork will be on view through May 25th.

Although a small, invitational exhibit, the one room gallery space was big enough to hold a representative sample of the eight regional artists represented.

The organizer, Bay Village artist Christy Gray, showed several pieces from her water tower series. Her small framed pieces are quite intimate, embroidered with a spare horizon line on hand-dyed fabrics and quirky, oddly animated water towers. Her larger wall quilts, though still exhibiting very clean lines, have developed into more complex compositions over the past year or so. I took a double take at the overlaid leaves, unsure from a distance whether they were appliquéd or disperse dyed. Her fused appliqué technique is so fully integrated into the surface, the layering is only apparent on close inspection.

Artwork by Christy Gray, from her watertower series













Cleveland artist Christine Mauersberger’s work has taken a detour from the more conceptual pieces shown last year at the Stocker Center gallery in Elyria. The works shown in this exhibit are immensely engaging, embroidered pieces developed from dozens and dozens of ideas originally worked out in her sketchbook. They are quirky and primal at the same time, and oddly evocative of ancient textiles with their rhythmic pace. She calls them “maps.”


Another Bay Village artist, Si-Yun Chang, showed the only three dimensional works in the show. Created from Japanese paper covered with writing, the artist creates woven basket-like forms. Because they are not brightly colored, the flecks of writing still visible after the papers are woven and shaped create a gentle, beating rhythm in the pieces. Very satisfying.

Sculptural work by Si-Yun Chang

Artist Marty Young lives in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. A long time quilter, she recently has been inspired by rediscovered childhood photos. The work she has on exhibit in Threads of Inspiration strays from her typically larger Japanese-inspired, visually quiet wall quilts, instead incorporating hand colored black and white image transfers and brightly colored vintage fabrics, adding to the nostalgic feel of the work.




Left, artwork by Marty Young; Christy Gray's work on the right






There is much more work of interest to see, and more for me to write about in my next post. Go see the show if you can. It would be a great way to end an afternoon at the beach.

Creativity Lives

Oil pastel sketch: Aunt Vivian, Grandma, momma

Finding and connecting with the source of our creativity requires a certain amount of practice. It’s a bit like the discipline of dividing plants in the garden to keep them healthy, or performing daily exercises to stay limber.

Once rediscovered, the process of creating offers much to the human endeavor. Creativity can solve almost any problem. This is a one-sentence version of a favorite quote that I keep in my studio. The rest of the quote, attributed to George Lois, reads: “The creative act, the defeat of habit by originality, overcomes everything.”

Well, almost everything.

We are attending the funeral of a young man this morning, a young and talented artist. He was the son of neighbors, acquaintances we became friendly with through the osmosis of raising children and attending their school activities. He was found dead by his own father, hung and out of his misery. We only learned a day later that the young man had been in insufferable pain from cancer. His sudden death, still tragic, was framed in a different light with the new knowledge. For him, creating was clearly not enough to ease his suffering. Luckily for us, in his physical absence, his spirit remains in our minds and in the artwork he left behind.

Creating can be a positive outlet for dealing with pain and grief. When my mother died suddenly nearly twenty years ago, “making” gave me a place to put my feelings. In my artwork, bits and pieces of my mother’s life were transformed; sheer curtains, a St. Christopher’s medal, a bridge tally became talismans for remembering.

When my father died without warning the following year, I felt compelled to create artwork about him, as well. I continue to create such artworks even today, as I experience the loss and emotion of grief in new ways as each year passes.

Hero: Only one of Daddy's Battles and The Day Momma Died, front

Years ago I was asked to participate in a national exhibition entitled Memories—Images of the Soul. The artwork shown was a powerfully moving testimony to the abiding capacity of the human spirit for expression and renewal. I remember walking through the gallery amongst the artwork, the emotion in the space palpable, and being moved to tears by the experience. In the exhibition catalog, the project coordinator Rick Grahovac wrote, “Art evokes and transforms our inner experiences, the movements of our soul, into concrete form. Our thoughts, feelings and the meaning we create from our encounters with life and death are contained, preserved, and available for our contemplation. The process of making art allows us to mourn, to externalize the inner experience of grief. …Art gives us a way not only to remember, but also immortalize and remain connected to our loved ones who have died.”

Mother Shrine

When someone dies, all that remains for the living, regardless of one’s religious beliefs, or lack thereof, are memories and objects connected to them. When all of those living who remembered the person are also gone, only the objects remain, often cut off from their original context. Creativity, the end product of human imagination, lives on, though, long after we mortals have returned to the earth’s soil. A poem, a song, an artwork hung on the wall, continue to stir the soul of anyone who is open to the experience.

What do we do when art isn’t enough? Create more art. Sometimes, it is all we have to give.

Book of Years: Granddaddy, detail

All artwork by Gayle Pritchard, http://www.gaylepritchardart.com/. Copyright protected.

Art Quilts are Still New

I had an unusual opportunity recently to speak about art quilts at a hospital. It all started a few months ago, when I received an email out of the blue from someone who had been referred to my website, http://www.gaylepritchardart.com/ After a few emails back and forth, we finally arranged a time to speak on the phone, and I learned that this family wished to learn more about art quilts in their quest to commission a memorial artwork in memory of their loved one, a well-loved physician who had lost her battle with cancer last year.

So, last Monday I found myself in Plymouth, Michigan at the historic Inn at St. John's, prepared to meet this family at a dinner party. My friend and colleague Christine, who has experience with the selection and installation of artwork in hospitals, generously made the trip with me.

When we arrived for the party, the house was packed with friends, family members and colleagues. Each conversation was an opportunity to learn about this amazing woman, who, like most women, had been a wife, a daughter and a mother in addition to everything else she was in her professional life. What was clear was that this physician had been a woman who had touched many lives deeply.

Despite arriving back at the Inn early, I found myself unable to sleep most of the night. My mind raced with snippets of conversations, thoughts about the memorial art the family was contemplating, and the text of my upcoming presentation. I have had the opportunity to speak all over the country about art quilts in the process of promoting my book on the subject, Uncommon Threads: Ohio's Art Quilt Revolution. http://www.ohioswallow.com/book/Uncommon+Threads

I have presented my Power Point presentation in dozens of locations, the lecture tweaked each time for the specific audience. This is, however, the very first time that I have ever presented such a lecture in a hospital. I was curious to see what the audience would be like.

After a very early wake-up call and a quick breakfast with the family at the hospital cafeteria, it was time to head to the auditorium and gather my thoughts one last time. As audience members continued to trickle in, I was once again amazed at the ongoing interest in the topic of art quilts that I have encountered everywhere I have traveled. Physicians, hospital staff, administrators, family members and interested hospital staff spouses had come together on this morning to honor the late Dr. Stuck, and to learn about the emergence and evolution of the art quilt movement in Ohio and the Midwest. Unlike most audiences, there were not many questions posed at the end of the lecture. What happened instead is that individuals came up afterwards, one by one, to ask the questions that had come to mind as they listened to the history and looked at the images of contemporary art quilts. When it was time to leave, I was left with a great sense of personal satisfaction that another audience had come to appreciate an art form they were not previously familiar with.