Quilts on display at the sixth annual Harvest Quilt
&
amp; Fiber Arts show featured such ornate and detailed designs,
that one might forget they could also be used as blankets or
linens.
Quilts on display at the sixth annual Harvest Quilt & Fiber Arts show featured such ornate and detailed designs, that one might forget they could also be used as blankets or linens.
Those designs included intricate and complex, yet traditional geometric patterns, as well as colorful portraits of people and pets, wilderness landscapes, abstract and whimsical pictures, and depictions of everyday still-life scenes.
A growing industry, quilting and fiber arts is an increasingly artistic and creative endeavor for its participants, as the Morgan Hill show demonstrated Saturday and Sunday.
“We aren’t doing what Grandma did,” said Mary Anne Bruegmann, president of the South Valley Quilt Association, which has organized the show since 2003. “We are changing, twisting, and skewing the old designs. We still revere what Grandma did, but we’re taking it one step further.”
This year’s “Member’s Choice” award went to a quilt titled “Memories of Alaska,” a roughly 8-by-8-foot blanket showing embroidered pictures of bald eagles, grizzly bears, and snow-covered mountains. Another winner was “Fall Fiesta,” an original still-life of a fallen autumn leaf depicted on three separate fabric canvases.
Local artist and quilt show visitor Anne Rosenzweig inspected the quilts intently Sunday.
“I enjoy seeing the design, and the play of colors. It’s a feast for the eyes,” said Rosenzweig, who works with water colors, collages and photography.
The Harvest Quilt & Fiber Arts Show is almost a festival within a festival, occupying the 27,000-square-foot Morgan Hill Community and Cultural Center for the last six years the same weekend as the Taste of Morgan Hill.
Organized by the South Valley Quilt Association, this year’s show featured more than 200 handmade quilts on display, and a dozen vendors selling a variety of locally made fabric, clothing, jewelry, and sewing supplies. Ongoing demonstrations of quilt and rug making throughout the weekend provided instruction and tips for beginning fiber artists.
The show also featured an exhibit of Japanese fiber arts, sent to Morgan Hill in an exchange between local artists and those of Mizuho City, Morgan Hill’s sister city. The Japanese artists offered works known as “tsurushi-bina,” displaying ornaments on long strings that signify wishes of health for children that are exhibited at traditional “doll festivals” in Japan.
The chief purpose of the show is to raise money for scholarships for local students who demonstrate talent and interest in fiber arts, according to SVQA spokeswoman Kathy Sullivan. Since 2004, the association has awarded at least two $500 scholarships to Morgan Hill students each year, as well as classroom grants to local schools.
“We’re trying to show people that there’s so many things you can do with fabric. We really want to encourage young people to pursue the fiber arts as a creative outlet,” Sullivan said.
Last year’s recipients, Greg White and Victoria Rose Ferrero, both students at Live Oak High School, displayed works of original clothing designs at last weekend’s show.
This year’s “featured artist” was Linda Schmidt, a Dublin quilter who has produced commissioned works for the city of New York, and whose expertise is sought widely among hobbyists who elicit her advice for instructional workshops.
“Working with fabric is highly therapeutic,” she said Sunday.
Schmidt’s displayed works showed a variety of colorful scenes, including an imaginary kingdom, a fantasy-inspired forest scene, and a world map. She often hides images and words in her quilts, one of which contained a hidden angel.
“If you put a person in a quilt (for example), that’s all you see. I like to make people look for hidden things, so they’ll look at the whole quilt,” said Schmidt.
The show raised about $1,300 in donations at the door, which will be used for scholarships to be awarded next spring, Sullivan said. Also to be used for scholarships and classroom grants are proceeds raised for the raffle of quilts donated as door prizes, and that amount had not been counted as of Monday.
