This past weekend was the opening reception for three new exhibitions at the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles: Wedding Dress: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow; Mike McNamara: Wedding Ring Explosion and Jazz Impressions (jazz inspired fiber art made by Santa Clara Valley Quilt Association members). As part of the festivities, there was a lovely selection of refreshments, opening remarks by the museum staff, volunteers and invited guests, as well as live jazz music performed by San Jose Jazz U19.
Upon arrival at the museum, I made a bee-line to the Yvonne Porcella Gallery to scope out the Jazz Impressions exhibit. There I was delighted to find an explosion of color, pattern and texture from the 45 pieces of fiber art on display, including quilts, garments and tuffets!
I especially enjoyed reading the artists summaries and learning how Jazz inspired their artwork. Some artists chose to celebrate jazz by including musical instruments, music notes, sheet music and/or iconic jazz musicians into their abstracted quilted designs. Other works of fiber art incorporated improvisation into their piecing and overall design. Some art connected jazz music to nature with their beautiful landscape quilts. There was quite the range of techniques and styles represented, which made it such a interesting exhibit.
I was honored to have two of my own designs on display...
While my pieces are not for sale, many of the pieces are available for purchase. This is an amazing opportunity to add new art into your life, while also supporting local artists and the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles! It's a win-win-win situation!
Special thanks to the amazing team of volunteers that made this exciting new exhibit possible. Countless hours were invested into this endeavor and the rave opening reviews are a testament to all their hard work and coordination!! And many thanks to the SJMQT staff for making the FiberSpace available to feature local fiber artists.
The Jazz Impressions exhibit will be on display through August 21st. Might I suggest checking it out during the August 12th-14th San Jose Jazz Summer Fest!?! And be sure to check out Mike McNamara's amazing wedding ring quilts and the beautiful display of historical, cultural and contemporary wedding attire. Together, the three fiber art exhibitions complement one another beautifully!
Update: Sit and Sew Radio featured the Jazz Impressions exhibition in their latest podcast episode: http://sitandsewradio.com/episodes/episode-7-malka-dubrawsky-jazz-impressions-at-the-san-jose-museum-of-quilts-and-textiles/ The interview starts at minute 32 and even mentions yours truly, along with my "Orange You Glad I Got the Blues?" quilt!!
Upon arrival at the museum, I made a bee-line to the Yvonne Porcella Gallery to scope out the Jazz Impressions exhibit. There I was delighted to find an explosion of color, pattern and texture from the 45 pieces of fiber art on display, including quilts, garments and tuffets!
I especially enjoyed reading the artists summaries and learning how Jazz inspired their artwork. Some artists chose to celebrate jazz by including musical instruments, music notes, sheet music and/or iconic jazz musicians into their abstracted quilted designs. Other works of fiber art incorporated improvisation into their piecing and overall design. Some art connected jazz music to nature with their beautiful landscape quilts. There was quite the range of techniques and styles represented, which made it such a interesting exhibit.
I was honored to have two of my own designs on display...
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| Orange You Glad I Got the Blues?, Not for Sale |
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| Rhythm and Blues, Not for Sale |
Special thanks to the amazing team of volunteers that made this exciting new exhibit possible. Countless hours were invested into this endeavor and the rave opening reviews are a testament to all their hard work and coordination!! And many thanks to the SJMQT staff for making the FiberSpace available to feature local fiber artists.
The Jazz Impressions exhibit will be on display through August 21st. Might I suggest checking it out during the August 12th-14th San Jose Jazz Summer Fest!?! And be sure to check out Mike McNamara's amazing wedding ring quilts and the beautiful display of historical, cultural and contemporary wedding attire. Together, the three fiber art exhibitions complement one another beautifully!
Update: Sit and Sew Radio featured the Jazz Impressions exhibition in their latest podcast episode: http://sitandsewradio.com/episodes/episode-7-malka-dubrawsky-jazz-impressions-at-the-san-jose-museum-of-quilts-and-textiles/ The interview starts at minute 32 and even mentions yours truly, along with my "Orange You Glad I Got the Blues?" quilt!!
It's fun to see a peek of the jazz quilts on display. I love both your quilts. I think Rhythm and Blues would be an excellent pattern! If you decided you wanted to go that route. :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks Sarah...I hope you will have the chance to check it out in person!! They will be doing a walk through with the curator next week. My Rhythm and Blues piece was totally improvisationally pieced, but I will certainly consider it for a possible future pattern...thanks!!
DeleteMel, this is a beautiful tribute to Jazz but more importantly your work. Both of your pieces are pitch perfect!. Orange You Glad I Got the Blues just makes me smile every time I see it!. I do wish I lived closer. I will make it a point to get out there and see the show.
ReplyDeleteThanks Barbara--it was a really fun exhibit and I enjoyed having the opportunity to be inspired by Jazz. As you can see, I think it was a very positive influence!! Please let me know if you are able to get to the San Jose area to see the show as I would love to meet up. Perhaps I can show you some of the fabulous local quilt shops where we can do some more damage together!!
DeleteDo you happen to have made a pattern for the Orange You Glad I Got the Blues Quilt? I absolutely LOVE it!
ReplyDeleteThank you Harvey. Just as the inspiration of jazz music, this quilt's design was 100% improvisational...so I am sorry as there is no pattern available. It combines a commercial print for the background, my own hand dyed fabric as well as some Cherrywood hand dyed fabric for the piano keys and is raw-edge fused applique.
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