Applique, The Timeless Beauty of Broderie Perse

As promised our next blog focus is the exhibition curated by Cynthia Collier. But it is important to note that Cynthia did more than curate the exhibit, she was one of the amazing artists. She had 11 of her fabulous quilts in “Applique, The Timeless Beauty of Broderie Perse”.

Sometimes when we feature an exhibit, I have trouble selecting from the hundreds of photos to narrow it down to the 4 quilts we will display. Even when I divide this exhibition into two blogs: one which focuses on other quilt artists in the exhibit and one for Cynthia’s quilts, I still have a hard time choosing between her 11 fabulous quilts.

Besides acting as curator for the exhibit, she also donated her time to give gallery talks. She isn’t teaching anymore, so this was a rare opportunity to learn from her. Some of the pointers included: select a focus fabric for the quilt because the colors already coordinate or ignore what the fabric is depicting to see what that texture and color can create. Floral fabrics are a favorite choice for her focus fabric, but even a floral fabric with a black background can become a vulture, and not many want a vulture quilt. Finally, study the original antique quilt to get more ideas. Next week, we focus on the other quilt artists in “Applique, The Timeless Beauty of Broderie Perse”, curated by Cynthia Collier.