Writing about Modern Quilts (part 1 of 2)

This weekend is the Greater Ann Arbor Quilt Guild’s biennial show.  This is an enormous show put on by the big guild in town–a guild that has all kinds of quilters–traditional, art, modern, et cetera.  There’s some overlap with the membership of GAAQG and our modern guild (in fact, their President, Ginia,  is a member of A2MQG) and so communication has always been pretty free flowing.  Last year, they approached our guild and asked if we’d put together a “special exhibit” for their show.  They called it “Modern Quilts.”

We talked about it as a guild, did a rough count of the number of quilts we thought we might be able to have on hand, and then agreed to put together a show.  A committee was formed from volunteers and we slogged through a TON of organizational stuff.  We had to get quilt submissions, figure out a smart and fair way to jury them, organize drop offs and pick ups and working shifts, etc.  The chair of the committee, Pam (Instagram: pamyjam), did a huge amount of work. THANK YOU PAM!!

I helped where I could.  My main contribution was in making posters to promote the show (see left) and in working on signage within the show.

Since I worked PRETTY HARD on my short essay to introduce the exhibit, I wanted to share it here.  Also, importantly, this essay benefits from the input of many blog commenters over the years, and particularly from the conversation that and I had with  Sarah @ No Hats  in the comments of my post on my ocean waves quilt (and my feeling that my quilt isn’t modern.)  I learn so much from my community here on this blog (and on flickr and instagram, at events and so one!) It seems like the essay belongs here as it is the continuation of a conversation so many of us have been having.

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What is a modern quilt?

There is no simple, singular, agreed-upon answer to this question.

For me, a modern quilt is one that matches a particular aesthetic. There is probably some expanded negative space, heavy use of solids, something simple/minimal/stark about it. And these quilts can be from any time. I have seen many vintage quilts that have the modern aesthetic. Utility quilts from decades past look just like the improv quilts so many modern quilters produce today.

For others, modern quilting is less about the actual quilts and more about the people making them–people who came together online before they came together in person, people who are all about making things for themselves, to suit themselves, without worrying overmuch about rules and labels and aesthetic categories. For these folks, modern quilting is a movement, it’s a community, it’s a trend within the general renaissance of the handmade, it’s something that seems new and yet traditional. Blossoming and rooted.

This exhibit is of quilts made by members of the Ann Arbor Modern Quilt Guild. We’re a group that started meeting in 2011 with a few women sitting around a table at the library. Slowly, we’ve grown, with new people arriving all the time (you are welcome to join us). We meet to share our projects and our skills and our enthusiasm. And we were asked to exhibit some of our members’ work at this show. We tried to select quilts that illustrate some of the aesthetic trends in modern quilts, but you will also see quilts that represent the movement more than a particular aesthetic–we’ve got a couple of collaborative quilts here. And some that show how traditional patterns have been interpreted with a twist or that simply show a particular method or look that has been popular.

I hope you leave our exhibit with some understanding of what people mean when they talk about modern quilting. If you’d like to know more about the Ann Arbor Modern Quilt Guild please talk to one of our members (at least one will be hanging around the exhibit) or check out our blog a2mqg.blogspot.com or email us a2modernquiltguild@gmail.com

Enjoy!
Rossie Hutchinson
VP of Membership, A2MQG

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Tune in next time for pictures of the quilts in the show and the text I wrote to accompany them!