I recently attended Quilt National at the Dairy Barn in Athens Ohio. The trip overall was terrific. The whole point was to see Quilt National before it closed. I am so glad I went. Here are some links to artist work I saw and was inspired by. These few pieces out of the whole lot of awesome work spoke to me in a very particular manner about my work...

Leisa Rick has a beautiful piece, "My House Is Built On Sand" whose playfulness and line drawing was very cool.

http://tinyurl.com/kv8hrx

Marianne Burr, "Spin Out". I had seen her work on the cover of American Style Magazine and was captivated. Seeing this work in person made me pause. The dense hand work used to make this piece -- it was humbling. And yet the impact had nothing to do with that, rather just the sheer beauty of the movement and shapes, especially the rhythm created by the repeated stitches.

http://tinyurl.com/l9w4w5

Nelda Warketin, "Meadow Pine". I am captivated by images superimposed upon each other. Her use of materials, thread and paint created a subtly undulating surface of layers to be seen through.

http://tinyurl.com/mhbaet

Inge Hueber takes the quilt inside out with her "High Tide/Low Tide -- Broadstairs, Kent 1". With seams meticulously created and put on display on the exterior front of the quilt her colour work not only recreates her experience of a place and time, but placement of those colours create a movement reminiscent of tides coming and going.

http://tinyurl.com/kss6wl

Mary Louise Learned, "Street Dance" at a distance has movement you would expect from a piece with a title about dance. Upon closer inspection however a whole world of texture opens up. The lines are given feeling with wool roving, or wool before it is spun into yarn. The surface is a riot of textures that begs to be stroked and experienced (yet alas there is not touching the art!).

http://www.mllearned.com/

Margery Goodall's quartet, "Earth Suite: Saltland, Pindan, Dune, Fire Ash" created with tiny pieces cut from pieced fabrics sewn into stripes with mottled yet solid fabrics create these sparkling surfaces that compel you to look closer. Stunning.

http://tinyurl.com/nn9wb5

Daphne Taylor's "Quilt Drawing #9" was the simplest most elegant thing... A lithe sinuous line of black slicing through a cream silk surface with tiny black stitched lines placed so close to one another as to create a block. Emerging from under the block is a mass of flowing cream lines dancing out from behind the grid. So simple yet so beautiful.

www.daphnetaylorquilts.com/

Lastly there was Kathy York whose piece "Little Fish in a Big City" was brilliant and poignant. A statement about dependance on the oceans and out need to protect them still has a sense of humor and great visual interest from little geometrics quilted into the indigo ocean to the 3D buildings and fish taxis.

http://tinyurl.com/lt4gcl

All told the biggest lesson learned is seeing in person is vital. I have seen images of some of these featured artists work. Despite the deftness of the photographer the subtle nature of a quilt is diminished. Standing in front of them was something magical and inspiring. Definitely worth the drive!

Another note -- sorry for the lack of images, but these are working artists and their images are their property. I did not aquire permission to use them here so I did not. Please respect others and get their permission before pirating images from books or on-line. Thanks