Visions Art Museum, San Diego
NOTE: I won’t be sending a newsletter this week. Also, I have a separate post here in which I write about my Christmas visit to San Diego.
Lucky me! Hubby and son went golfing, so I Ubered down to the Visions Art Museum to tour their current textile exhibits.
The main current exhibit was “Quilt Visions 2022“, which is described here:
“As humans, we ponder age-old questions of identity and community. Who am I? Where do I fit in? For generations, people have turned to philosophy, science, spiritual wisdom, poetry, and art for answers and solace. We may now also turn to the artworks of Quilt Visions 2022 as we consider our sense of place and self.”
The responses to that call were widely varied. I’ll share some of them here. As always, if I have previously posted a quilt in another post, I won’t repeat it.
A few selections from that exhibit:
Regimental Poppies; Dianne Firth
I first saw Dianne Firth’s work around 2003 when a traveling part of Quilt National hung in Sacramento’s Crocker Art Museum. I love how she works with transparency. The above photo does not even begin to showcase the beauty of the layering and transparency. It was one of my favorite pieces from the exhibit and was made in remembrance of those who have fought in wars.
Shibori Dye Day; Deborah Weir
There is beauty even in the making of art. I’ve often pondered that as I work and see beauty in the chaos of the making.
Ode to Evening; Victoria Findlay Wolfe
Wolfe used repetition and nature in this piece, using a basic set of shapes and a limited palette to create hers design.
Crossing Over; Wen Redmond
Redmond uses manipulated photographs with alternative substrates and fiber to create her work.
Artefact 2, Leah Higgins
Higgins was inspired by our relationships with man-made objects: collected, displayed and passed down within families. They inform us of our past.
Growing Pains; Kevin Womack
Womack’s piece is about the constant change we experience; adaptation is essential to survival, but not always easy.
Ohio Barn in Early Morning Light; LeAnn Hileman
…is all about light and shadow.
Beating of Wings; Holly Cole
Cole’s work focuses on animal-human connections. She wanted to capture the feel of a flock of birds and also pay homage to the many disappearing bird species.
Sandoz Mile-Long Meadow; Deb Cashatt
Cashatt uses intricate shapes, which she calls symbographs, to tell stories of modern life. Look closely and you will see familiar elements.
Detail, Sandoz Mile-Long Meadow; Deb Cashatt
Winter Storm; Stephanie Shore
Schulz uses shape and value to create movement in her work.
Detail, Winter Storm; Stephanie Shore
I’m kinda fascinated by how she created this piece.
Dance or Go Crazy; Jean Herman
Created in response to 2020, Herman’s response was to create joy to overcome the darkness of COVID.
The World is Watching! #3; Mary-Ellen Latino
Latino uses the abstract to explore the pandemic and the havoc and sorrow it brought. Look for the searching eyes, what do they convey?
Fuzzy Mall2; Fuzzy Mall
This was my favorite piece, a self-portrait of the artist. He is showing that the black and white face is what he presents to the world. The blocks of color use a technique that mimics a tactic used to defeat facial recognition software; he is expressing concern over personal privacy issues.
Field Notes: No 4 Excavating Truth; Libby Williamson
Williamson’s piece explores the stories she tells of herself, of evolving, uncovering truths and how she ticks.
Detail, Field Notes: No 4 Excavating Truth; Libby Williamson
Road Trip; Karen Schulz
…representing an extended road trip, desperate to escape the oppression of the pandemic.
It was not until I had tried to summarize each piece’s statement that I realized that excellent photos and each artist’s entire statement is available here on the museum’s website. Sigh. If you want really good photos of their work, go there😊
I hope you enjoyed the tour.
I’ll share at:
Nina-Marie’s Off the Wall Friday
and
Finished or Not Friday
Quite the collection! I was most taken with “Artifact 2” — not the subject matter so much as the technique. I’d love to have seen this close up!
Her full artist’s statement can be found here. It appeared to me that she used hand dyed fabric that she tore into strips. There were raw edges on the background. It appeared also that she probably stitched each strip directly to her quilt and added additional quilting in between. It was a subtle piece yet it demanded my attention.
Thank you for your personal tour of Quilt Visions 2022. I had the opportunity to attend a different exhibit at VAM while in San Diego (also took and Uber there) and was immediately struck by how well they display work to its best advantage. I have no doubt they did something extra special for Firth’s work that is best viewed in person, as you mentioned.
Yes, they did display Firth’s piece to its advantage! And I’ve only been there maybe 3 times but I am struck by how well they display the art. I noticed this time too how all the “walls” are on wheels.
Those are Fascinating! I bet you could really stay there a long time. These are such beautiful pieces of art and seeing how everything comes together is astounding!
It was a treat to be able to see the work in person. Many of the pieces I has seen online but wow, in person they were so much more impressive.
I’m so glad you got down to Visions while the guys golfed. Sounds like you had the better day.
The exhibit is pretty awesome.
I was so happy to see your piece in person! YOu have worked hard and it is fun to see your skills evolve. I loved your piece and its statement. I was caught up in the details and took a ton of photos.