"There is something better to aim for, and that is soul. Or heart. Or something."

Lynley of Lynley Quilts blog has posted an honest and wonderful review of Unconventional & Unexpected. I love how she talks about how the book pushes her creative process and spurs new thinking about quiltmaking!

Read Lynley's review on her blog here.

Fret Not Yourself visits Found/Made

“Pools of light emphasized the rich colors and textures of the quilts and brought the soft patinas of the wood into focus. I was especially struck by the quilts he hung as if they were on a clothesline blowing in the breeze. Obviously, that image evokes strong, early family memories for both of us.”
— Ann of Fret Not Yourself

I had the loveliest time touring Ann and her friends through Found/Made at the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles. She wrote beautifully about the exhibition in her blog, Fret Not Yourself.

Read Ann's article on Fret Not Yourself here.

Be sure to check out Found/Made before it closes on November 1, 2015.

Found/Made featured as part of SoFA Sunday

I had the distinct privilege of leading a lecture of Found/Made which included words from the artists and collectors whose pieces are in the exhibition. I was delighted that this lecture on a Sunday afternoon was part of a larger celebration of the arts and culture happening in San Jose as part of SoFA Sundays. 

Read about SoFA Sundays and see images from the talk here in the San Jose Mercury News. Be sure to check out Found/Made before it closes on November 1, 2015.

Guest Curater Roderick Kiracofe talks to exhibit guests during the opening reception at the "Found/Made" exhibition at the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles during the first SoFA Sundays, in San Jose, Calif., on Sunday, July 26, 2015. (Josie …

Guest Curater Roderick Kiracofe talks to exhibit guests during the opening reception at the "Found/Made" exhibition at the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles during the first SoFA Sundays, in San Jose, Calif., on Sunday, July 26, 2015. (Josie Lepe/Bay Area News Group)

“About three years ago, the city and arts groups decided that the forgotten, triangular park dedicated to the city’s founders should become an open, urban square for artistic activities from music and poetry to fabric art and drama. The city did the spade work, beautifying the place, while the arts groups planned the programming.

The groups include the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, Museum of Quilts & Textiles, MACLA and two theater companies, San Jose Stage and City Lights. When all decided recently to open their doors every Sunday, they came up with SoFA Sundays — once a month — to give their patrons something to do before or after in the new square.”
— Joe Rodriguez, San Jose Mercury News

"All bets are off wherever you may roam."

“Textiles has allowed me to combine my varied interests into an art form that fuses fashion, art, and most importantly function together in one piece.”
— Ben Venom to Content Magazine

Content Magazine visited Ben Venom's work in Found/Made. Because Content is a magazine that covers the innovative and creative culture of Silicon Valley, it is easy to see why they are interested in Ben's work.

Read the article in Content Magazine here.

Image courtesy of Content Magazine

Image courtesy of Content Magazine

Material Obsession visits Found/Made

“This is an experience NOT to be missed no matter what kind of quilter you are... traditional, modern... art or crafty... beginner or experienced.”
— Kathy Doughty of Material Obsession

I had the loveliest time taking Kathy Doughty and friends through Found/Made at the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles. I'm thrilled that she would include her thoughts on both the exhibition and Unconventional & Unexpected in her dynamic blog, Material Obsession. It's amazing to see others respond to the quilts and the artwork in the same way that I do: as a treasure seeker, wondering what the quiltmaker was thinking, enjoying and questioning tradition. Thank you to Kathy and everyone at Material Obsession.

Read in Material Obsession what Kathy has to say about Found/Made.

 

Found/Made is open until November 1, 2015 at the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles.

Found/Made has been installed!

Found/Made is an exhibition at the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles, which I was asked to guest curate. It opened on July 11. There is a reception open to the public on July 26 from 2 to 4 PM, and the exhibition closes on November 1, 2015. I hope you can come enjoy these amazing artworks and quilts.

I had the pleasure of installing the exhibition the week before it opened, and I'm very excited to share these quilts and artworks with you. Here's a peak of last week's hard work. Thank you to the museum staff and all the wonderful volunteers!

About Found/Made...

The old things I found in our basement, the garage, or my grandmother’s home around the corner in a small town in Indiana, delighted me. These objects represented the vestiges of an earlier time. They enthralled and intrigued me, and I was hooked. A forty year involvement with quilts as a dealer, publisher, and author, all led to the creation of the quilt collection found in my latest book, Unconventional & Unexpected: American Quilts Under the Radar 1950-2000. The fascinating connection that quilts have to modern and contemporary art has always been a theme in my quilt investigations.

There has always been an ongoing dialogue between artists and quiltmakers; and Found/Made explores borrowed strategies and aesthetics, experimentation and risk-taking, and unusual and quirky materials. The exhibition’s “found” pieces are curated from multiple collections. The “made” pieces are contemporary artworks from artists who make quilts and art that has a connection to quilts.

This thought-provoking exhibition offers the audience an opportunity to look at quilts in ways they may not be familiar with and to see them presented in new ways.  These quilts and works of art converse with and play off of one another. The quilts that grab our attention and question traditional quiltmaking make up Found. Eccentric, odd, and unpredictable quilts highlight the improvisational quality that quiltmaking is. Why did she use coral-colored thread to tie a blue denim comforter? Where did another maker find those off-the-wall fabrics? Additionally, Found/Made features quilts from the collections of historian and quilt authority Julie Silber, established collector Marjorie Childress, and artist Allison Smith.

Many “made” pieces come from artists whose practice includes quiltmaking. Ben Venom repurposes Harley Davidson and heavy metal t-shirts to create intense yet intricately pieced quilts. Therese May’s portrait quilt also explores figuration with its piecing and repurposed fabrics. Sarah Nishiura’s quilts play with abstraction as she crafts delicate geometries. One of her pieces is used every day on a bed and will find its way onto the wall for Found/Made.

Luke Haynes recently exhibited with Ben Venom and Joe Cunningham at the Los Angeles Craft & Folk Art Museum. His pieces in Found/Made use quiltmaking, a practice closely associated with American history, to question it. Meanwhile, Joe Cunningham’s pieces recall American art history, especially Abstract Expressionism. He cut up found, painted canvases to construct Bed, after Rauschenberg as homage to the Rauschenberg combine that incorporated an actual quilt. Jonathan Parker utilizes canvas and wool to remind the viewer of the human form in his small abstractions. A recent recipient of the Joan Mitchell Award, Clay Lohmann uses quilt-like surfaces for drawing and painting, creating artworks somewhere between an unstretched painting and a quilt. 

Quilts have a definite conversation with collage. Dana Hart-Stone collages photo emulsions onto canvas, creating meticulous patterns. Photography also meets the quilt in Sabrina Gschwandtner’s light box piece, which she made from filmstrips that she received from the filmmaker of Quilts in Women’s Lives. Unruly (History Series) by Amy Trachtenberg plays fast and loose with materials as she collages on canvas in a manner that feels so similar to the compositions in many quilts.

Found/Made is a conversation about the exchanges between quiltmaking and art-making. A quilt might be quite different than what the viewer expects. Art-making may borrow from the long history of quilts (and so many other disciplines) in America. All of these pieces create that same sense of visual play and wonder as those small discoveries of my childhood in Indiana.

I would like to thank the collectors, artists, and galleries loaning this wonderful work: Susan Baerwald of Just Folk, Brian Gross Fine Art, Jane Levine, Jack Fischer Gallery, Holly Ellis, Kevin King, and Matt Gonzalez.

- Roderick Kiracofe, Guest Curator