Sew to Speak

Where shall we go?

Silvia Souza
2023
26” x 51”
$600

Repurposed and reworked vintage quilt pieced top made from many different textiles,
including commercial fabric, acrylic paint, sharpie markers, eco felt, perle cotton.

the original quilt top was not well done and made from home and family clothes scraps and was taken apart and reworked to represent “home”, highway and several scenarios we already experience

This was a collaboration with an anonymous novice quilter. I used embroidery to voice my concern for what was best stated in a recent UN report: “Earth is a system, everything is connected, changes in one area influence changes in all others. Consequences of climate change now include intense droughts, water scarcity, severe fires, rising sea levels, flooding, catastrophic storms and declining biodiversity. It affects our health, ability to grow food and housing. In the future, the number of “climate refugees” is expected to rise.” In addition, two pieces from a recent Renwick show spoke to me and influenced this piece: Alicia Eggert’s neon piece using the so apropos quote from Stewart Brand; and Consuelo Jiménez Underwood’s weaving “Run Jane Run!” which incorporated the caution graphic of an actual California border highway sign. Women are speaking out in ropes of light, caution tape, and cotton thread on cloth on issues present and future.

Suffrage - Long Denied

Susanne Miller Jones
2019
40” x 25”

cotton, organza, hot fix crystals, satin, metallic thread, copies of historical documents (church Bible page, marriage license, naturalization papers)

machine appliquéd, machine quilted, free-motion embroidery, machine embroidery, fabric printing, clothing construction, hot-fix crystal placement

My grandmother, Anna, was born to immigrants in South Dakota Territory in 1888. When women got the right to vote in 1920, Anna was a door-to-door saleswoman for Singer sewing machines, and her itinerant status prevented her from voting in that election. She married a Brit on November 14, 1920. The Expatriation Act of 1907 stated that if a woman married a citizen of another country, she lost her American citizenship and, with it, her right to vote. My grandmother was unhappy, so the whole family was naturalized three days after my dad was born in Ohio in 1921. Five months after that, they moved to Washington, DC, whose citizens did not have the right to vote for President until 1961. When DC could vote in the Presidential election of 1964,  she had moved to Maryland. Due to the timing of two moves in Maryland, she missed the voter registration deadlines in 1964 and 1968. So, in 1972, my grandmother and I voted for the first time. She was very proud of her only vote.

We Vote Thanks to Them! 

Kathleen  Decker
2024
29” x 21.5”

photos printed on fabric, reproduction buttons, antique lace, cotton and monofilament thread, cotton/polyester batting

machine-pieced, machine appliqué, free-motion quilting, button and lace embellishment 

This banner celebrates American suffragettes that fought for the vote. It also highlights early African-American suffragette struggles, as Caucasian women declined to admit them in their organizations. Creating this piece reminded me of how many rights American women have that we would not have if not for these suffragettes. It also reminded me that many women in the world still lack these basic rights.
The buttons are reproductions of actual suffragettes’ buttons
from the early 1900s.

What’s Your Story?

Gwen Ellen Goepel
2023
32.5” x 34.5”
$1,500

storyboard by Seth Apter, commercial fabric backing/facing, silk polyester batting, acrylic paint, vintage lace, Daddy’s Ties’ labels, gold round top safety pins, retail fashion industry logo tags

free cut log cabin pieced background, stamped, frayed selvage edges, machine quilted with embroidery stitches, embellished

I proudly identify myself with my upbringing.

My story began with a stay-at-home mother
and a foreign exchange broker father. I loved weekend shopping sprees as well as New York’s financial, fashion and entertainment worlds.
This work speaks about my correlation with the fashion industry as I continue to challenge myself not to have a noticeable voice (similar to the constantly evolving realm of the fashion world).
I too provide myself the luxury of experimenting with a range of styles (similar to fashion’s ever-shifting consumer demands).
Utilizing a variety of background techniques and embellishments, I create my “brand identity” (similar to private labels which allow global fashion companies to craft their unique narrative). I’ve added a few pliable and stylish ‘hang tags’ (which were used to promote a company’s brand).
May my artistic endeavors help build my own story by weaving my identity and adapting to the ever-changing world of
(fashionable) self-expression.

hand-dyed cotton fabric, acrylic paint, textile paint, Inktense pencils,
computer-generated type, embroidery floss painting,
Gelli-printing, free motion sewing, hand embroidery, appliqué      

The inspiration for this art quilt started by an art journal portrait. My portraits are the base
and through them I decide on the quote. I feel they tell me what to say.
There are so many ways we can make a difference in the world around us.
My quotes and lyrics began as a vehicle to help me navigate through these muddy waters.
Each art quilt develops intuitively as I manipulate colors and mix various medias together.
As I begin to share my work, I realize the impact quotes can have, 
and recognize we all need a bit of positive energy in this world we live in.

How Many Deaths Will It Take #2

Jane Hill Stokes
2022
37” x 37”
quilting cottons, cotton batting
machine piecing, appliqué, hand quilting      
$800

When I have been faced by a horrific current event, I find it hard to express my feelings in words, yet those feelings must come out. In those situations, I turn to quilting to express what I feel. This quilt is based on the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas in 2022. My emotions were dark, and I couldn’t imagine using any joyful colors, so black fabrics were used in the quilt. Red is used to represent the blood lost by the innocent children. The central panel is composed of traditional log cabin blocks in black, white, and red to represent the guns used in the shooting. Around that panel I pieced a quote from Bob Dylan’s classic anti-war song “Blowing in the Wind”. Many of the fabrics are dotted and I appliquéd circles, cut from another fabric, around the outside ring of the quilt. The dots and the “holes” represent the gunshot wounds of the victims. The quilt is hand-quilted using black and red Perle cotton. I used the quilting to emphasize the circular gunshot hole motif.

Misfires:
Fighting Dementia

Arlene L Blackburn
2023
39.5” x 40”
$950   

hand-dyed cotton fabrics by artist, commercial cotton fabrics, fusible web, wool batting, cotton/poly threads
fused appliqué, machine threadwork, machine quilted 

I lost my mom to dementia.  Throughout her illness, she and I used to make light of her random memory losses and call them "misfires."  That humor is how we both dealt with this devastating disease "head on."

Mother’s Work  

Andrea S Finch  
2022
52” x 44”
$3489  

cotton textiles, batting & thread, and diaper pins
machine & hand  appliquéd, machine quilted, hand constructed

The 4 blocks for this quilt were made when I was pregnant with my second child. They hung on my design wall for years, daring me to finish them. Twenty-three years later I finally finished the quilt. Most of those years, like many women, I paid little attention to my art, continuing to put others before me. My art no longer looks like the original blocks, which were based on Baltimore Album quilts. After taking Paula Kovarik's class, At Play in the Garden of Stitch, I found I could bridge the gap between then and how I create now. Machine & hand appliquéd, machine quilted and yes that is batting hanging out. I sat with a pin pulling it out.

The unusual method for bringing the blocks together sums up the changes in my life in those 23 years. Somewhat tattered, raw edges showing and pinned together perhaps but still creating art and comfortable with who I am.

Invisible

Karen Ponischil 
2022   
20.5” x 20”
commercial cotton fabric, wool batting, cotton thread.
trapunto, heavy thread stitching
and walking foot quilting

When did I become invisible? As a middle-aged woman in this society there are many times I feel invisible. Not being helped when shopping. Doors held for other younger women and not for me. Work that I do that is not appreciated or valued.

Do you feel invisible?

Freedoms4!

2019
38” x 36”
$1,200

commercial cotton fabrics and quilting thread, digital photography, all in the public domain or my own,
and specialized digital applications

piecing, appliqué, machine quilting, hand embroidery

The Preamble

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. The United States Constitution and Bill of Rights is revered and cherished throughout the world. Freedom of Speech, Freedom from Want, Freedom from Fear, and Freedom to Worship have created a brotherhood of working together for the common good. We face uncertainty now, not for the first time in our country's existence. Freedoms4 reflects the challenges we as a citizenry are facing. We, the citizenry, must VOTE, communicate with the elected officials, and be involved in helping and caring for each other in order to preserve the rights embraced by our founders.

Landscape of My Nationality       

Millie D Johnson
2024   
24.75” x 25.75”

cotton fabric, hand-dyed fabric, trinkets:  Zori and geta shoes, Nikko cat, ginkgo leaf, a temple plaque and two fans

hand-appliquéd, domestic machine quilted

I became a U. S. Citizen when I was 17, hence changing my nationality from Japanese to American.  A monumental day of my life. I changed my nationality but I didn’t change my looks, my  mother tongue, nor my heritage.  This quilt represents the landscape of memories that I left behind.  The kokeshi doll I played with as a child now sits on a shelf along with many others.  The tori stood at the entrance of my family’s temple.  Trinkets are from the temples I’ve visited.  The cranes represent  my leaving Japan and the promise of good luck.  Finally,  reigning over it all stands Mount Fuji.  I’m an American through and through yet inside me are unforgettable memories of what I left behind.

Winter

Sarah Lykins Entsminger
2022
30” x 36”
$2,300

hand-dyed and hand-painted fabrics, acrylic paint, acrylic ink, oil pastel, and a variety of thread  
machine piecing, machine quilting, painting  

Art has always been the constant in my life, and solace when needed.
I communicate with others through images and to understand how I fit within the larger community.  My artwork is based on memories of places, both real as well as those created in my imagination.
I create artwork to calm the chaos of the outside world and as an open invitation to viewers to experience a sense of peace
and return to their own memories of place. 

The Survivor

Paula C Dean
2020
27” x 18”
cotton fabrics, India ink and acrylic paint drawn and written by hand,
free motion stitched   

Modern Mona

Lana Dragon
2023
30.5” x 17”
$975

recycled cotton fabric and thread      

pieced, fused, printed, hand and free motion machine embroidered and quilted  

Modern Mona should not stay silent. To only see through decades of rose-colored glasses the dangers to our environment cannot be ignored. Improvement from abuses in the textile and garment industry for workers has been slow, yet changes are still evolving. The textile industry is one of the most polluting. The growing market for cheap items and new styles is taking a toll on the environment.  Fashion production makes up 10% of humanity’s carbon emissions, dries up water sources, and pollutes rivers and streams. A lot of this clothing ends up in the dump. The equivalent of one garbage truck full of clothes is burned or dumped in a landfill every second. Washing clothes, meanwhile, releases 500,000 tons of microfibers into the ocean each year — the equivalent of 50 billion plastic bottles. The UN launched the Alliance for Sustainable Fashion, which will coordinate efforts across agencies to make the industry less harmful.  But Recycle and Reuse must be the New Fashion in textiles now!

Prized Possessions

Judy Pearson
2023
16.5” x 23.5”

cotton, linen, silk, burlap, glass beads, wool felt,
hand painted cheesecloth, perle silk,
perle cotton, Prismacolor pencils    

machine pieced, machine and hand quilted,
hand embroidered, tea dyed linen, beaded,
stuffed (rolling pin)           

Can you smell cinnamon sugar?
Sticky warm apricot jam encrusted walnuts seep out of the rolled buttery dough eliciting my grandmother’s voice, “Not too much jam, not too thin, not too thick.”
Inherited prized possessions - the wooden board, the smooth-as-silk French rolling pin
can tell over 100 years of stories. 
Grandma Sophie’s handwritten cryptic recipe is subject to interpretation. 
How many minutes? 
Standing over me, apron dusted with flour, she coaxes each triangle to become the perfect rugelach. 
With these worn and treasured tools, rich family traditions are passed down and speak to my heart.

The quilt came back to me.
Its time as a lap quilt was over.

For now,  I have folded the quilt so that it captures the speed and energy and danger of car racing.

Will there be another reassembly?
If so, what form will it take?