7
Patchwork links wits with quilters' abilities
by Donna Eades Kansan staff writer
For the Monday afternoon quitters at the First United Methodist Church, 946 Vermont, piecing and dressing serves a traditional function.
"Oh no, we don't gossip," Sutton agreed.
"But we don't gossip," Edna Carlson, Lawrence, added.
"We all come down and discuss our grandkids, where everybody has been lately the preacher's Sutton, Sutton, Lawrence resident, said.
University Daily Kansan / Wednesday, July 26, 1989
The money raised by selling Texas Star, Drunkenk's Path and Log Cabin quilts goes to charity, as these finished quilts go on barks.
For textile artists of the exhibit
"Quilt National 87." on display
until August 13 at Spencer
Museum, their quilts go on walls.
"The Quilt National" artists are updating a traditional women's activity." Carissa Carlson, museum services coordinator, the Quilt National as a continuation of that tradition, but updating the form so there's a greater opportunity for artistic expression.
The 89 quilts, winners of a juri
competition, must include at least
two of several traditional quilting
techniques: piecing, layering,
and filling. One way that would
the artist is constrained only by his
or her imagination.
Many of these art quills tell a story or present a political or personal message. An apocalyptic vision of the end of the world hangs near a snapshot glimpse of a domestic scene, a man in a bathtub and a woman wrapped in a towel.
Others, more traditional in their use of repeated patterns of symmetrical blocks, use a variety of untraditional materials; strips of necklaces arranged in a complex pattern and pendants of pentagons of Japanese kimono silk sewn together in a garden pattern, are two examples.
"Like other contemporary artists, these quilters are breaking
'T
Carissa Carlson
The 'Quilt National' artists are updating a traditional women's activity. They're using quilts as a continuation of that tradition, but updating the form so there's a greater opportunity for artistic expression.
Carissa Carlson museum services coordinator
as many boundaries as they can," said John Wilson, curator of painting. sculture and decorative arts.
Quilting, long disregarded by the art world, is gaining greater acceptance. Wilson said.
The 1960s and '70s saw a resurgence of interest in textiles of all forms, and the medium began to expand and offer more possibilities for individual expression, Culling said.
"Women were beginning to use textiles more during that time," she said. "The resurgence of women in the textile industry an increased interest in quilting."
Spencer Museum of Art is one of few museums to have quilts in its permanent collection, Wilson said. About a dozen of these traditional artworks and other singer collection, are on display in the White gallery until August 6.
"We're in a part of the country where quelling is wildly popular," he said. "People who make quitts want to see what's new."
The combined quilt exhibits are drawing record crowds for a summer exhibit. Wilson said.
None of the Monday afternoon quilts had seen the exhibit yet, but all agreed that certain characteristics were necessary for quilts making traditional or art quilts: patience, nimble fingers and a strong back for leaning over for long period of time.
"An artistic bent helps too," Sutton added.
Grassroots artists fight to save their art form
by Donna Eades
Kansan staff writer
During their lifetimes, grassroots artists Inez Marshall, Ed Root and Dave Woods, inspired by their personal visions, worked to please no
Concrete, tin cans take on new lives
The Kansas Grassroots Art Association was in turn inspired by these artists. Inspired enough to create an organization and a museum solely dedicated to preserving their offbeat art.
"It it's hard to nail down a precise definition of grassroots art," said Ray Wilbur, president of the KGAA. "When we use the term 'grassroots' artists work outside of the art mainstream," he said.
Unlike other folk artists, whose work stems from cultural traditions such as quilting or weaving, grassroots artists work from their own imaginations. Painted and sculpted concrete is the most common medium for their visions, Wilbur said.
The KGAA, which has more than 150 members nationwide, was formed in the early 1970s by a group of friends interested in the Garden of Eden and other sites around the state and region.
The Garden of Eden in Lucas,
Kan, Civil War veteran S. P. Dinsmoor's vision of politics and religion sculpted in several tons of concrete, is a perfect example of grassroots art. Wilbur said.
Sometimes called "outside" art, grassroots art piqued the interest of members of the KGAA because it is unique and often misunderstood art
"A lot of these sites were threatened with destruction and we thought somebody ought to do something." Wilbur said. "Then we realized that 'they' was 'we' and so we got organized."
"We want to encourage this kind of work and show that the artists weren't just crazy people." Wilbur said.
"The roadside landscape is starting to look homogenous, dominated by a vast expanse of rocks" Jon Blumb, a member of the KGAJ. "The last thing those places
"We think it's important for everyone to be able to see examples of individual vision and imagination," he said.
have is any character."
One example of such individual imagination is the subject of a current KGAA project. Ed Galloway's 90-foot concrete tote pole, near Foyil, Okla., can't help but catch the eye of passing motorists. The KGAA took on the daunting project of building and maintaining glacier tote and several smaller ones when the artist's son died and the roadside park fell into disrepair.
Ideally, the group's goal is to restore and maintain art work on its original site. But when a grassroots artist dies, often a family does not know what to do with the white elephant their loved one has produced. Blumb said.
Although the group now has a large collection of grassroots art, it did not intend to be in the museum business, Wilbur said. The Museum of Grass-Art was organized as a way to artwork that had no other place to go.
"These things needed to be gathered up for safekeeping," Wilbur said, pointing to a collection of venetian blinds strung together with wooden spools, painted rectangles of corrugated iron, tin cans, light bulbs and tin foil that once adored Dave Wood's front vard in Humboldt.
The KGAA bought the collection, from Root's heirs when a California collector threatened to take it out of the state. KGAA's commitment to the Roof family includes the requirement that the collection be kept together and that it always be on display for the public.
On the other side of the small museum Ed Root's collection of concrete sculptures decorated with pieces of inlaid glass and other found objects. The colorful, exotic tombstones, takes up a large space of the limited exhibit space
The museum, staffed by volunteers, is currently housed in the old grange hall in Uniland, 10 miles south of Lawrence. Without heating or air conditioning, the museum is as much a work space as any museum. Ideally, the artwork would
Temperature Distribution/ANOVA
Ed Root's concrete and glass sculpture projects the artist's style.
The art of Dave Woods is displayed at the Grassroots Art Museum.
be moved to location that would bring in more people, Wilbur said.
Tomas Stargardter/KANSAN
Although nothing has been formally approved, the museum will probably be moved to a lot adjacent to the Garden of Eden in Lucas within the next couple of years, said John Hachmeister. Hachmeister is a member of the KGAA and an investor in Garden of Eden. In a private
corporation that recently purchased the Lucas site.
The Garden of Eden, which draws more than 10,000 visitors annually, is a logical site for the museum. Hachemister said, "You can't promote conservation and appreciation of grassroots art if nobody sees it," he said.
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