Thursday, January 13, 2011
Winter exhibitions open at McCutchan Art Center
Rising Sun, 2008, by Miriam and Amos A. Graber. Photo by Camera Arts Studios-Michael Wheatley.
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Wendy Knipe Bredhold Media Relations Specialist, News & Information Services 812/461-5259 Quilts from the Collection of Judy and Tom Morton features 19 quilts from a collection of over 80 quilts acquired over a 25-year period. The majority of the quilts were purchased at the annual Dillon Amish auction in Cannelton, Indiana, where Amish quilt makers, working in the style of their foremothers, focus on perfection of technique and interpretation of traditional quilting patterns. All of the quilts in the exhibit are hand-done and juried by Lucille Dillon. "Somewhere along the line, we went to a quilt auction and bought four or five and that was comparable to smoking that first pack of cigarettes," Tom Morton said. "The earlier ones are excellent bed quilts which stand out with rich colors. The later ones are art, pure and simple." The exhibit also features five quilts made by Judy Morton, a highly accomplished quilter. She has completed many commissioned quilts, including quilts for the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra for their Jubilee anniversary in 1984 and for their 75th anniversary in 2009. She has been honored by a special designation as Official Curator of Southern Indiana Quilts for her expertise in the technique and knowledge of Amish quilt making. Her quilts have won numerous awards at the national level and have been featured in publications such as Fons and Porter's Love of Quilting magazine. Stone Tapestries is an exhibit of selected artworks by Laura Foster Nicholson, an internationally-recognized artist who resides in New Harmony, Indiana. The exhibit reveals a recurring motif in her work - small, multicolored ovals which can be viewed as pebbles, and which often stand in for soil in her garden-based series of tapestries. In later tapestries, she employs the ovals themselves to create interest. These pieces have become an exploration of space, color, depth of field, and surface in textiles. Foster Nicholson said, "The resulting work, I feel, has great depth, movement, texture, and an emotion which has been made thread by thread in a meditative and intimate conversation between me and my loom." Educated at Kansas City Art Institute (BFA) and Cranbrook Academy of Art (MFA), Foster Nicholson has lectured, taught classes and workshops, and exhibited extensively in the U.S., Canada and Italy. Grants and awards include an NEA fellowship, the Leone di Pietra prize at the 1985 Venice Biennale of Architecture, three Illinois Arts Council fellowships, and a grant from the Graham Foundation for Research in the Fine Arts. Foster Nicholson's tapestries are found in the collections of The Art Institute of Chicago, The Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum, The Archives of the Venice Biennale, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, The Denver Art Museum, The Racine Art Museum, The Reading Public Museum, The Cranbrook Academy of Art Museum, and many private and corporate art collections nationwide. She is the owner of LFNTextiles Artist's Ribbon and Textiles. She has licensed designs to Crate & Barrel, Land of Nod, Grow Kids, Renaissance Ribbons, and Larsen, Inc. for production. Stitches in Time: Samplers from Private Collections features American textiles and needlework from pre-revolutionary to contemporary times. Needlework was a significant part of the education of the 18th- and 19th-Century young lady. The sampler showcased her skills and would include a decorative border, alphabets, animals, flowers, and a verse. Other types of samplers displayed include the darning and fancy work samplers. Learning to repair holes in fabric as well as make button holes, drawn work, and lace were all part of the educational experience of that time. The samplers on display were collected from Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, and Illinois. Many of the examples were brought with families when they moved to the Midwestern territory from the east coast or the southern parts of our then-new country. Stitches in Time continues in the McCutchan Exhibition Space in the Wright Administration Building, and features additional samplers and other handwork and needlework such as embroidery, quilting, rug hooking, and crocheting. The art center is located in the lower level of the Liberal Art Center. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday. For more information, call 812/228-5006. |
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