When We Were Young

"When We Were Young," along with 4 other painted quilts, was created for an invitational exhibit called "Ten" at the Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME in 1988. 10 members of Maine Craft Association were selected to produce 5 new works for this show. For me, it was a deciding factor in my quitting full time work for others to try to subsist on my art work alone. Then, in 1989, "When We Were Young" was awarded Best in Show at Quilt National. The quilt is now in the collection of the Museum of Art and Design, NY.

In the early 80's, I was cutting up some of my acrylic paintings and sewing them together with other fabric to make wall pieces. I had never owned a traditional quilt, but I loved to sew and with a BFA in Painting from RISD (1964) I simply put these two processes I loved together. In the early 80's, my work fit neither in Art Galleries or Quilt Shows, but that did not stop me: I LOVED what I was doing! Soon it became a very exciting/volatile time as the 'Art Quilt' movement evolved: the resistance and hearing "that's not a painting...that's a quilt," or "that's not a quilt...it's a painting" eventually dissipated. In hindsight, it was simply part of the evolution of quilted work for the wall, even as the "Modern Quilt" evolves today.