I applaud the creative freedom in the SAQA Intersect Chicago submissions, which brilliantly demonstrate how the medium of quilts has evolved. I began the jurying process with an open mind, remembering that one should try to approach a work of art without preconceptions. As I took my first journey through the submitted works, I was struck by the variety: some artistically bound to the traditional idea of a quilt and some using this idea as a starting point for their personal methods and metaphors.
Nature’s beauty is imbedded in many of the entries for Intersect Chicago, along with the message to recycle and sustain. The COVID 19 pandemic has influenced many of the quilt makers and the return to the handmade for comfort has become a marker of these perilous times. Art often contains political expression and that is certainly the case with several of the quilts submitted for Intersect Chicago.
Tradition and innovation are evident in these excellent quilts. I hope viewers enjoy the inventiveness in these powerful contemporary iterations of an historic craft.
About the Juror:
Carol Sauvion is the Creator of Craft in America, the documentary series celebrating American craft and the artists who bring it to life. The Craft in America series airs nationwide on PBS.
Sauvion is the Executive Director of the non-profit organization Craft in America, which has a mission is to promote and advance original handcrafted work through educational programs in all media. Projects include the PBS documentary series; the book, Craft in America: Celebrating Two Centuries of Artists and Objects; two inclusive websites: www.pbs.org/craftinamerica, www.craftinamerica.org and the Craft in America Center, located in Los Angeles and open free to the public. The Center originates exhibitions with catalogs, hosts artists’ talks and workshops and provides access to a large craft library.
Craft is Sauvion’s lifelong passion. For the past 41 years, she has been the director of Freehand, her Los Angeles gallery specializing in functional craft. Prior to her involvement in the gallery, she was a potter for ten years. She continues to make pots as an avocation. She is currently on the board of the American Craft Council.
