Friday Fibers Roundup: Blankets (Comfort and Subversion)

September 8, 2017

This week’s Friday Fibers Roundup features a variety of makers addressing the conceptual feast that blankets have to offer. From political to personal, comfortable to subversive, blankets have been a tool that artists have been using for ages.

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1) “The Colorful Quilt Squares Chilean Women Used to Tell the Story of Life Under Pinochet” by Rebecca Onion examines the exhibition Disobedient Objects at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum.

2) The Blog Mary & Patch recently reviewed the art quilt exhibition A Grande Finale, featuring the work of Olga and Simon Prins-Lukowski this past summer in Goes, The Netherlands.

3) The Exhibition, Ana England: Kinship shows her fascinations with nature and the greater connections that hold us together, rather than separate. On display September 8th, 2017–March 4th, 2018 at the Cincinnati Art Museum.

4) A quilt is on display again where, while imprisoned, a British Prisoner of War stitched anti-Hitler messages into a Nazi quilt using coded needlework (via Telegraph).

5) Margaret Black won Best in Show at Quilt National ’17 in Athens, Ohio for her piece Line Study 17. The Judges stated that Black’s quilt is a “master statement of technique, craft and innovative design”.

6) “The Witness Blanket: A Monument to the Legacy of Residential Schools, Coming to UFV” by Anne Russell previews the upcoming exhibition of The Witness Blanket–an art installation inspired by woven Aboriginal blankets telling the painful story of Canada’s residential school system (via UFV Today).

7) The Textile Society of America (TSA) has their call for submissions open now for The Social Fabric: Deep Local to Pan Global. The Symposium will take place September 19th–23rd, 2018 in Vancouver, BC, Canada.

8) The Welcome Blanket is seeking submissions for their exhibition of blankets reflecting on immigration policy. The deadline has been extended to November 4th, 2017.

9) The 33rd Annual American Craft Exposition (ACE) brings together over 140 artisans exhibiting one-of-a-kind pieces on September 15th–17th, 2017 in Evanston, Illinois.

10) The Jealous Curator recently featured the elaborate textiles and rugs of Norwegian artist Sissel Blystad.