Grande Finale

… was the title of the very last show of Europeanartquilt.com. Since 1997 Olga Prins-Lukowsky and her team organised 8 exhibitions showing the very best of European textile art. When Olga (who is a great textile artist herself) decided to retire she organised one last show with 150 pieces of textile art by 75 artists from 18 different European countries. Each piece was once exhibited in one of the 8 European Art Quilt Shows.

Lucky me – I happened to be on vacation in the Netherlands during the last 2 days of the exhibit. I arrived at the Amsterdam airport at noon, rented a car and immediately drove south to Goes where this show took place. By 4 o’clock I was in the museum – an old schoolhouse where the quilts were hung in small rooms over 3 floors. The quilts got plenty of room on the walls and a lot of daylight. It was a wonderful show – but have a look for yourself:

“Daily Walking 5” by Cécile Trentini of Switzerland

The quilt “Daily Walking 5” by Cécile Trentini does look colorful from the distance but not too impressive. But when you get close and you can see how it was made it’s a very different story. Cécile took pictures of her daily walks and quilted the streets, ways and pathes in different colors. Many photos were assembled to make this quilt where the colors are leading you right into the pictures. What a great piece.

“Chaos and Order” by Charlotte Yde of Denmark

“Confusing Dreams 1, 2 and 3” by Bente Vold Klausen of Norway

“Shapes and Lines” by Heide Stoll-Weber of Germany

“The Blue Line” by Jane Lloyd of Great Britain

“Diptich Daedalus and Icarus” by Irina Voronina of Russia

“Aftermath” by Leslie Morgan of Great Britain

“Crime and Punishment” by Isabelle Wiessler of Germany

“The Arrival” by Brigitte Kopp of Germany

One of the most heartwrenching pieces for me was the quilt “The Arrival” by Brigitte Kopp which shows the arrival of refugees and the indifference and sometimes hostility of the people living there.
Brigitte also did a great job depicting the skyline of the city with embroidery.

It was a wonderful show in a very nice location (although a little bit away from the main routes) and I felt really lucky that I was there in time to see it. If you want to see more of this or the previous European Art Quilt shows there are still catalogues available at europeanartquilt.com

Thank you Olga Prins-Lukowsky for your dedication to the European Art Quilt. Enjoy the time to come and I am looking forward to seeing your quilts in quilt shows around the world.

In the Netherlands

A few weeks ago I spent a wonderful week in the Netherlands, the land of windmills and cheese. And cows and sheep and ships and canals and tasty, international food and great coffee and cakes and a beautiful, windswept landscape and cute villages and …. and …. and …. You get the point – a beautiful country with nice people. I really loved it.


The vacation was built around my husband’s schedule of conferences. He happened to be there and I just joined him. So it really was a coincidence that at the same time the Quilter’s Guild of the Netherlands had their annual show in Alkmaar. And since nothing is really far away in Holland we drove to Alkmaar, for me to see the show.

The quilts were hung in a beautiful and really huge church with enough daylight through the large windows to see the quilts in their real colors. The quilts were all by quilters from the Netherlands and it was an interesting overview of the different styles. One could see everything from traditional to contemporary, from appliqué to paper-piecing and everything in between.

“Colourful Escher” by Henny Meerman. 105 x 105 cm / 41 x 41 inches

“Mijn papavers” by Ria van den Bosch. 110 x 110 cm / 43 x 43 inches

“Geometrisch Alfabet” by Laurence Schoemaker-Aaftink. 125 x 175 cm / 49 x 69 inches

“Indonesische sawas” by Nelleke Kooij. 10 x 100 cm / 39 x 39 inches

16 quilters from the quiltgroup “De Lakenquilters” made this groupquilt, clearly inspired by the great painter Piet Mondrian.

“Stijlvol 2017”. 120 x 180 cm / 47 x 71 inches

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Paleishet Loo” by Maaike Bakker. 160 x 214 cm / 63 x 84 inches

“Losing my marbles” by Marina Brito de Campos. 162 x 162 cm / 64 x 64 inches

“Amish Circles” by Ingeborg Nyqvist. 129 x 129 cm / 51 x 51 inches

“Zweven” by Jeanette van der Linden. 150 x 110 cm / 59 x 43 inches

The quilters of the Netherlands always had a special affinity towards appliqué and I remember breathtaking quilts which weren’t only marvelled at in Europe but also in the United States (i.e. Ted Storm won at least 3 times Best of Show at Quiltweeks). And they still make beautiful appliqué quilts…

“Slingerkrans” by Ineke Goulmy-Hendriks. 250 x 210 cm / 98 x 83 inches

 … or use a combination of piecing and broderie perse.

“Antique Wedding” by Jannie de Wilde-van den Eijkel. 160 x 160 cm / 63 x 63 inches

 

 

“Ximeroni” by Jenny Kanakis. 85 x 55 cm / 33 x 22 inches

“Elke dag een draadje” by Marjan Rijnders. 240 x 240 cm / 94 x 94 inches

“Spanish dream” by Anja Kok. 185 x 200 cm / 72 x 79 inches

Holland was not only a great place for vacation but also a marvellous place for the travelling quilter (there even was a second, totally different quilt show – more about this one next week).