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.