Dayton Landmark's Quilts--Interpreting photos by the slice!

Dayton Landmarks as hanging in Schuster Center. L - R: Mendolson's, Sue DeSantis,  Carrillon,  Dayton Skyline (part 1, Carroll Schleppi, Dayton Skyline Part 2, Lisa Quintana, Sacred Heart Church, Dayton Art Institute, Mindy Marik, The Arcade

Some of the craziness I was participating in last week was the installation of a series of "slice" quilts at the Schuster Center for the Performing Arts in Dayton, Ohio.  These quilts were a long time in the hanging.  In about 2009, a group of us had seen the "slice" quilts at the National Quilters Association show in Columbus and we thought we wanted to give it a go.  The quilts in Columbus were scenes of a river, which flowed from one piece into another.  We thought we'd do scenes of locations which were readily recognized as Dayton.

At first, we contacted some photography groups in Dayton to see if they were interested.  When no one responded, we asked our own Ronnie Doyal who is an art quilter and pretty danged good photographer working with David Lorenz Studios in Dayton.  Ronnie took a series of shots and three of us, Lori Gravley, Mindy Marik and I, looked at the images and chose which ones would be best to be divided into segments and then handed out to Miami Valley Art Quilt members to interpret in cloth.

We had sign ups, where everyone who was interested in a particular image put their names in a "hat" and we drew to assign segments.  Some of us did more than one....all of the quilts were to be 42" long, with the width being proportional in order to make sure that the show would look good when hanging with all the segments completed.

This wasn't without trauma as some of the places doing photocopies were less than accurate in their segment lengths.  This is Ronnie's photo of the Carillon Tower at Carillon Park.  I fell in love with the dramatic lighting...taken just as the sun went down.

Here's how Sue DeSantis and I interpreted the piece.  My "slice" is on the left, and Sue's is the right.  Sue used a commercial gradient fabric in teal as her background with a selection of greyish neutrals for the tower.  Her bells are small craft bells.  She quilted it on the diagonal and put small hot-fix crystals to show the evening stars.  My segment was made with a rust dye fabric with tea to give it the greyish look.   The trees are made with a machine lace, which was cut away in segments to let the yellow glow show through.  The blue background is a commercial batik which unfortunately, I was only able to obtain in fat quarter sizes, so I had to piece it.  I used organza ribbon to give the shadow on the pylon.  Unfortunately, I learned too late that organza tends to run away from your presser foot.  I think if I use it again, I'll glue it down first, or fuse so I can get a perfectly straight line.

Lori Gravley, Mindy Marik and I chose to do the Dayton Art Institute in order to show our members what we meant.  I particularly liked how the wording came out "Dayton Art" which we took to be our theme, and our thought was that in future shows this would be the introductory panel.  Lori took the left panel, I had the middle, and Mindy took the right.  I used rust dyed muslin for the body of the building, and over-dyed a piece of peach colored polyester moire for the roof.  I also used various ribbons for the metal parts on the door.  Mindy used various neutrals to replicate the blocks of the building, and Lori made hers from a commercial print.  I think it is pretty interesting how the colors really blend and give the feeling of being on the same building.  My section of the steel sculpture is made with a polyester metallic knit which I fused with sheers, and I can't remember what all to give the illusion of the reflection in the steel.  Lori used various commercial prints.  All of us edited out the various posters and notices (such as the hours) in order to make it a better composition.

Over the next several days, I will be showing more of the pieces.  They will be on exhibition at the Schuster Center until June 24.   The center is open from 7:00 am until about 11:00 pm, after the last show Tuesday through Sunday.  Mondays the building is open for viewing from 7:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m.  We will be showing the quilts with their photographs at two other venues this summer and fall, and will be announced as soon as we have the details straightened out.