2012 Aullwood Nature Center's Art Quilt Show

Aullwood Nature Center Gallery with the art quilts.

This year, the Aullwood Audubon Center in Englewood (Dayton), Ohio is celebrating it's 20th year of hosting an art quilt exhibition.  I love this show, not just because it is within 20 minutes of my house on a wonderful piece of property, but because of the artists who enter each year.

The show is small, only 42 pieces were accepted this year, from 27 artists from across the U.S.  One of the things which makes it exceptional is the quality of work which is submitted each year.  Nationally (and internationally) recognized artists submit and it is great fun to see their work along side local artists.  The show is juried, this year we had a new juror in Judi Hill, additionally, the Aullwood executive Director, Charity Krueger uses her expertise as juror as well.

Usually, the show represents many different styles of art quilts, and this year was no different, except perhaps, that I think there were more abstract pieces than usual, probably because the theme was "The Good Earth" which leaves a lot of room for interpretation.

Angela Esterline's "The Good Earth", 29.5" x 38.75", $195.00

Not surprisingly, two artists, Angela Esterline and Kathryn Wager Wright both entitled their works "The Good Earth", although they had very different approaches.  Angela is from Hillsdale, Michigan.  Angela's piece is applique, and represents earth, air and water elements with her red winged blackbird, dragon fly, tree at the side, and the fish on the bottom.  Her hands are handled quite well, a difficult task for showing them at this angle.  She has used some three-dimensional work in the wings of the dragonfly.  Her quilting and color choices are very well done.

Angela stated in her artist statement that while she sells and is encouraged by one particular patron, she never had entered any shows.  This year, at the urging of her patron, she entered, and happily got in.  So this is her first juried show and I hope that this is just the beginning for her.


Kathryn Wagar Wright's piece is much different, although it uses a similar color palette.  Kathryn's "The Good Earth" shows the rolling hills of Kentucky, where she makes her home. Kathryn's piece is needle-turn applique, unlike Angel's raw edge applique.  I goofed and wrote originally that this was raw edge, thinking fused because it was so neatly done (and the light and my eyes weren't the best).  You'll have to go to the show and see the whole enchilada as it is really a nice piece. Unlike Angela, Kathryn has shown before.  She is a member of the Studio Art Quilt Associates and is also the Senior Designer at Quilter's Newsletter.

This is a detail of Kathryn's piece...I can't show you the whole one as she is thinking about entering it elsewhere an some venues do not want pieces to be published prior to the opening of the show.

One of the difficulties of this show is that the lights are not easily changed to direct the best light on the pieces.  Barbara Trick who manages the show, works hard to show the pieces at their best.  Usually, she groups them primarily by color so that the pieces compliment each other.  In addition, sometimes this works out that she hangs similarly constructed pieces together.

I like to review this show because it is an excellent show and few people get to see it.  I also appreciate it when someone sends me images from shows I have sent my pieces to so I can see how they hang, and with whom they hang.  Here you can see works by Liese Bronfenbrenner, Ruth Powers, Carroll Schleppi, Priscilla Stultz, and Angela Esterline.

I also like to focus on the show because there is poor reference to it on line, and I find that even quilters in the area often don't know about it.

I customarily show each of the pieces which are included in the show and I intend to do so over the next several days.

The show opened on June 24th and runs through August 19.  Hours are: Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. and Sunday from 1 p.m. - 5 p.m.  Admission is $4 for adults, $2 for children 2-18, children under two are free. Members of the  Friends of Aullwood (our support group) and National Audubon Society receive free admission with membership card.