Aullwood Art Quilt Show: Debra Bentley and Robbie Porter

Debra Bentley, "Little Things Matter", 19.25" x 45.4" NFS

Another Miami Valley Art Quilt Network (MVAQN)  member, Debra Bentley  also exhibited a piece at Aullwood this year.  Deb as well as Maxine and I and a few other people went to a workshop at Shelley Brenner Baird's studio to learn about printing with thermofax screens and thickened dyes.  Deb sent off a detail of a photograph she took last year of fruiting bodies on some moss which grew on some of her flower pots on her deck to have a screen made.  Interestingly enough, the photograph she used for her screen, she also used in her piece for Aullwood last year.

You can see the results of her printing at left.  She then took some photographic images which she transferred to fabric and stitched additional leafy things in the background.

The fabric which Deb choose for her background was a piece of rust dyed fabric she had made a couple of years ago.  Deb laughed when she saw what I had entered as both of us used some raw edges on our quilts, a somewhat similar palette and the rust dyed fabric.

When I was talking with Barbara Trick, the Aullwood organizer, she mentioned that we had used rust-dyed fabrics and that a couple of years ago, everyone was using rust-dyes, but that it had fallen off.  She went on to say that she always saw trends in the show.

I don't think Deb and I are trendy.  Both of us use rust dyed fabric because we like it...and if it works in a piece, that's fine.  To us, it is just as any other method of dyeing fabric....and I love the colors we get from it.  Deb lives in Xenia and has always been interested in the natural world.  She volunteers at local nature centers, in addition to being a Master Gardener in Xenia, Ohio.

Robbie Porter, "Katie and the Coneflower," 40" x 36" NFS.

Robbie Porter is another fellow Ohioan.  She lives in Batavia.  Her entry this year is "Katie and the Coneflower," a portrait of her granddaughter Katie.  I love the bright colors Robbie used and also the flowing edge on the bottom of her quilt.

On her artist statement, Robbie used this quote from Rachel Carson:  "Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts."

Here's the rest of her statement:  "My granddaughter Katherine has a favorite color, purple.  Katie has always had  an interest in nature and has often planted her own flowers, most often those that are purple. A love of gardening and helping beautiful things grow is a wonderful thing to teach a child.  Katie has learned a great deal about our Good Earth and what she can do, even at age eleven, to make the earth even more beautiful.  The quilt "Katie and the Cone Flower" was inspired by observing my granddaughter as she admired her first garden.

Robbie did a wonderful job at shading the quilt, especially with her quilting.    She told me that Katie attended the opening with her and people recognized    Katie as the "girl in the quilt."

Aullwood Nature Center 2011: Martha Lee Burleson and Robbie Porter

Martha Lee Burleson, Moutain Stream  14.25" x 11.75". NFS

Martha Lee Burleson "Mountain Stream" detail.

As I've said before, much of what draws me to quilting as my preferred form of artwork is texture.  The texture of the fabric, threads and whatever else we choose to add to the piece.

Martha Lee Burleson did a wonderful job with found objects in this little piece called "Mountain Stream."  Martha Lee Burleson is from Charlotte, North Carolina and unfortunately, I cannot find a web presence for her.


This is a small piece which she has mounted on a linen ground and framed without glass. Martha Lee was inspired to make this piece by a trip to the Georgia mountains.  "The rocky river reminded me that the ocean once covered the earth far inland of today's shoreline. "  Martha pieced her own hand-dyed fabrics, then embellished it with silk, cotton, beads, and shells found on the North Carolina beaches.  She then hand quilted it.




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Robbie Porter, "Shore Excursion" 46" x 28".  $600

Haning right next to it, but much larger, is Robbie Porter's "Shore Excursion."  Robbie quilts in Batavia, Ohio.  I really like this piece. I think a lot for the colors in it and the richness, but also for the texture.  Robbie used printed commercial cottons and a decorator fabric.  She sliced and off set the background, then  added a swash of filmy fabric to indicate the little burble of water as the waves wash back to the ocean. 

She also embellished it with specialty yarns, sequins, shells, sea glass and shell beads.  She added a fringed beaded element to the irregular edge which makes it all the more rich and pleasing to the eye. 



Her artist statement reads as follows:  "'The sea does not reward those who are too anxious, too greedy or too impatient.' Ann Morrow Lindbergh Gifts of the Sea.  Shore Excursions was created as a celebration of quiet walks at the water's edge and the joy of finding even very small treasures washed up from the sea.  The waves washing across the rocks  were created with a layering of netting and organza fabrics with shells and sea glass embellishments."

Robbie Porter, "Shore excursion" detail.