Aullwood: The wonders of Vita Marie Lovett and Anne Theobald

Vita Marie Lovett, "Robinson Farm Girl," 28" x 22.5" NFS

For the past several years, I have had the pleasure of introducing people to art quilts at the Aullwood Nature Center's art quilt show.  Vita Marie Lovett's and Anne Theobald's work always astonishes the visitors.  Taking at look at Vita Marie's work, it is easy to see why.

At first, from a distance, the visitors don't realize that it ISN'T a painting...but a quilt.  When you get up to it, they then realize that the entire surface if painted with threads.  Vita Marie Lovett uses acrylic paints to paint on the fabric in the general color she wishes the piece to have.  She then machine stitches over it, laying in multple colors of thread in order to give the piece the dimension and depth she wishes to achieve.

Quite honestly, I don't understand how her quilts manage to be distortion free and usually this amount of thread work usually causes mine to bump and sway from all the extra threads.

Vita Marie Lovett, "Robinson Farm Girl" detail

Here, you can more easily see the thread work, and below is her artist statement:

"This farm gal is a Buff Orpington hen who has the pleasure of living in a five story 1915 dairy barn. The girls come and go through an open side window.  Robinson Farm, located in Woodstock, Vermont, is part of the Farmhouse Bed and Breakfast.  Now you can really see who provides the breakfast.

My subject matter is a simple door, yet I find that it is open to so many possibilities.  I feel that the shapes and textures of old structures lend themselves to reinterpretation in fabric.  I enjoy the challenge of creating the illusion of rustic wood and peeling paint with thread, hence my most recent work, my Primitive Door Series.

I worked for an architectural firm for 12 years and also did free-lance graphic design. Working in this field has made me more focused on small details; it has carried through to my artwork.  I am currently working full time as a mixed media fiber artist.

I live in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains where I raise chickens and share a studio with two crazy cats."

I would love to meet Vita Marie in person some day as we seem to have a lot in common in our interest in old buildings and small details....and although I don't raise them, I do love to look at chickens...much to my husband's amusement, I make a beeline to the Poultry Barn at the area fairs...along with the Sheep barn...You can see more of Vita Marie's work and read more about her method on her website.   You can read what I wrote about her piece in 2009 here..

Ann Theobald, "Impression:  Strata", 14" x 18" $300

I was really happy to see Anne Theobald's work at Aullwood again this year....and was stunned to see that her piece "Impressions: Strata" hangs next to mine and that we were both inspired by the same thing.  Unlike Vita Marie's work, Anne's work is entirely hand done, and is a celebration of texture and color.  I wrote about her work last year here.

This isn't a really good shot...or rather, at the resolution I post with it isn't the greatest.  I also don't think that the "barn board" background does it the best, but it does work well with the rest of the quilts it hangs with. As I said before, I think that the quilts are hung more for color groupings than statements, but at least this and mine really do work together.  My piece, "Soil Horizons" is the one you see partially, with the buttons...I think Anne is showing the differences in soil color (referred to as soil horizons) but it could just as easily be showing the bands of earth as you see it from the sky.

Anne wrote: "Sometimes a thought needs to be expressed, or a color, but more often one fabric piece leads to another. I am fascinated with constructing something with small bits and left overs. I love "painting with and on" fabric, threads and exploring new trends in the art quilt world.  I trust my intuition to lead me to new expression, recording experiences and perceptions , whether it is of the places I have visited or the feelings of being at this age in time. I continue learning new skills and techniques with great joy."

Anne Theobald, "Impression: Contours", 23.5" x 17.5" $450

Perhaps the "Strata" can also be layers of emotion....and that's one of the great things about art.  The meaning is often the interaction of the viewer and the piece...and the emotions and reactions of the viewer may be entirely different than what the artist had in mind....but they are both valid.

Anne has been working with fabric and thread for 40 years....actually, about the same amount of time that I have been quilting.  Like me, Anne loves the connection that working with needle and thread makes with people across cultures and time.  Thread, fabric, color, texture, dimension, all work together and connect us even though our end results may be very different.

Anne Theobald, "Impression: Contours," detail. 

The fact that Anne's work is framed is a good thing...the texture calls out for you to run your hand over it....but the frame is a reminder that too many people doing this would destroy the work.

I think of all the pieces Anne has in the show this year, my favorite is this last one, "Under the Waterfall."  I love the colors, I love the contrast of the white bursts, which speak of the bubbles and diamonds formed from sunlight striking the water.

Anne Theobald, "Under the Waterfall", 17.5" x 15.5" $400.

Both Vita Marie Lovett and Anne Theobald are fellow Studio Art Quilt Associate members...maybe if I'm lucky, I just might be able to meet them some day.

Aullwood 2011: Anne Theobald

Anne Theobald "Impression:  Sunset on the Lake"  15" x 20" $400

Two weeks ago, I stopped in for the third time at Aullwood to re-shoot some details which I had missed the first time around.  One of the Aullwood staff asked me what my favorite piece was.  I hate having to choose favorite pieces, so I quickly showed her pieces I really liked and why I liked them.  It was amusing as when I got to Anne Theobald's work and pointed out that in this particular case the emphasis of the work was on texture, which is what draws me to working in fiber.  I told her that all of Anne's pieces in this exhibition were worked by hand.  The staff person was stunned.  "It must have taken her AGES, " she gasped.

Anne Theobald "Impression: Sunset on the Lake"  detail

Indeed, I know it "took her ages."  Anne has made these three pieces based on a hand-sewing technique she saw at a workshop with Barbara Lee Smith several years ago.  She adapted Smith's technique to her own work resulting in these texturally rich pieces although her work looks nothing like Smith's pieces.   Take a look at Smith's website to see what I mean. She has framed and matted two of her works in order to show them off more.  Many fiber artists have taken to framing works in order to show them off to their best advantage.  In some cases, it is an attempt to have our work accepted as legitimate pieces of art, rather than a "craft."

Anne Theobald "Impression:  Lake Powell"  24"  x 24"  $350.00

Anne Theobald "Impression:  Lake Powell" detail

Anne Theobald "Impression:  Oil Spill"  15" x 20"  $400.00

While all of Anne's  pieces at the Aullwood show all utilized the same distinctive stitching, this one is the most "quilt-like."  Entitled "Impression: Lake Powell"  this work show's her impressions of the Colorado River and the Red Rocks at Lake Powell.

I love Anne's comment on her label:  "For forty years I have been exploring what can be done with fabric and threads.  Embroidery and quilt making techniques have been especially intriguing connecting me to both contemporary women and women of different cultures and other times. "  This is just one of the reasons that I have chosen fiber as my medium.

Anne has said to me that her  pieces in the show are "a departure from the more quilt-like work" she usually does. 

Anne is from Greenwood Village, Colorado and is a member of SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) and the Front Range Contemporary Quilters in the greater Denver Area.


"Impression: Oil Spill" is one of several pieces at the Aullwood show which reference last year's Gulf Oil Spill. I love the richness of these pieces.  The unfortunate thing is that you have the impulse to run your hand over them to luxuriate in the texture.  However, the curator in me squelches that urge. :)