Aullwood: Vita Marie Lovett

Vita Marie Lovett "South Window"  12 2/3" x 9 3/4

Vita Marie Lovett is another "regular" artist at Aullwood's art quilt show.  I wrote about her work in 2010 and in 2009.  I am drawn to her work for many reasons, her fondness for old architecture (especially barns), antiques, and detail.  I appreciate this piece for several reasons:  In the early spring, I can't wait to harvest some forsythia to bring in and have their luscious yellow chase the winter doldrums away.

 I also love the long rays of light which one finds in the early morning and late afternoon.  I imagine that this time is fleeting for her as she lives in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. One of the things I missed the most when I moved to Connecticut from Michigan was the long periods of this "long light" . Because the area of Michigan I lived in was fairly flat, just gentle hills, and the area of Ohio where I live now is flat as a pancake thanks to the hard work of the glaciers, I have longer periods of this light.  Connecticut was just too hilly!  But there are many things I do miss about living in New England.

Vita Marie Lovett "South Window", detail.

Vita Marie drew this image from the south window in her cabin. I appreciate her work because she does not print a photograph on fabric then stitch over it,  but paints a background the color reflected in what she sees, then draws with thread on top of it..often many, many layers to do the detail. Her work is rich and sparkles...and lays flat as a pancake, I think partly because she uses canvas as her back ground.  That strong fabric is less likely to be distorted from all the work she does.

Look at the bottle.....it really seems to be transparent.  Her complex thread work gives it depth and dimension while imparting the impression that it is clear.

Vita Marie Lovett,"South Window" detail.

If you haven't looked at Vita Marie's website, you owe it to yourself to take a visit.  You can see it here.

Thread painting at it's best! Aullwood

Vita Marie Lovett painstakingly crafted Birdhouse at Turtlecreek Farm and shared it at the Aullwood show. It is by far one of the best, if not the best examples of thread painting I've seen.

While it is a quilt (3 layers sandwiched together), Vita Marie lowered the feed-dogs on her machine and did free motion work to "draw" on the fabric with different threads in order to "paint" or embroider this image.

Most quilters are at least familiar with the technique. Those of us who have done it can tell you the hours it takes to do this, and the resultant amount of eyestrain it causes.

The piece is relatively small, only 15" x 12". One of the things which makes this really stand out is the fact that there is next to no distortion. Usually, sewing down this many layers of thread causes it to pull and bump in areas. I didn't find this to be the case here. I particularly like her painterly approach to the weathered paint. Some people will sometimes say "well, why didn't you just paint it? It would have been a lot faster."


Most of us who do this type of work are fully capable of painting it. Instead, this is our medium. This is what we choose to do and I think that the threadwork really gives this piece something which you couldn't achieve in other mediums...not to say that doing it in other mediums wouldn't be just as charming.

Art quilters are artists...our medium is thread, cloth and other fibers. Vita Marie used canvas as her ground which of course helped it to stay flat...but none-the-less, it is a great piece of work and I'm glad she shared it.

Vita Marie drew her inspiration from a rusty birdhouse at the edge of a pasture on Turtle Creek farm, which I presume is her home.

I hope you enjoy this piece as much as I do. Vita Marie lives in Maryville, Tennesee. Here's the URL for her website so you can see more of her work. Maybe one of these days I'll figure out how to put in a hot button!

http://www.vitamarielovett.com/homepage.html