OK - so I took a day off the other day. I shouldn't have. I don't have time to take a day off, but I did. I wanted to visit the Textile Museum to see the Color Improvisations 2 exhibit. The exhibit has been at the museum since the end of May, but as usual, I wait until the last minute since the show closes on Sunday.
I decided to save myself some money and coordinated it so I could get a ride to and from downtown with DH. It was like a daytime date! He had some meetings and wasn't going to be gone all day so I tagged along.
The museum didn't open until 11 so I got a bit of time to wander around. Yikes - there are TONS of people downtown. I used to work downtown Montreal but that was years ago. I'm not sure I could handle the hustle and bustle anymore!
I managed to snap a photo of the TORONTO sign. Gosh - I think that is the first time I see that sign in person, although I was around the corner from the sign when we started our bike trip last month.
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| The TORONTO sign |
I'm fascinated by the tall buildings. And these aren't even the tallest ones. While I think it would be very cool to live downtown, work downtown and play downtown - it just isn't my thing. But it could be a cool lifestyle. I was informed that when we retire, we're going to buy a condo at the St. Regis. A studio apartment with 642 sq ft is up for grabs for $650K. I think I'll pass.
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| Downtown Toronto |
Anyway - back to the exhibit? How many of you went to this show? Did you like it?
The title of the exhibit is Color Improvisations 2 - An international exhibition of contemporary quilts. The show was curated by Nancy Crow. Nancy has been around for many years as an artist - should we say a quilt artist? or that her medium is quilting? I just had a quick peek at her website. She teaches workshops at her studio. The deposit is listed at $250 for a five-day workshop. I wonder what the price is? I couldn't find it. But the studio space looks amazing!
Anyway, she's done lots of stuff in the art quilt world. She's taught many students around the world and the quilts in this exhibition were made specifically for this exhibit. All of them were the same size which is LARGE. Some had touches of handwork in them, many were done by machine, many had facings instead of bindings (actually now that I think of it, most of them had facings - maybe all of them).
I thoroughly enjoyed the show and loved the solids (or hand-dyed) fabrics in the quilts. Lots of beautiful quilting on most, others not so much. But that's OK.
There is a catalog of the show but it was sold out so I put my name on the list.
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| The show catalog (well - it's a book!) |
The book is nicely done (not cheap - $45 which I guess isn't that bad) and shows all the quilts in the exhibit as well as others and a nice bio of the artists. None whose name I recognized. Remember - these are ARTISTS, not quilters. So I think if I had to peg Nancy - she is NOT a quilter. She's an artist. OK - so she's an art quilter!
So here's the confusion and we have this discussion each time we meet for the West End Modern Quilt Guild. What is the difference between MODERN and CONTEMPORARY quilts? Yes - can anyone answer that question? Because there were many quilts in this display that I would peg as modern and there are many quilts in our guild or at Quiltcon that are contemporary.
So I googled it. WHOA!!!! Now I'm totally confused. Did you know that MODERN in the art world essentially is more related to a period when Modern art was created starting in 1860!!!! Here's a link, but I think this topic needs a whole blog post on its own. Interesting..............
I did check out the second show at the Textile Museum which is called Crosscurrents: Canada in the making. This show had a variety of quilts and other beautiful handcrafted textiles from beading to embroidery and quillwork (made with porcupine quills). It was an interesting show as well.
There was a beautiful embroidery quilt that was obviously a fundraiser. You can catch a snippet of the quilt at the main page of the Textile Museum.
Actually, there are sales coming up. I know in the past that I've found some amazing stuff at these "garage sales". Essentially people donate stuff to the museum and they turn around and sell it to raise funds. I'm sure those volunteers always get first pick at what comes in! A good reason to become a volunteer!!!
But they have classes and lectures as well. There is an interesting lecture coming up next week. In my next life, I would love to delve more into the history of quilts and this would be interesting to attend. But I don't think I'm going to have the time and getting downtown for 6 PM would not be fun. I could take the train. It's just that this week, I've been out EVERY EVENING except one and next week is almost as bad. I think I'll stay home on Wednesday.
There was a quote on the wall which I thought was most interesting. "Who is worthy of memory?" by Desmond Miller (he's the one doing the lecture). It's very thought-provoking. Which is why we want to label our quilts and leave something behind so that people will remember who we are.
Let's not forget the gift shop. I always make time to browse through the items for sale and the books. They have used books for sale and that's what I ended up with - ONE used book for $8. See what they wrapped the book in? Old pattern tissue! I love that.
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| Pattern tissue used to protect my book |
All in all, I'm glad that I took the time to visit the show. It helps to solidify my stance on what is a contemporary quilt and what is a modern quilt. I'll be sharing that at some point with you all.
Speaking of museums, I thought I'd share this with you as well. Mark Dunn is the owner of Moda and what I like about him is that he is interested in what he sells. He may not be a quilter, but he has an extensive quilt collection. There's a show currently at the International Quilt Study Center and Museum at the University of Nebraska. Hmm - I wonder if DH has business in Lincoln??? Anyway, check out this story about his show.
I had some time to kill before meeting up with DH (we even had lunch together downtown!) so I took a walk around City Hall. WHOA!! Did you know that the gardens around the City Hall look like a wild field??? Right in the middle of the city. I've never been up on that elevated part. That was a shocker, but it looks great. It's a shame that people don't feel comfortable with that look. Like my neighbors who are still watering their grass at 5 AM in the morning. It would appear that MOST of the people on my street are watering their grass. What a total waste of resources. We need to STOP that and the lawns of those that water and those that don't? They look the same! People - the grass is very hardy! But I digress. Here's the picture.
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| Wild garden at City Hall |
Then I decided to start wandering back to our meeting place and I spotted this lady wearing the coolest dress ever. I got a picture of it. That's a great inspiration for something. Not sure what yet, but great inspiration. See - there is inspiration EVERYWHERE.
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| Great inspiration in that dress |
Too bad - I missed an opportunity to experience virtual reality. The National Film Board had a 7-minute video that you could watch through the virtual reality glasses. It's right in Nathan Phillps Square. If I had my wits about me, I could have booked a viewing right when I arrived and would have had time to view the film before I left. But I didn't so I didn't get to see the movie. DRAT. But it'll be shown at some upcoming festival. It looked very interesting. Toronto in the future and it was flooded!!! Oh - I found the link to the exhibit. Watch the video clip - it's pretty cool. I wish I'd been smarter with my time so I could have watched the film.
I have to make mention of where I was last night. I was the speaker at the Kempenfelt Quilter's Guild in Barrie. What a great group of quilters!! And what a surprise for me - I ran into some people that I haven't seen in a long time. It was so great to touch base again with them. A HUGE thanks to Brenda and Liz who took me out for a DELICIOUS dinner at Casa Mia. We had a great chat about quilting and what they've been up to. Thanks again ladies - it was loads of fun!
The trunk show last night was GROUP quilts. So much fun and so many stories and so many memories. I'll be speaking next week at the Barrie Modern Quilt Guild. Only one or possibly two quilts will be the same as last night. If you're in the area - stop by. It's on Thursday, September 27 in the evening. The topic is MODERN quilts and I'd need to do a wee bit more research on that contemporary versus modern situation.
I should mention that I have my finish number 55 for the year. It's done and I have to pack it up and get it to the courier today. Sorry - you can't see it - not yet. There are a few more that are an hour or so away from being finished but I don't think that's going to happen this weekend. It's a totally insane weekend. I have TWO classes today, THREE tomorrow and a sit n sew on Sunday. Maybe during Sit n Sew, I'd better finish something. I know Diane is ahead of me and I can't let that happen.
On that note, I've got some prep work to do this morning and some writing.
Have a super day!!!!!
Ciao!!
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