A visit to Mesa Art Center by Jean Judd and her art quilt Scribble #2

The Mesa Arts Center 31^st Annual Contemporary Crafts exhibition is currently displayed in the South Gallery and runs through March 14 in Mesa, Arizona. Jean’s textile artwork, Scribble #2 (Black Pathways) was juried into this prestigious exhibition. This piece was one of three art quilts selected for the exhibition.

 Eligible work included ceramics, fibers, basketry, metals, wood, glass, jewelry, papermaking and book art. 42 artists from 18 states were selected to be included in the exhibition by gallery owner, Jane Sauer of Santa Fe, New Mexico. 

In Ms Sauer’s juror’s statement, she is quoted as saying: “From a field of 425 objects submitted I had the task of selecting 45-52 pieces depending on size. After six rounds of elimination, there was an exhibit of 118 objects. It was such a rich field of entrees that the reduction of pieces was very, very difficult.” The final exhibition included 48 pieces.

by Jean Judd

Textile artwork by Gillette, WY artist Joan Sowada entitled Mainstream USA and Dominie Nash’s (Bethesda, MD) piece Stills from a Life 29 were the other two art quilts featured. Note Dominie’s piece behind me in this photo on the left.

My husband, Danny, and I were able to attend the Artist Reception (6-8pm) as well as the Members Only reception (5-6pm) on January 22. 

In spite of the heavy rain and flooding that was occurring that day, more than 500 people attended the receptions that evening. Many artists were on hand for discussions with patrons about their artwork.

I was impressed with the selection of artworks included. It was a diverse and exciting display. Plenty of white space between artworks on the wall and items on pedestals were not crowded or not properly lit. The three art quilts were all on separate walls and I thought displayed beautifully. That is me (center) in the “blend into the background” bright orange dress. Not sure what I was thinking when I packed that dress for the reception.

A four piece Latin Jazz band provided musical entertainment during the reception, and there were three other exhibitions happening in the other gallery spaces for collectors and patrons to view. One of the exhibitions included a photo exhibition by internationally known photographer Paul Nicklen, entitled Polar Obsession funded by National Geographic. An exhibition by bead artist Teresa Sullivan was in the adjacent gallery room and included a video and some very interesting installation pieces.

The time just flew by and as the evening progresses, I became more comfortable. Not many of the artists in attendance stood by their artwork. My husband herded me over by mine a few times, but I felt a bit uncomfortable doing that. For me, it felt better to circulate and I had more opportunity to talk to patrons and other artists this way.

I met a wonderful fiber artist, Dona Anderson (back to camera), from Seattle, Washington who uses reeds wrapped in pattern paper to make abstract sculptures. (see photo) 

I talked to her about gallery representation (she is represented by GrottaBrown in Wilton, CT) and how successful that has been for her. 


Note: Mesa Contemporary Arts' Annual Contemporary Crafts exhibition has become a benchmark for innovation and quality. Representative of traditional craft mediums including ceramics, fibers, basketry, metals, wood, glass, jewelry, papermaking and book arts, this exhibition showcases 52 artworks by 42 artists from 18 states.

Artists Include:

Dona Anderson (Seattle, WA)

Lynette Andreasen (Mesa, AZ)

Heather Bayless (Kihei, HI)

Nicholas Bivins (Red Lodge, MT)

Edda Blume (Pittsburgh, PA)

Jocelyn Braxton-Armstrong (Westport, CT)

Jonathan L. Brown (Chandler, AZ)

Tom Budzak (Chandler, AZ)

Holly Carter (Phoenix, AZ)

Mary Chuduk (Tempe, AZ)

Michele Collier (Oakland, CA)

Angela Cunningham (Somerville, MA)

Sheila Ferri (Middletown, NY)

Arti Goulatia (Peoria, AZ)

Carol Gouthro (Seattle, WA)

Kazu Ikegami (Tempe, AZ)

Jean Judd (Cushing, WI)

Thomas Kerrigan (Tucson, AZ)

Connie Lippert (Seneca, SC)

C.A. Michel (Seattle, WA)

Julie Mikelson (Tempe, AZ)

Carol Milne (Seattle, WA)

Ann Morton (Phoenix, AZ)

Susan Murphy (Rio Verde, AZ)

Don Nakamura (Philadelphia, PA)

Dominie Nash (Bethesda, MD)

Farraday Newsome (Mesa, AZ)

Zachary Noble (Bakersville, NC)

Kathy Pallie (San Rafael, CA)

Sarah Perkins (Springfield, MO)

Jeff Reich (Mesa, AZ)

Kathleen Ryall (Oxford, NC)

Patricia Sannit (Phoenix, AZ)

Chuck Sharbaugh (Holly, MI)

Dana Smith (Tucson, AZ)

Joan Sowada (Gillette, WY)

L. Sue Szabo (Toledo, OH)

Christopher Torrez (Phoenix, AZ)

Stephanie Trenchard (Sturgen Bay, WI)

Peggy Wiedemann (Huntington Beach, CA)

Kimberly Winkle (Smithville, TN)

Peggy Wyman (Macomb, MO)

Guest juror for the 31^st Annual Contemporary Crafts exhibition is Jane Sauer, owner of Jane Sauer Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico. With over 34 years of experience as an artist and arts activist, Sauer is considered an expert in the craft community. 

Jean M. Judd asks the controversial question: Art Quilt or Quilt Art?

Jean Judd, who is spending a few days in sunny Arizona for the Mesa Contemporary Art Exhibition, was amazed when I commented that I found it refreshing the way she uses traditional patterns in her art quilts. My words pressed on a sore spot, a point of controversy in that no man's land between art quilts and traditional quilts. For me, her quilts are the best of both worlds. Thank you Jean for guest blogging. You are definitely a Subversive Stitcher: Armed with Needles!

Pictured here are her Choir of Angels, Photo 2. Wyoming Valley #2, and Photo 3. International Harvester quilts -- Dawn

By Jean M. Judd, Textile Artist

Since 1991 I have been making textile artwork focusing on incorporating traditional quilt blocks and techniques, into quilts that really are quilt art according to viewers and collectors alike. Many of my pieces have been juried into both fine art exhibitions as well as traditional and art quilt shows.

In 1998, I read the book “Surprising Designs from Traditional Quilt Blocks” by Carole Fure. This is not a pattern book or technique book, but a way of looking at complex traditional quilt blocks and discovering the unlimited design possibilities using just one block in a quilt. It really was a turning point for me in how I looked at making my art quilts.


The first result of this discovery was Choir of Angels Tapestry Quilt (81”x81”). I started this piece in March of 1998 and didn’t complete it until 2005. The quilt was designed from the center, out to the final binding. The block that I used was the Wyoming Valley block originally designed for the Nancy Cabot series in the Chicago Tribune newspaper in the 1930s. The block had 65 pieces consisting of triangles and squares.

The quilt is heavily hand quilted and was juried into the 2006 Quilts=Art=Quilts exhibition at the Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center in Albany, New York. The quilt won the Catherine Hastedt Award for Hand Workmanship and was featured in some of their newspaper articles.

Other judged quilt shows that it has been entered in, have brought mixed results. At NQA’s show in Columbus, OH the same year, the judge’s comments were that it was in the wrong category as it wasn’t traditional. The World Quilt competition in 2007, the piece was entered in the Innovative/Contemporary category and the judge said it belonged in the Traditional category. This is where I started to decide that it was all subjective. Everyone has a different opinion on what is considered traditional quilts and what is an art quilt. Now I refer to all of my work as textile artwork and let the viewers’ decide.

Subsequent quilts made using the Wyoming Valley block, turned out very differently in design from the Choir of Angels Tapestry piece. Wyoming Valley #2 (108”x108”) was started in February of 2002 using commercial sports fabrics for the focus fabric. The center of the Wyoming Valley block was used as the focal point when designing this quilt.

This quilt, Wyoming Valley #4, was designed from the center out and uses a very unusual bright orange. Each section used a different sport fabric and the edges of each block were designed to make the background work as a receding border. This piece is also hand quilted and was finished in March of 2003. The Wyoming Valley block is used in a regular orientation here.

 

In Choir of Angels Tapestry, the block orientation is on point Wyoming Valley #4 (93”x81”) was started in 2003 and completed in 2006. The International Harvester emblem design was used with permission of the company. This time when using the Wyoming Valley block, I concentrated more on what happened at the block joining and made multiple borders appear. The center square of the block isn’t the focal point in this design.

Wyoming Valley #4 was juried into the AQS show in Nashville, TN in 2007, and the owner was amendable to letting me have the quilt back in order to send it to Nashville for display. This quilt is on the owners’ bed during the winter months, and then is displayed in the great room on the wall during the summer. It is a great way to be able to use a large quilt all year around, and for it to fulfill both its roles as bed quilt and artwork.

Many of my clients are looking for large quilts to fill huge wall spaces and they want them to still retain the aspects of a traditional quilt. They are very interested in the unique textures created by the hand quilting and the unusual designs I use in the hand stitching.

I have 2 more commissions for textile artworks using this quilt block. They will both be 101”x101”. The first one is already pieced and ready for hand quilting. This one, Wyoming Valley #6, looks nothing like the preceding quilts. It is always exciting to see what will come about in the design process. When it is completed, it will be featured on my web site. You can see detail images of the featured quilts there as well.

Thank you to Dawn for asking me to be a guest writer on her wonderful blog, Subversive Stitchers: Women Armed with Needles. There are some very talented trailblazers featured here and more to come, I’m sure. Continued Success, Dawn!