Summer Sparkle by Marge White

Safe placement of fiber art is very important. Ultraviolet rays (sunshine) are the most harmful, but incandescent light can also break down natural fibers. Works in fiber should be placed not only out of direct sunlight, but at a safe distance from artificial light, where heat can destroy the material. Likewise, fiber work needs to be kept at a distance from heat vents and radiators.

Too-close or too-intense lighting not only risks physical harm to fiber art, but also diminishes these works aesthetically. Intense light can distort the colors that have been painstakingly and masterfully chosen from the ultimate effect. Works with subtle transitions in color, and those in which light plays on fibers and in which spatial depth is critical, must also be lit very carefully. Solutions include adding lenses to a fixture to soften bright spots, using up-lights from a floor canister, and lighting the artwork from across the room.

The right light source will enhance, not diminish, the aesthetics and mood of the work. Is the art dramatic, moody, romantic, cheery? Cool colors are enhanced by daylight; incandescent lighting is high on the red, or warm, end of the spectrum; halogen light is visually less blue than daylight, less red than incandescent and has a crisp, almost icy whiteness.

Shimmer 8 by Tim Harding

Handcrafted works in fiber have enriched the lives of both royalty and peasantry since the beginning of recorded history. Persian brocades, Indian chilkats, Indonesian ship cloths, Asian ikats, Turkish rugs—the artistry and craftsmanship of textiles from centuries past are kept alive in countless museums around the world. And it’s a marvel that they exist at all for us to enjoy today. Homage is paid first to the artists who toiled over these works and second to the conservators who have preserved them for safe passage into this century.

Likewise, today’s fiber art deserves our thoughtful attention to care and maintenance. Regarding contemporary textiles as the heirlooms of tomorrow is the best way to ensure their preservation for future generations to enjoy.

You don’t have to be a museum curator to purchase and display contemporary textiles, but you should remember that they are perishable works of art. Because fiber is somewhat fragile, questions of endurance and care are important. Fiber art that has become shabby or soiled, with its color faded, is an all-too-familiar and disheartening sight.

Kittery Point Marsh by Wen Redmond

Successful presentation begins with selecting the right environment—a space, position, and illumination that shows off the ultimate quality of the piece. On an artistic level, attention must be given to spatial considerations, proportions, focal points. On a practical level, solutions must be found for showcasing fiber art without risk of damage.

Fiber art has long been recognized as a springboard for exploration in a variety of media; this is a field that continues to evolve through the use of new materials. Peruses the works presented by Artful Home and you’ll find works in metallic yarns, new lustrous cottons, silks, wools, handmade papers, synthetics, bamboo, and wire. Often you’ll read in the artists’ descriptions assurances that their works are custom-dyed, lightfast, mothproofed, treated with fabric protectant or fireproof. Our contemporary fiber artists have become knowledgeable in areas of durability and maintenance. Conservation gets a good start with their expertise, but there are several things you can do to ensure your fiber artwork will be enjoyed for years to come.

Chocolate by Cathy Kleeman

All week long I’ve been putting stuff in boxes, getting ready for the Quilt Surface Design Symposium. We’re leaving tomorrow and I’m taking a 7 day class with Elizabeth Busch. Today it’s time to really get serious, finalize my packing, move stuff up out of the studio and into the car. This class I’m taking is called a “Master Class”. It’s more of a mentored studio where we have the benefit of input from both the instructor and all our classmates. We bring our own projects and pretty much do work of our own choosing. There are usually group critiques and one-on-one critiques plus other art-inspiring activities. We’re also going to be doing some painting on cotton duck, something I don’t usually do.

I been thinking about my years of attendance at QSDS. My first class was in 1993, when it was still run at the Josephinium Seminary, a college for priests in Columbus. The facilities were primitive, to put it mildly. Our rooms were the cells in the dormitory, no air conditioning, big enough for a single bed and a dresser. The showers were down the hall, and two rooms shared a toilet and a sink. One quickly became acquainted with one’s “sink-mate”. The class I took was titled “A Problem-Solving Approach to Design” and it was a series of small projects that taught us how to boost creativity. The best lesson I took away from that class was to not be afraid to experiment and to not let the work become so dear that you’re afraid to try something for fear of wrecking it.

It was my first exposure to Quilt National and I was gobsmacked. These “quilts” were like nothing I had ever seen and I wasn’t even sure I liked them. At that point, I wasn’t even ready to call myself an artist. If someone had told me that my work would one day be hanging in Quilt National I would have laughed and laughed. Now I feel very comfortable calling myself an artist.

I didn’t attend QSDS again until 1997, but I have been there every year since. For a long time I took different technique classes: low water dyeing, stamping, machine quilting, screen printing – lots of surface design techniques to add to my repertoire. After a while I realized that I also needed education in design principles and how to think like an artist. Luckily, QSDS began their Master Classes, just what I was looking for. At some point you have to really start doing your own work – take all those different techniques and make them work for you.

To digress a bit… I don’t remember what quilts were the first ones I entered into Quilt National but I’m sure they were deserving of rejection considering the competition. Here is one of my entries from QN 2001. It’s titled Rx: Chocolate. It’s a self-portrait of sorts. I stamped words that come into one’s vocabulary as one reaches a “certain age”: menopause, bone density, mammogram, yadda, yadda. Quilted into the background is my own prescription for these facts of life: chocolate. Doesn’t solve the problems, but it makes them more bearable.

I’ve always thought this would be a great piece of art for an OB/GYN’s office, but so far there haven’t been any takers.

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