Welcome to "Threads of Memory"

If you weren't able to come to last night's opening of Threads of Memory at Drury University's Pool Art Center Gallery, you missed a fantastic event.  If you're in the area, please do try to see the exhibition.  It will run through September 25, 2010. 

Just in case you can't make it in person, here is your own private guided tour!

Good Grief, Uncommon Threads' coffin quilt, is the centerpiece of the show.  We turned the quilt several times during the 3 hours of the opening so visitors could see both colorways of the quilt.  Check out our book (linked at right), Good Grief, a Celebration of Life and Art, to see more of this amazing quilt.

Contrast: Experiencing Serra, Nick and Carol Bormann's magnificent collaboration, was the first thing seen by our visitors as they entered the show.  It is a very large piece showcasing the talents of both the Bormanns.

Lily Kerns with her homages to pojagi (top to bottom) Almost Mondrian I, Handicap Access, and Almost Mondrian II.  The art sparked almost as much interest as Lily's Segway!

Carol Bormann's new series represented here by The Last Time I Saw Paris

and The Last Time I Saw Venice.  Carol does such a wonderful job of blending custom machine cross stitch with applique. 

Our far-away friend, Christine Marcum, sent her wonderful sheer and many layered piece, Blocked Memory.  This is Christine's impression of the ancient Korean art of pojagi, the same inspiration for Lily Kerns art, but very different in execution.

Lettie Blackburn's new piece, Last Stand, is larger than her usual work, and is stunning in color, scope and execution. Lettie's trees are a metaphor for life, here showing an old white pine, the lone survivor of a once-proud stand of trees. 

Bird's Eye View, (below) Donna Olson's vision of irrigation circles and riverbeds as seen from high above the earth, imagines the vistas Donna's familiar crow might see while in flight.

 

Petroglyphs, a mixed media piece by Donna Olson, reprises her love of ancient Native American rock paintings discovered and photographed on her travels though the Four Corners area of the American Southwest.

Two smaller, but infinitely intriguing pieces by Maureen Ashlock begged us to get a little closer and look a little longer.  So much going on!  Top is A Quiet Day- My Creative Comfort, and (below) is Forrest Glen - Pixies at Play with Project Runway

Daydream, by Diane Steffen, is a colorful beachy piece evoking Caribbean waters and warm sand. Beautiful fabrics in shades of aqua enhance the feeling.

"Elegant" is the only word to describe Diane Steffen's lovely Bali Night.   The vintage Oriental reed for weaving is the perfect choice to mount it on.  The serene colors and beautiful beading and threadwork bring to mind a warm tropical night. 

 

Susan Leslie Lumsden's emotional work is represented by her uber-huge Slipstream Adventure.  As always, Susan's incredibly saturated colors take the viewer's eye on an adventure of their own!

 

Dianna Callahan's trip to Greece and Turkey is evoked here in Turkish Touch.  Based on a photo Dianna took of a rug weaver at work, the colors and fabrics representing Oriental Rugs are endlessly fascinating.

 

Jambalaya, by Cathy Jeffery, represents the colors and mixtures often seen in Cajun cookery.  You can almost smell the peppers and onions!

CSI, also submitted by Cathy Jeffery, takes a light hearted "stab" at humor. Using her usual improvisational piecing and a background of bright yellow and red spatter, the chalk outline of the recently deceased makes one wonder what was the cause of death?

Cathy Jeffery's third piece in the show is her newest work, Vision.  Bright earthtones against a starry background are highlighted with a peacock feather and made so much more interesting with uneven edges. 

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Newer UT member, Roberta Ranney, loves playing with dyes.  Pieces of her experimentations with indigo show up here in Reflections of Monte Carlo portraying perfectly the warm Mediterranean waters and the reflections in the windows of the charming houses.

Where in the world can you see the cool blue hues imagined and created by Roberta Ranney in Indigo Hill?  I think perhaps we'd have to travel to Scandinavia to see it - maybe Norway? Brrrr! Where does it take you?

Memory of Sicily, also submitted by Roberta Ranney, evokes a warmer climate, the ochers and siennas reminiscent of the island of Sicily. 

Emergence

Anticipation

Jubilation

Emmie Seaman's exhilarating threesome shows joy only a gardener can imagine.  Carrot seeds germinating under the watchful eye of the sun, springing to full grown splendor, then dancing with joyous abandon evidences the processes that often go unnoticed beneath the soil.

Two pieces by Merrilee Tieche hopefully can make you smell the salt air, wherever you are.  The first, Reflection, reminds one of sitting in the sand at sunset, gazing across the water at the island in the distance.  The second (below) Pacific Echoes, takes the viewer from the light filled waters nearer the sun, down to the darkest depths of the sea.

So there you have it for today.  There are a few photos that need to be taken over, and a whole section of the show yet to see, so look here for an update next week.  Thanks for visiting our show!