Gallery showcases creative quilts

The walls of the Kress Gallery at River Park Square are covered in fabric. The setting is a show of dramatic and elaborate handcrafted quilts.

In the world of fine arts, a new medium arose from an old tradition. The old tradition is quilting, or piecing together pieces of fabric in a scripted pattern to make a design. The new medium is quilt art. And the two are vastly different.

“There is a certain amount of conflict between traditional quilters and art quilters, but there is room for both,” says Pam Mostek, abstract quilt artist and author of nine books on the subject.

Rather than using a pre-planned pattern to create a traditional quilt, quilt artists work with the fabric as if it were a canvas. “There aren’t a lot of overlaps except that there are basically three layers sewn together,” says Linda Anderson, a fiber artist.

Jean Shute, another quilt artist who is known for her work with crows, agrees.

“Art quilts can be made with paper and metal as long as you have those three layers with stitching holding it together,” she says.

Shute works with motifs that she envisions.

“I love crows,” she explains. “Several years ago I went to the Oregon Coast and saw these beautiful crows on the beach. They are playful and intelligent and they can make tools. They can also be cruel. They are a lot like humans.” She has used crows as a theme ever since.

“I appliqué. I paint my own fabric and cut it up. I pay homage to a traditional quilt. I piece it together, then appliqué on top. I do fabric collage,” says Shute of the techniques she uses to create her art.

Shute’s grandmother made quilts out of feed sacks. Shute was fascinated by all the colorful pieces and started making her own quilts when she was 10 years old.

Shute describes her best-known piece called “Balancing Act.” It has been accepted in an international quilt show in Houston.

“I saw an article about crows on planets. I like whimsy. So I was thinking about all these things we try to balance. The balls stand for relationships with different people. Flying stands for taking off in life, doing what is important to you and being adventurous.”

Anderson’s works have an organic style.

“My inspiration comes from fabric and nature,” she says. “You go where the piece takes you. It takes on a mind of its own.”

Mostek, who is known for her art quilts that are reminiscent of Renaissance paintings, explains her artistic method: “I don’t do much piecing anymore. I have a business, but on my art quilts very often I work abstractly.”

For her, it starts with a sketch.

“I start with a piece of batting on the wall and draw on it. Until all the white is gone, it’s work,” Mostek says. “I do hand dyes. I use commercial fabric. I use a lot of tulle to blend colors. I approach it like a painting.

The key is color.

“My inspiration always starts with color,” she adds. “I like a color challenge. I try to make the hardest color challenge for myself.”

Anna Turner, the curator of the quilt display and owner of Sew Uniquely You, has reason to be proud.

“I look at all of these pieces here, and I see little clips of my handwork, and that makes me feel really good.”

The quilt art show runs until Sept. 29, and most of the pieces on display are for sale.