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Heritage Quilt "Pieces And the Past," at left, is by Carle Hassel, with another of her quilts, "Dove In The Window" in the middle and at right is an "American Sampler Quilt" pieced by Marianne Fons and Liz Porter and quilted by Luella Fairholm.
RICK CHASE / Courier Staff Photographer
RICK CHASE / Courier Staff Photographer
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Iowa's rich quilt heritage is on display
By MELODY PARKER, Courier Arts / Special Sections Editor
You can't curl up with a painting or sculpture and take a nap.
Art can't keep you warm at night --- unless it's a quilt. The American quilt is as much an expression of creativity and artistry as it is a practical and functional blanket. It can hang on the wall as a dramatic statement, drape across a chair for a homey decorating touch or fold across the foot of the bed, a place for Fido and Fluffy to snooze away the afternoon.
In her story "Everyday Use," author Alice Walker used quilts to illustrate her belief that art should be a living part of culture. The Grout Museum's 13th annual quilt exhibit, "Treasured Quilts from Renowned Iowa Quilters," explores the "everyday use" of quilts as a means of artistic expression, as well as celebrating Iowa's rich connection to America's quilting heritage.
The exhibition will be on display through March 26, sponsored by Friends of the Grout Museum.
"Women have always made quilts for personal expression in using color, pattern and design. We're past the point of quilts as simply bed coverings or making them so our families won't freeze at night. I think [quilts as art] started in 1976, with an exhibition of Amish quilts displayed hanging up. We saw them in a vertical way instead of horizontal, and we began making them as decorative items," says Karan Flanscha of Cedar Falls , founder of Keepsake Quilters Guild and long-time teacher.
Her work has been showcased in books and magazines, and she helps with product development and software testing for The Electric Quilting Co.
American handicrafts enjoyed a resurgence during the Colonial Revival in the 1920s and '30s, Flanscha says. Wallace's Farmer magazine, published in Iowa, began printing quilt patterns, a practice adopted by newspapers and other publications, providing women access to new patterns. Iowa women kept quilting even as national interest faded during World War II. When quilts came out of the linen closet for good during the 1976 Bicentennial, these quilters were at the forefront of a worldwide creative movement.
Iowa women stitched original designs, collected, studied and restored historic quilts, opened quilt shops, wrote books, produced patterns, designed fabric, edited magazines and produced television shows about quilting. Featured in the display are quilts by Liz Porter and Marianne Fons, both of Winterset, including "World Peace" and "Plaid Tidings." They can be described as the "rock stars" of quilting, thanks to their nationally televised public TV show, "Fons & Porter's Love of Quilting" and magazine, public appearances and a lengthy list of books.
Des Moines-born Marti Michell's original blue-and-yellow "Quickest Quilt in the World" hangs in the gallery, a revolutionary design for a quilt-as-you-sew Log Cabin quilt. Woman's Day magazine published the quilt in kit form in 1977 and sold more than 100,000 kits. An earth tones color variation sold more than $1 million worth of kits.
"The colors were so 1970s, but they're almost back in style now," says Michell, laughing. Her innovative idea removed the mystique of the quilting frame and made available kits with hard-to-find cotton fabrics at a time when double-knit polyester was the rage.
Michell, who lives in Georgia, has designed patterns for McCall's, fabrics for Springs Industries and today, she and her husband, Dick, manufacture From Marti Michell Perfect Patchwork Templates, a line of patterns and books. She still quilts like crazy.
"My quilts are for everyday use. I never pretended to be an artist. My feelings are best summed up by words in a pioneer woman's diary: 'I make quilts as fast as I can to keep my family warm and as pretty as I can to warm my heart.' Quilts are functional, but we want them to be pretty.
"Quilts also are emotionally important. You can see some of the ugliest quilts that people love because of who made them and the connection between people. Quilting is a connecting thread."
Other highlights include Mabeth Oxenreider of Carlisle's international award-winning "Circle of Friends," a machine-work quilt inspired by an 18th century tabletop, and the "Heritage Quilt" by the late quilt historian Mary Barton, on loan from the Iowa State Historical Society.
Art can't keep you warm at night --- unless it's a quilt. The American quilt is as much an expression of creativity and artistry as it is a practical and functional blanket. It can hang on the wall as a dramatic statement, drape across a chair for a homey decorating touch or fold across the foot of the bed, a place for Fido and Fluffy to snooze away the afternoon.
In her story "Everyday Use," author Alice Walker used quilts to illustrate her belief that art should be a living part of culture. The Grout Museum's 13th annual quilt exhibit, "Treasured Quilts from Renowned Iowa Quilters," explores the "everyday use" of quilts as a means of artistic expression, as well as celebrating Iowa's rich connection to America's quilting heritage.
The exhibition will be on display through March 26, sponsored by Friends of the Grout Museum.
"Women have always made quilts for personal expression in using color, pattern and design. We're past the point of quilts as simply bed coverings or making them so our families won't freeze at night. I think [quilts as art] started in 1976, with an exhibition of Amish quilts displayed hanging up. We saw them in a vertical way instead of horizontal, and we began making them as decorative items," says Karan Flanscha of Cedar Falls , founder of Keepsake Quilters Guild and long-time teacher.
Her work has been showcased in books and magazines, and she helps with product development and software testing for The Electric Quilting Co.
American handicrafts enjoyed a resurgence during the Colonial Revival in the 1920s and '30s, Flanscha says. Wallace's Farmer magazine, published in Iowa, began printing quilt patterns, a practice adopted by newspapers and other publications, providing women access to new patterns. Iowa women kept quilting even as national interest faded during World War II. When quilts came out of the linen closet for good during the 1976 Bicentennial, these quilters were at the forefront of a worldwide creative movement.
Iowa women stitched original designs, collected, studied and restored historic quilts, opened quilt shops, wrote books, produced patterns, designed fabric, edited magazines and produced television shows about quilting. Featured in the display are quilts by Liz Porter and Marianne Fons, both of Winterset, including "World Peace" and "Plaid Tidings." They can be described as the "rock stars" of quilting, thanks to their nationally televised public TV show, "Fons & Porter's Love of Quilting" and magazine, public appearances and a lengthy list of books.
Des Moines-born Marti Michell's original blue-and-yellow "Quickest Quilt in the World" hangs in the gallery, a revolutionary design for a quilt-as-you-sew Log Cabin quilt. Woman's Day magazine published the quilt in kit form in 1977 and sold more than 100,000 kits. An earth tones color variation sold more than $1 million worth of kits.
"The colors were so 1970s, but they're almost back in style now," says Michell, laughing. Her innovative idea removed the mystique of the quilting frame and made available kits with hard-to-find cotton fabrics at a time when double-knit polyester was the rage.
Michell, who lives in Georgia, has designed patterns for McCall's, fabrics for Springs Industries and today, she and her husband, Dick, manufacture From Marti Michell Perfect Patchwork Templates, a line of patterns and books. She still quilts like crazy.
"My quilts are for everyday use. I never pretended to be an artist. My feelings are best summed up by words in a pioneer woman's diary: 'I make quilts as fast as I can to keep my family warm and as pretty as I can to warm my heart.' Quilts are functional, but we want them to be pretty.
"Quilts also are emotionally important. You can see some of the ugliest quilts that people love because of who made them and the connection between people. Quilting is a connecting thread."
Other highlights include Mabeth Oxenreider of Carlisle's international award-winning "Circle of Friends," a machine-work quilt inspired by an 18th century tabletop, and the "Heritage Quilt" by the late quilt historian Mary Barton, on loan from the Iowa State Historical Society.
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