/ab’strakt/
noun
Definition: art that does not attempt to represent external reality, but seeks to achieve its effect using shapes, forms, colors, textures, and gestural marks
Our current call for submissions is for abstract quilts. Abstract art was born out of opposition to realism and figurative art. Abstract art falls under a broad umbrella. It can be geometric and have symmetry or be chaotic and spontaneous. It is a genre with few limits.
Here is a selection of abstract quilts we admire and hope will spark your creativity. We encourage you to submit your work to be considered forCurated Quilts: Abstract. Submissions are now open until December 29, 2022.
Leaning Inward #5 by Valerie Maser-Flanagan @valerieflanagan
Flanagan says, “During times of turbulence and change, it is important to stay strong and centered within ourselves. I chose the word strength as a focus for the year. As I manifested strength, I grew in my ability to feel physically, emotionally, and mentally capable of moving forward in my life and artistic work.Leaning Inward #5 embodies this feeling through strong lines that create movement, tension, rhythm, and connection. The concept of growth, change, and support is created by the interaction of the arrangement of individual pieces, seam lines, and quilting lines.”
Sky Top by Nancy Lambert
Lambert createdSky Top while envisioning the view looking down from the sky. She says, “The blue skies and lush green grass come together and anchor themselves in the deep oceans. The deep oceans flow back into the grass and skies above. The warm sun shines throughout from above and down in the deep oceans.”
Lava Lamp 3 by Diana Fox @hiitsdi5280
This piece is inspired by ‘groovy’ lava lamps from the 1970s-80s. Fox has examined the oval shape in her work for multiple years and is mesmerized by the blobby shapes floating around in lava lamps.
Dragon Dance by Sheila Frampton-Cooper @sheilaframptoncooper
Frampton-Cooper says, “It was early 2020, just before the pandemic hit, and I was in a strange headspace. I’d recently returned from living abroad for six years, and I felt lost. Creatively I was stunted and this had never happened to me. However, I simply allowed myself to be where I was: depressed. One day, looking through a yoga magazine, I noticed a simple line drawing of a Mandala, and something inside of me started to stir! I grabbed my iPad and started drawing like crazy. The design for this quilt was the first one that came through. My son said it looked like a dragon, and in particular, a dragon you’d see in the traditional Chinese celebration “Dragon Dance.” Dragons come up quite often for me, and this is also my sign in Chinese astrology.”
Hextraordinary by Isabelle Selak @southbaybella
Selak createdHextraordinary for the QuiltCon 2022 Hexagon Quilting Challenge. This exploration of irregular hexagon shapes required the use of many, many Y-seams.
Piercing Pyramids by Claire Victor @cvquilts
This quilt is part of a series where Victor creates a 3-D effect using geometric shapes. She envisions the quilt as pyramids with stiff ribbons piercing through them. Victor’s machine quilting mirrors the piecing design. Interestingly, she used English Paper Piecing technique to create this quilt.
My Memphis by Corinne Sovey @corinne.sovey
My Memphis was inspired by the Memphis Milano design movement of the 1980s. Sovey used turned-edge machine appliqué for her shapes and added texture to the quilt through her own trapunto technique.
Shadowy Figures by Barbara Danzi @barbdanzi
“Shadowy Figures is an improvisational study in figure/ground tension, gray values, and scale. The figures are all C-shaped brackets, and I exaggerated the differences in size, scale, curviness, thickness, and how much each interlocks with others.”
You can find a plethora of modern quilt inspiration in the physical copies of Curated Quilts as well as by visiting our blog and Instagram account.
By Brittany Bowen Burton