Day 25 – Thursday, May 31
Today was primarily a travel day. On the tram to Amsterdam’s train station this morning there was sudden shrieking sound – that seemed to be coming from me! Long story short, my personal alarm accidentally turned on. Fortunately, the people in the car were very nice and had a good laugh. I tried not to be overly embarrassed (or be the dumb American).
As always, with “Big Red” (my large quilt-carrying suitcase) at my side, lots of folks offered to help lift and move it – even help me get from train platform to platform – as required. Thank-you one and all.
Anyway, I made it Celle (northeast of Hannover, up North). From what I’ve seen so far, a small but pretty town with lots of half-timbered buildings. It’s hot !! (people most everywhere have been complaining the entire trip about this May in Europe being the hottest ever). I went for a walk after arriving, and promptly got soaked by a passing thunderstorm.
So it’s hot and humid. And of course the hotel doesn’t have air conditioning.
We had a group dinner tonight to meet the staff and the other visiting and featured artists. I was able to order a fairly healthy (thin) pizza; I was also told that the hotel has a fairly comprehensive international breakfast, but “no syrup – we know how Americans like their big meals plus syrup”. People also insisted that I have a taste of beer (I basically don’t drink) so that I could send my son (an amateur brewer) a “picture to treasure”. So I hefted the smallest beer they had.
Tomorrow mid-morning we hang the exhibits, and I believe the show itself kicks off tomorrow evening. Then I teach my two-day fabric painting class – the same as I taught last week in Amsterdam – Saturday and Sunday; like Amsterdam, fully subscribed! We then pull down the exhibits Sunday evening. It’s going to be a busy three days.
Day 26 – Friday, June 1
The exhibit and booth are both great; the show starts tomorrow. Several of my larger quilts are the first thing that everyone sees when coming into the exhibition hall (the rest of my quilts are then just to the right, off-camera).
After setting up (with the help of several guild members – thank-you to all) I visited this rather exceptional “food” store today, with barrels of different Scotch Whiskeys and entire walls of olive oils, Balsamics, flavored oils, liquors, you name it. I’ve never seen anything like it. I also stopped at a fruit and vegetable stand to get some snacks, and was blown away by all the beautiful white asparagus, which is in season. Europeans love their white asparagus – for good reason. It’s delicious.
BTW, I checked, and they do have syrup at the breakfast buffet. I'm not quite sure what that means.
And I have to comment on Google Translate (on my iPhone). It has evolved to the point of amazingness, and makes traveling sooo much easier and pleasant. Just talk and it translates. Take a picture and it will translate what it sees. Or just focus on something (without even clicking) and rub your finger over the words on the screen that you’re interested in; it translates what you point to on the fly. It’s wonderful, it’s magic, and you can mix and match modes – I can quickly understand the signs in a pastry shop, for instance – “oh, an almond pastry”, and then affirmatively communicate, without hesitation, that “I’ll take one, Bitte”; then “oh, a chocolate croissant” (“I’ll take that one too, vielen Dank”), etc.
I’ve already had a number of folks come up and introduce themselves as taking my class tomorrow. It should be a good time, with friendly and eager students.
Day 27 – Saturday, June 2
A good day teaching fabric painting. Pleasant and dedicated students (actually, everyone here has just been wonderful) who, as always, were eager to learn the what and how of fabric painting (note: not dyeing). Long “official” class schedules – from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm both today and tomorrow. I was thus not able to spend time at the exhibit; many thanks to the guild’s “angels” who watched my quilts all day!
The class ordered take-out for lunch so we could continue working without taking a long break: pizza and/or salads. I got the salad, of course, but we weren’t provided any forks. Fine for the pizza folks, but not us salad eaters. Rather than waste time, we just ate with our fingers.
At the end of the day we all walked over to the exhibition hall so I could use my quilts to help further explain the where and when of my use of some of my different techniques and effects, etc., when guild representatives came over to excitedly tell me that I had won the People’s Choice Award for Best Exhibit! It was fun celebrating with my students (who were as excited as I was). I’ve also included (below) a photo of me being introduced last night at the opening reception (I was still basically wearing my quilt hanging and set-up clothes; happily the event was very informal).
One of my students (who also adopted the role of translator) and I had a great Indian dinner, finishing with a gross (i.e., decadently wonderful) ice cream dessert to celebrate the award.
Day 28 – Sunday, June 3
Class was great. No non-painting demos today (not that that’s a bad thing), just everyone heads-down and painting away like crazy all day, creating beautiful fabric for their upcoming projects. The more fabric that people paint, the more completed fabric they take home!
Both the workshop and the exhibition end today. A successful and thoroughly enjoyable few days sharing my Stones’ stories, and teaching fabric painting. Plus everyone was so wonderfully pleasant and helpful, and professional. What could be better (well, maybe air-conditioning in the hotel, but the heat we've been experiencing is not considered normal)?
After dinner with lots of the other quilters, I’m now busy packing up Big Red (my quilt-carrying suitcase). Tomorrow I take the train back to Amsterdam, hang out for a day, then head north to Groningen and my little church in Rottum (built on the site of a ruined Benedictine monastery) where I’ll be hanging and showing my quilts.
Day 29 – Monday, June 4
I left Celle this morning via train (through Hannover) and arrived back in Amsterdam about 4:00 pm this afternoon. I’m pretty much spending the afternoon and evening just wandering about (my very favorite thing to do).
Coming into Amsterdam the train passed the airport; never have I seen such huge bicycle “parking lots”, some of which were actually double decker. The photo below is just one small part of one parking area. The number of bicycles here is sometimes hard to envision.
Wandering around I also saw many more bronze plates today; embedded in the sidewalk in front of what were their homes, the plates honor the names of Jews who were “disappeared” to Auschwitz et. al., and the dates of their death. I saw similar plates in Celle. The idea is to never forget. Very moving.
Day 30 – Tuesday, June 5
Today was my last day off, just wandering around being a tourist (and Amsterdam is such a great place to do it). Lots of pictures from my strolling around. Then it’s off by train (it's about a two hour trip) to Groningen tomorrow morning for set-up, receptions, etc. on Thursday, and working the actual Quiltfestival Friday through Sunday. Monday morning I then head to Amsterdam Airport (again, by train), flying home that afternoon.
There are also a number of stone circles et. al. just south of Groningen that I’m hoping to maybe visit after Thursday's set-up (time and opportunity permitting). Once the actual Quiltfestival starts, though, I’m pretty much glued to my exhibit (since I'm not concurrently teaching a workshop), which is more than okay – a lot of people (7000+ last year) visit the various villages and exhibition sites (such as the church that I'll be using in Rottum), and I love, of course, sharing and talking about my quilts – and my stones, and their stories. I don’t want to shortchange anyone that takes the (significant) time and effort to visit.
Day 31 – Wednesday, June 6
I made it to Groningen a little before noon, and was picked up at the train station by the daughter of the Quiltfestival Director, who drove me all over showing me the sights – the ocean, windmills (both modern and 1800’s), etc, eventually ending up about 20 to 30 minutes further north of Groningen, very much out in the country, where both my (lovely) hotel, and quilt exhibition church (photo below), are located. As always, everyone that I’ve met has just been wonderful.
The (megalithic) stones that I was hoping to visit turn out to be a fair ways away (south of Groningen), so I likely will not make it there this trip.
Day 32 – Thursday, June 7
I spent much of the day hanging my quilts (eleven of them) in Rottum’s (a very small town) church. It was built in 1889 on the site of a ruined monastery (Saint Juliana's Abbey) that was originally founded between 1195 and 1210 by Benedictine monks (and which, according to tradition, was likely predated by an even older pagan temple on the same site). The monastery went through various incarnations and upheavals over the years (and centuries), but the pulpit and organ (probably relatively new) survived and now grace the current building. The oldest grave marker in the church’s cemetery dates from the 1400’s. All in all, very cool.
The quilts look lovely, but with the high ceilings they were (very) difficult to hang. I luckily had great help – there was no way I could have done it by myself (or even tried).
When everything was hung a woman who lives next to the church (and who had come over and helped with the hanging) invited me over to her home for a “cooling fruit drink” (she called it blackberry, though it was something different than what we think of, but it was nevertheless a very refreshing, perfect-for-a-hot-afternoon-after-hanging-quilts drink). We sat out in the backyard and had a very pleasant time just enjoying good conversation and the countryside.
Tomorrow is the official start of the Quiltfestival, running Friday through Sunday. The weather is supposed to be great, so I was told to expect lots of bicyclists (and cars, of course) out enjoying the village-to-village art circuit.
Day 33 – Friday, June 8
Today there was a constant, steady stream of visitors; tomorrow is supposed to be busier still, especially with the forecasted good weather. I was delighted when I heard two different groups of people audibly gasp after entering the church and first seeing my quilts from a distance. There were also a number of visitors who introduced themselves saying that they had seen my quilts in Celle (Germany), or Luxembourg, or even a couple of years ago at Carrefour (Alsace, France), and wanted to both revisit the stones and "check in" to say "hi". Thanks to everyone for visiting and for their kindness.
I also got feedback that folks would like me to return to Amsterdam (sometime in the near future) to teach more classes. Twist my arm! Amsterdam is delightful (as are its students).
There are two wood burning stoves (for heat) in the middle of the church, each with a large vent going to the ceiling, plus hanging lights – making it difficult to get clean photos.
Day 34 – Saturday, June 9
We again had a steady parade of visitors throughout the day, though we also had a number of ”swarms” where larger groups arrived at the same time; apparently my quilts have become one of the talked about “must-see” exhibits. I even sold out of all of my printed greeting cards.
I also brought some of my hand-painted fabric (and differing appliqué examples) so that people could “touch and feel” it to their hearts content. In the US I do this in an (oftentimes vain) attempt to keep people from manhandling the actual quilts (some people just can’t stand not rubbing the fabric, or not turning the quilt around to see the backside stitching), whereas in Europe I’ve found that almost everyone would never even consider touching the original art. But they love feeling the fabric samples and talking about my painting and construction techniques.
I was spelled by a couple of other quilters for an hour late in the afternoon (when there were fewer visitors) and was able to "stretch my legs" and visit a couple of the other nearby exhibits (including inside a traditional wind mill). As much as I like talking about my quilts, and explaining my attraction to, and focus on, megalithic stones – and I was really busy talking up a storm today – sometimes it’s really nice to just enjoy a bit of down time. Oftentimes you don’t even know that you need it until it is "forced" on you.
I was also invited to the Director of the Quiltfestival’s home for dinner tonight (I already felt like family – her daughter picked me up at the train station, and her husband and son did my quilt hanging); a lovely visit, great vegetable soup, and so very pleasant to get away from restaurants for even a little while (I also had a number of home cooked meals in Amsterdam). During the day a small cafe next door also kept bringing me tea and hand-crafted snacks to help keep my energy level up. Thank-you all!
Day 35 – Sunday, June 10
A good final day. The crowds today were even larger than before; not only a steady flow, but at one time there were actually over thirty people in the church. I was so busy that I forgot to take photos. Sorry. At the end of the day we packed everything up, and I’ll be taking the train to the Amsterdam airport early tomorrow morning to fly home – it’s been a long, wonderful trip (and, amazingly, I’ll be back in September to exhibit at Carrefour with my students from last year’s Post Carrefour workshop, plus I’ll be visiting the stones in Brittany, also with one of my students).
Lots of the weekend’s visitors introduced themselves as quilters who had wanted to take my fabric painting class in Amsterdam a couple of weeks ago but couldn’t make their schedules work, etc. I could have probably filled another two or even three classes; we’re already talking about a possible five-day Art Quilt Design Intensive retreat (to be held somewhere in the middle of the Netherlands to ease travel logistics for everyone) in the not-to-distant future. A couple of people also said they were actually thinking about flying over and attending next year’s Hudson River Valley Art Workshops retreat (Greenville, New York, USA). Very cool.
Displaying my quilts in the church was great, with multiple visitors commenting that the location was perfect because people could just sit in the pews and quietly enjoy at their leisure.
I also received lots of positive, wonderfully supportive feedback. I particularly cherished the comment that “you paint with fabric”. Wow.
Finally, like the other exhibitions on this trip, there was lots of quilter-to-quilter networking – me introducing people to others, and vise versa. The future is exciting!
Day 36 – Monday, June 11
I’m home! I’ve been gone so long that the yard is blooming away and the vegetable garden is feeding us already.
At the end of such a trip, it’s a good time to reflect a bit.
My quilts seem to engage a remarkably wide range of viewers: quilters, artists, and the public-at-large. Equally so whether in the EU, the US, or Asia. People often feel, particularly with my portals and passageways, that the quilts “pull them in”, that they want to go into and through them. But a surprising large number of people also react to my quilts emotionally. It’s as if the quilts – the stones – jostle some deep core of cellular memories, surfacing hidden remembrances otherwise forgotten.
Viewers also really enjoy knowing that I “build” my quilts the same way as a stone mason builds a wall or structure, working from the ground up, one stone at a time.
These reactions are central to why I make my stone quilts. Successful art – and successful art quilts – must be more than just “interesting”. It needs to somehow move you, evoke emotion, seem alive, make you feel or remember something important, make you want to go there, make you want to be there now, in the moment.
I try to quilt emotional, soulful quilts. My subjects are luminescent old souls – my stones. Thus the phrase “stone portraits”.
My quilts are typically based on my use of my hand-painted fabrics; the intermixed use of varying appliqué, insetting, and free form strip piecing techniques; what I believe to be interesting compositional and situational lighting, shadowing, and perspective; realistic stones but abstract skies and landscape; etc. But my “style” is also based on strong craftsmanship and technical proficiency, characteristics that I found to be common to all the great quilts I saw during the trip, without exception. This proficiency – and associated best practices relative to the what, when, why, and how of various techniques – is the focus of my various construction techniques and design workshops.
Craftsmanship and technique are not secondary to “artistic expression”. They are equal partners in the creation of intuitively-driven and communicative art. Intuition is the stones talking to me.
Art Quilting allows me the ability to express my stones’ stories in ways that I have not found other mediums capable of matching. Good art quilts can be the finest of fine art.
I am so privileged and delighted to be able to travel so extensively and share my quilts with so many different audiences. And thank-you to all those that have so warmly helped me every step of the way along this as yet unfinished journey.
Thanks for reading my (very first) blog. Let me know if you enjoyed it! If there’s enough interest I’ll start it back up when I next head out (to Le Carrefour European du Patchwork – Sainte Marie Aux Mines, France) this coming September.