Quilt Exhibit, Part 2

"Stars in Heaven" silk Quilt by Matsuko Morishita from Japan

This is blog post # 2 featuring quilts from the exhibit "Japanese Influences in Fiber Arts" which ended January 5, 2014 at the Wisconsin Museum of Quilts and Fiber Arts in Cedarburg, Wisconsin, USA.  The quilts I pictured here are award winning quilts from the Japanese Quilt Show, the 11th biennial Nihon Quilt exhibit.  These quilts are now being exhibited at the New England Quilt Museum Jan 16, 2014 through April 12, 2014. To see my other blog post from this exhibit, click here.

Close up of Matsuko Morishita's quilt

Most of these phenomenal quilts feature incredible needlework and design skills.  The "Stars in Heaven" silk quilt by Matsuko Morishita, above, took her over 4 years to complete.  The antique fabrics and silks give a beautiful glow to the quilts, and the color placement is inspired.  This quilt won the top award in the traditional category of the Japanese Nihon Show.

"Grassland" Quilt by Mikiko Misawa from Japan

The Grassland quilt (above) was made of special thai silk, and was featured on most of the promotional material for the Cedarburg show.  It is difficult to photograph accurate color, but this quilt glowed.  It was wonderful.  This quilt won the top award in the contemporary category of the Japanese Nihon Show.

Flying Geese Quilt by Yoko Suzuki from Japan

Ok, to throw a little slang around here, many of these quilts had crazy workmanship.  Really, I don't see such time consuming quilts at my local quilt shows.  Yoko Suzuki's deceptively tranquilt brow quilt, above and below, for example.  The flying geese in the main blocks are appliqued over each other.  An appliqued circular wreath of delicate beige lies under the overlapping flying geese.  The intersections of the blocks have complicated details.  Gold embroidery tops the blocks. 

close-up of Yoko Suzuki's center blocks

But then what does Yoko Suzuki do for the border?  Curved pieced flying geese in a complicated clam shell arrangement, with more applique.  And the hand quilting shines here also, including in a polka dot fabric she used throughout the quilt where she hand quilted around every dot.  I would love to own this quilt, and usually I prefer bright colors, not browns.  This is a fantastic quilt.

close-up of Yoko Suzuki's border

I can't show every quilt, I'm worried this blog post will take lots of time to load as is.  But here is a detail from another quilt with fantastic workmanship.  Katsuko Tazaki's 12 sided stars (below) are hand pieced with antique silk kimono fabrics.  The hand piecing gives the quilt a breath-taking softness and antique look.

close-up detail from Katsuko Tazaki's Shining Stars quilt

Yoko Kageyama created a quilt with applique, 3d floral details, and the fantastic 6 sided cathedral window center section (center section shown below) which had lovely silk from family kimonos.

Close up of center section of a quilt by Yoko Kageyama of Japan

I'm lucky I was able to see this exhibit multiple times.  Each time I see the exhibit, another quilt reveals calls out to me and many quilts reveal new details.  Perhaps I  notice the impact and the colors on the first visit, next time I notice the fabrics, later I ponder the construction.  

This last detail I am sharing is from the grassland quilt shown above.  Japanese esthetic is different then ours, and I notice this in some of the quilts.  We rarely quilt family crests, for example.  Color choices and fabrics differ.  In the grassland quilt, the quilter decided to shred the silk in some of the sections to reveal the silk warp and weft colors.  You can see this if you look closely below.  This is something I would find hard to do to the quilt.  Surprisingly, I didn't notice the shredding until it was pointed out to me.
 

Detail of the "Grassland" Quilt by Mikiko Misawa

The exhibit at the Wisconsin Museum of Quilts and Fiber Arts in Cedarburg, Wisconsin, USA is worth seeing if you have the opportunity.  If not, I hope I have been able to share with you some  of the wonderful quilts shown there.

Click on the images to see them enlarged 
(Yes, you can see these images even larger!  The best way to see the images in their largest format is to (on a windows system) right click on the image and select "open in new tab" from the option box that opens. This bypasses software that limits the size of the image opened.  On the newly opened image, click on the image again to see it  zoomed maximum). 


 

If you enjoyed this post you might also like:

Batik Stars Quilt

Batik Scrap Quilt

Circle Quilt

Heart Quilt

Quilts Part 2

Spring Needlework

Vintage Lace

Butterfly Bling

Kaleidoscope Part 6

Kaleidoscope Part 5

Kaleidoscope Part 4

Mosaic Window

I am linking up to these parties:
Quilt specific links:

Marelize: Anything goes Monday 44 (Entry 26 of 36.)
ihavetosay: Show-and-tell Tue (Entry 5 of 20)
Connie at Freemotion: Linky Tuesday  (Entry 14 of 43.)
Quilt story: Fabric Tuesday (Entry 10 of 54.)
Blossomheart: Sew Cute Tue (Entry 12 of 31.)  
Colorful life: Really random Thur (Entry 6 of 13.)
Prettybobbin.com: Thur Quilt linky party (Entry 13 of 21.)
Richard/Tanya quilts: Link a Finish Friday 94 (Entry 32 of 32.)

Others I enjoy:
Create-with-joy: Inspire Me Mon 99 (Entry 182 of 224.)
Dwellings: Amaze me Monday 34 (Entry 68 of 97.)
Rain on a Tin Roof: Give me the Goods Mon 36 (Entry 177 of 280.)
Isabell: Great Advent Calendar (Entry 63 of 133.)
Cherished Treasures: Creative Corner 90 (Entry 34 of 53.)
Made By You: Made by you Monday 179 (Entry 264 of 336.)
Clairejustine: Creative Mondays (Entry 91 of 109.)
Diy: More the Merrier Monday 25 (Entry 37 of 55.)
Homecoming: The Diyers 39 (Entry 44 of 127.)
Manic Monday: Manic Monday (Entry ? of 63.)
Alderberry hill: Make the scene Mon 100 (Entry 2 of 205?)
Sweet Sharing: Sweet Sharing Monday 80 (Entry 159 exp.) 
A Blossoming life: Frugal crafty home 51 (Entry 99 exp.)
Pkitchen: Show Me Mondays 45 (Entry 64 of 86.)
Keeping it Simple: Motivate me Mon 201 (Entry 429 of 476.)
Mod Vintage: Mod Mix Mon 129 (Entry 36 of 59.)
Boogie Board: Masterpiece Mon 151 (Entry 86 of 100.)
BNOTP: Metamorphis Monday 252 (Entry ? of 215.)
Coastal Charm: Nifty Thrifty Tues 189 (Entry 32 of 250.)
* Stroll Life: Inspire Me Tues 192 (Entry 150 of 256.)
Uncommon Slice: Tues Treasures 161 (Entry 50 of 176.)
Lavender Garden: Cottage Style (Entry 10 of 27.) b

Handy: Wicked Awesome Wed 138 (Entry 2 of 55.)
Family Home: Wow us Wed (Entry 66 of 109.)
Snap: Show and Tell (Entry 82 of 125.)

Ivy and Elephants: Whats it Wed 102 (Entry 36 of 129.)
Someday Crafts: Whatever Goes Wed 198 (Entry 109 of 303.)
Katherine: Thurs Favorite Things 116 (Entry 31 exp.)
Jan Olson: Share your Cup of Tea Thur 83 (Entry 4 of 84.)
From my Porch: Treasure Hunt Thur 134 (Entry 50 of 101.)
Girlish Whims: Your Whims Wed 139 (Entry 90 of 149.)
Sew Much Ado: We Did It Wed 182 (Entry 73 of 221.)
Brambleberry Cottage: Time Travel Thur 176 (Entry 1 of 72.)
Col Lady: Vintage Thingies Thur (Entry 8 of 9.)
A Delight: Home and Garden Thur 57 (Entry 8)
Knick of time: Knick-of-time Tue (Entry 43)

Adorned from above: Adorned Wed (Entry 68)
Sand yellow door: Home (Entry 10)
Charm of Home: Home Sweet Home 147 (Entry 3)
Thrifty Grove: skippin Thanksg (Entry )
French Country: Feather Nest Fri (Entry 17)
* Common Ground: be Inspired 166 (Entry 55)
* Romantic Home: Show and Tell (Entry 43)
Chic: Flaunt it Friday 180 (Entry )  
Tatertots: Weekend Wrap Up (Entry )
Cedarhill Ranch: The Sun Scoop 94 (Entry 285)  
Savvy Style: Wow Us Wed 144 (Entry ) *

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