QUILTS FROM THE LIBERATED SCHOOL OF DESIGN

The imagination quietly waits for an invitation. Engaging a process and setting aside a pattern is one way to invite the imagination to explore. Making a quilt piece by piece, sewing one thing to another and allowing the quilt to change as it grows is exciting from start to finish. Most of us learned to quilt by following instructions and patterns. Many of us enjoy taking that knowledge and improvising. 

Study with Gwen Marston opened my mind and liberated my practices. Gwen published Liberated Quiltmaking in 1996 and Liberated Quiltmaking II in 2010. Many of us called her our mentor and friend.

My quilts are machine pieced and quilted by hand. I approach hand quilting in a liberated fashion too, favoring free form lines and varied texture - sometimes sparse, sometimes dense. Each stitch by hand is a tiny hand made mark in cloth, holding things together by a thread.

Making a small quilt to work out ideas is a practice serving as an artist's study or sketch. Intending to make a small quilt requires little investment and invites experimentation.

Quilts and art are about what you bring to the process. 

In Jazz, improvisation makes music. In the sewing room, improvisation makes free style quilts through a process of discovery. It is all very liberating.

GWEN MARSTON HAS DONE IT AGAIN

Anyone who has slept under a quilt, admired a quilt, or made a quilt will want to know about Gwen's latest book, a common thread a collection of quilts by Gwen Marston. The quilts tell the story of Gwen's quilt making over the decades--over 5 decades of discovery on a Liberated path.  

Gwen organizes the collection to, dare I say, "cover" Traditional Patchwork, Appliqué, Liberated Patchwork, String Quilts and Abstract Quilts in Solids. Glorious photos of the full quilt are presented with detail photos on the facing page. I enjoyed lingering with the quilts noticing the stitches and marveling at Gwen's imagination. Gwen makes quilts using self expression and improvisation naming her approach Liberated Quiltmaking. You can feel liberated and enriched looking at these quilts.

Gwen Marston is an important quiltmaker, teacher, award winning author and artist of international standing, but Gwen doesn't often talk about her importance. In this book, her 30th., she welcomes you to delight in some of the quits she has made.  Think of a common thread as a visit to Gwen's house. After a cup of coffee and a piece of pie, Gwen asks if you would like to see some quilts!    pjb 

published by Martingale  shopmartingale.com