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Community Corner

These Aren't Your Grandmother's Quilts

In Rossmoor, artistic quilters have helped to remake a utilitarian craft into an art form, with works displayed in galleries and prized by collectors.

Quilts have been a staple of American culture and a part of our tradition dating back to the Founding Fathers' time. It’s easy to imagine Colonial women sitting in a log cabin tediously working on their patchwork before winter arrives.

But the members of Quilts on the Wall want to change the stereotype that quilting is an outdated medium reserved for the elderly and not for serious artists.

The group meets every other month at the Rossmoor Library to educate the public, share ideas and promote “art quilting,” a branch of quilt-making that incorporates artistic styles such as impressionistic, abstract, classical and modern. Think of Renoir, Picasso, Monet or even Dali on a quilt.

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When most people think of quilting, they picture traditional quilts. Traditional quilts are for beds and are called “utility quilts,” because they are used solely for function, rather than aesthetics, said Quilts on the Wall founder Rose Hughes.

The "artistic quilting" movement emerged when quilters began to go beyond utility and use their fabric for artistic expression, she said. "When they stopped putting them on beds, they put them on walls, and that’s why we have our name.”

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The quilters who formed the group in 1996 combined their efforts to break into the art world.

“When I started to make something different, I wanted to see if people were doing what I was doing,” she said. “We found the Rossmoor Library, and the group started as a place where people can support each other as artists and learn their craft.”

But gallery owners did not accept quilting as a legitimate art form and refused to display quilts in their galleries. Quilting wasn’t profitable at the time, and the group had difficulty gaining attention for its work.

“When we first started, galleries didn’t know what to do with us. Even today you can meet someone that isn’t aware of art quilting,” said Hughes.

Hughes used the California Council of Guilds to promote the group and art form. There are more than 80 quilting guilds, with members ranging in number from one to 400. Hughes used her networking skills and put an announcement of the group on the guilds council's newsletter. Her blurbs attracted the attention of prominent people, including published authors, TV personalities and established artists who drove from such places as Ojai, San Diego and San Bernardino for the monthly Rossmoor meetings. The group now has more than 100 members, and it’s still growing.

“We have quite an interesting membership, including people that have been part of fascinating exhibits that have traveled the world. It’s a nice group to be a part of,” said Hughes.

The group’s primary focus was to educate art galleries about the emerging genre, and with so many members, the group soon found success. “There is a niche market, and it wasn’t really hard once word got out,” said Hughes.

The quilt makers were finally gaining popularity within the art world.

“It takes a while to create a market and educate the public. I’m an artist and a collector of art myself. Art is all about beautiful things that we love,"  said Hughes.

The group had some of its work featured in Oceanside Museum of Art’s spring exhibition, “Visions.” Art quilting has become so popular that the museum received more than 850 entries from around the world and accepted only 45 for the gallery showing. Quilts on the Wall is working on an exhibition for a Long Beach gallery in the summer.

Hughes studied photography in college and fell in love with the California landscape. She travels throughout California, photographing the scenery. She bases her quilts on the images that she took.  

“I’m really enthralled with the landscape and differences of scenery in California, she said. “My artwork expresses how much I love the outdoors here. Traditional quilts don’t make it easy to convey curbs.”

Hughes is a full-time artist. She quit her corporate job of 20 years to pursue her passion for quilt-making, and it now is her primary source of income.

“Art quilting is picking up," she said. "There has been a revival for the last 25 years. Most people don’t pay attention to what Grandma does or what Mom does, but we’re, like, a $7-billion-a-year industry."

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