Wayne is hosting an astonishingly good quilt show.
Certain cities and cultural institutions develop relationships with regularly held group exhibitions, which can take on mythical dimensions.
Venice has its Biennale, Pittsburgh its International. And suburban Wayne's ambitious neighborhood arts center is rapidly moving in that direction with its current "ArtQuilt Elements 2010" international competitive exhibit, featuring 50 quilts from 25 states and four other countries.
These quilts were selected from hundreds of applicants by a blue-ribbon jury. Already, this is the only biennial East Coast exhibition devoted exclusively to the art quilt, having grown out of the former ArtQuilts at the Sedgwick, which first organized a quilt show for a community festival in 1999.
It's well known that quilt shows of all kinds have a broad public appeal, and the current display boldly creates architectural beauty in the larger of the two main rooms where the biggest quilts hang.
The show's goals are twofold: presenting top-quality design, craftsmanship, and technique, and striving to educate viewers and the art world about the place art quilts occupy on the contemporary scene. This involves showing such technical processes as digital manipulation, printing on fabric, and new paints and drawing methods now applied to textiles.
Another interesting aspect is the growing number of former painters, architects, and designers now attracted to this field. So, while your grandmother's quilt-making hasn't been completely edged out of existence, it's definitely been marginalized in favor of these new enthusiasts. Evidence of professional artists' engagement can be seen in their celebration of quiltmaking as an art form, not to mention the presence of socially conscious images.
An incredibly rich range of lively subjects awaits the viewer in a display that testifies eloquently to the skill and sensitivity of artists for whom technical process seldom intrudes upon personal expression.
Distaff side
The steadily growing interest in art by women should be further stimulated by the "Women's Work" show at Sande Webster Gallery. These 11 regional artists (about half are gallery regulars) don't necessarily consider the world around them straightforwardly - but it's there, just beyond what we can see in the work of most of them. Overall, there's much vigor, even a belligerent generosity, that runs through this multicultural display, particularly among those who strive to rediscover instinct.
Betsy Casanas, a Latina muralist, makes the strongest impression with two large figures of women in ethnic garb that are robust, self-assured, and meant to be personal. Pensive and very human, these paintings convey the soul of the show.
Other artists with outstanding work include Kathleen Spicer, her painted wood sculptures' boldness their most bracing feature, Nannette Acker Clark's punchy African-inspired 3-D reliefs, and Marta Sanchez's paper works revealing a deft Mexican touch.
Avian art
There's something quite appealing and exceptional in Amy Meya's show "Perched" at Langman Gallery, in both portraying bird activity and clay handling. Meya is a largely self-taught ceramic artist with folk-art leanings who has lived in the Netherlands. Her current interest evolved through watching sparrows, cardinals, and goldfinches visit sunflowers outside her Kansas City dining-room window with her children, and through regular walks in the woods and camping.
And while much of her bird imagery at least suggests a narrative reading, these works give full play to their abstractness.
Especially effective is the sort of land mass modeling about these clay wall-panels and their handmade birds that owes its presence more to modeling than to silhouette-drawing. This is brought out by the textured backgrounds that momentary perching portrays.