This morning my inbox had a
link to a new interview with Marianne Fons, of Fons and Porter fame, from one
of my favorite sites WHY QUILTS MATTER, the Kentucky Quilt Project blog. For those not familiar, they independently
produced and funded the 8 part series Why Quilts Matter: History, Art and Politics
documentary series that ran on PBS thru independent distributors. It was so well done, and informative!
I enjoy Fons and Porter, even
visiting their shop in Iowa with a friend of mine on a cross-country RV junket
a few years ago. The interview tells how
she got her start, and how her partnership formed with Liz Porter.
The most surprising part of the
interview was about the modern quilt movement.
I’ve been researching this segment for some time, primarily asking
myself one question………….how are aging baby boomer quilters going to ensure our
love of quilting is passed down to the following generations? Recently I joined a group of local ladies to
create a new quilt guild (members at 85 and climbing already) and this became
one of my tops concerns.
Marianne was asked what she
sees are some of the greatest changes in the quilt movement in the past five
years. “I’ve been totally pumped by the ‘modern
movement'. Many of the quilters attracted to the ‘modern’ aesthetic are youngish,
and I have enjoyed the infusion of energy brought by young quilters, especially
in the industry side.”
Meaning…..new fabric designers,
and their emerging styles. Tula Pink, Joel Dewberry, Denyse Schmidt, Parson
Gray to name a few….plus those more familiar names Kaffe Fassett and Amy Butler,
all deeply entrenched in the modern movement.
You can see what I wrote about
the modern movement in previous posts.
You can also ‘Google’ modern quilts, modern quilt books, and modern
quilt designers to see lots of wonderful examples that help explain what this
exciting category is. They are fresh and beautiful! Or visit QUILTCON and the
Modern Quilt Guild, the national organization devoted to the modern
movement.
I feel pretty safe that the future of quilting is in very good hands with the many younger people involved in this movement. My only regret is I won’t be around in a hundred years to see how things have evolved, but I suspect quilts will still VERY MUCH matter.
I feel pretty safe that the future of quilting is in very good hands with the many younger people involved in this movement. My only regret is I won’t be around in a hundred years to see how things have evolved, but I suspect quilts will still VERY MUCH matter.
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