Sunday, August 31, 2008

Antique Qlt Vendors Finale!

Last but most definitely not least are two vendors whose quilts you can enjoy seeing here as they do not have internet access.


Antique Qlt Vendors Finale


Labors of Love can be found at large quilt and textile events and festivals. I saved their pictures for the Labor Day weekend. (If you believe that, I have a genuine UGRR quilt for sale...)

Cotance, owner of Scarlet Ladies Antiques, describes herself as a gypsy, traveling from shop to show to shop to show across the country.

This concludes my photo journey through the first International Quilt Festival in California.

Have a great time for the rest of your long weekend.

Piece,
Kim

Friday, August 29, 2008

More Antique Qlt Vendors

I promised you more pictures of the vendors selling gorgeous antique quilts at the Long Beach quilt show and I follow through on my promises! It seems uploading them is another story completely and each photo has to be repeated many times before it actually uploads. This is taking longer than piecing a king size quilt and I am just too busy to acquiesce.

So, as not to disappoint, I have found a way around this temporary obstacle.
If you will, click on this album
Antique Quilt Vendors


To see more of the quilts these vendors offer you, here are their websites.

Email Sandy White ~ sandywhiteAQ@adelphia.net

Cindy's Antique Quilts

Mary Koval Antique Quilts

Believe it or not- I have two more vendors to share with you! Since a holiday weekend is upon us, I will blog them to you before you can make a quilter's knot.

Be safe and have fun,
Kim

Monday, August 25, 2008

Hewson & the French Connection

My article "John Hewson and the French Connection" is currently in The Magazine ANTIQUES , August 2008 issue. This is my second research paper about John Hewson in less than a year, but I have been engaged in in-depth research about him and his work since 2002.

The first paper appeared last October in FOLK ART Magazine of the American Folk Art Museum. Hewson is considered to be one of the earliest and the finest of chintz block printers in America's history. He emigrated from England to Philadelphia in 1773 to set up one of the first textile printing factories here. His goal was to dye and print cotton and linen fine enough to compete with England's dyed and printed cottons. Colorfast printing on cotton was still new to the Western world at that time and they loved it; colorful cottons from India, called chintz, were all the rage around the world and now Europe and America would be competitors.

A small number of textiles printed by Hewson exist today (as far as we know there are twenty-eight) and the majority of them have a large vase holding a bouquet of garden flowers placed in the middle of a square printed panel. The quilt maker often placed this panel in the middle of a medallion or frame quilt. Or the vase and flowers design was carefully cut-out of the chintz and appliquéd to a different background in a quilt.

The vase and flowers are colorful and naturalistic in their depiction. Hewson's influence was thought to be from his homeland and from Dutch flower paintings. A closer look at the neoclassical decorations on the vase indicated to me that it was in fact more like the decorative arts I was seeing made in France in the last quarter of the 18th century. With the decorative arts as my field for research, I became more convinced of the French connection as I went along. Then in 2004 I found the source of his design!

What I reveal in this important paper is the late 18th century French arabesque wallpaper in the Louis XVI style from which Hewson borrowed the vase and flowers design to print onto cotton. He took the central portion of the vertically repeating design on the wallpaper, adapting the tip top of his flowers and bottom of base of his vase, to show a complete free-standing design.

The wallpaper curators of museums in France and America are of the belief that this wallpaper was from the atelier Jean Baptiste Réveillon, whose manufactory was known for producing the finest luxurious arabesque wallpapers at that time. 1780-1790. Who printed the French wallpaper I discuss in this article, is not certain as it is not stamped with a manufactory and it is not in the sample books of Réveillon's wallpapers kept at various museums. However, the late 18th century printing was likely printed at his manufactory after he retired, by the new owners were Jacquemart and Benard.

I also reveal how the manner of Chinese wallpaper artists probably affected Hewson's designs and choices he made for the lay-out of his panel. This is not to be confused with the style called chinoiserie. The manner of early Chinese wallpaper artists, who were the first to make wallpaper, is the influence I write about here and it is significant.

Wonderful photos accompany my article. The highlight of all the photos however is the pair of portraits of John and Zibiah Hewson!! Their portraits have not been published before.

I will be publishing more of my research findings and assessments about John Hewson’s life and his work. I am available for lectures and presentations. To talk about this further please contact me directly at a different email address, quiltdating@gmail.com or go to my website for the phone and address at http://www.antiquequiltdating.com/ I welcome your inquires and contributions!

The month is nearly over, so if you haven't found a copy yet, order one from the publisher by email: avalarezo@brantpub.com or to subscribe call 212.941.2806. Some Borders and Barnes & Nobles sell the magazine, as well as other fine bookstores, and many libraries subscribe.

Enjoy,
Kim

Kimberly Wulfert, PhD

Thursday, August 21, 2008

More IQF LB quilts and people

Hello everyone- I hope you are having a good August! This summer has whirled by me, one of the busiest I have had in some time. Isn't August when everyone goes on vacation and it's"dead"? Not so this year! (I go on to blab about the Olympics for awhile here, but if you scroll down you will see photos of the quilt show- promise)

Plus the Olympics have caught my attention this year, I have so enjoyed learning and seeing more about China than I ever have. I have cried so man y times watching Micheal Phelps, Shannon Johnson and Nastia, Misty May and Kerrie, and all the other people who are so superior in their sport. My heart has grown huge with happiness for them and I am regularly awed by their ability and by their handling of the challenge before them. Such wonderful role models for everyone!

I must admit that I have not watched the Olympics before, other than here and there, but this locale and Phelps' story caught my eye. Come to find out, many incredibly inspiring personal stories have been told by NBC. I am blown away by what these people have gone through in their personal life! It made me appreciate everyone of them so much more deeply.

Remember I am a clinical psychologist and have worked in many venues and heard many stories, but seldom do people rise to such levels of overcoming the challenges, although some certainly do! I don't mean in their sport, I mean in their life. They are able to keep their vision, reach their personal goals, get support, find their way, rise above feeling like the victim of their life and instead a leader of their life who dream big and make it happen in spite of the odds. I am so impressed by the Olympians' accomplishments before they get to China. I especially have enjoyed seeing how many older folks are coming back to compete and doing a great job.

I certainly don't see watching the Olympics as a tacit acceptance of communism or Chinese attitudes toward women, the environment or Tibet. As I see it, the athletes and this huge country of human beings also living on this planet, are my brothers and sisters, and knowing their ways is enhancing my life. Wasn't that Opening Ceremony something? I simply have never been so awed at a performance and I've been awed at a lot of performances, but 2008 people in unison on stage, over and over again with different sets of 2008 people in perfect unison, doing intertwined performances, on a giant led monitor- the tears were just running down my cheeks in amazement that they have this level of discipline, creativity and vision in China.

With that said, let's look at some pictures of the fabulous quilts and people I saw at the Long Beach Quilt Festival.
















These happy campers are Audrey, Dee and me.

So who are Audry and Dee, besides my long time buddies? They are the founders, planners and hostesses with the mostesses of both Quilt Camp in the Desert (Jan. in Phoenix) and Quilt Camp in the Pines (July in Flagstaff, AZ) See http://www.quiltcamp.com/ to see the teachers lined up for the July camp. It's a blast!


This was the booth for SAQA, Studio Artists Quilt Association, one of the earliest art quilt group orgs, which Yvonne Porcella began right here in California.Artists in the Photo from left- Jeanette Kelly, Cathy Gregory, Linda Miller, and Karen Lusnak.

I would show you photos of SAQA's quilts on exhibit here, but no photography was allowed. These are incredible quilts though, many presented in a series, and many were for sale and marked sold on the very first day.

when I took a time out to hear Yvonne Porcella teach for a half hour (and describe her new magazine coming out this fall!)I was oohing and ahhing in unison with the woman sitting behind me, so I turned around to talk during the break, to see the kindred spirit. Turns out it was Peggy Martin, the Strip Paper Piecing Queen!


A funny coincidence happened (there are no coincidences in my opin)I had just ordered a DVD of Peggy's book from C&T for reviewing. It won't be out until November darn it, but it was on my mind and then there she was! We had a great talk and I look forward to watching her teach even more now.

More to come from the Long Beach show, but this is it for now. Piece to you and those you quilt with!

Kim

Monday, August 4, 2008

Antique Quilt Vendors at IQF CA

As I said in the last blog, Joyce Gross' antique quilts were the only antique quilts on display at the International Quilt Festival in Long Beach CA. However fabulous vendor's booth made up for it! I have never in all my years of quilt hunting at CA quilt shows, seen as many antique quilt vendors at one event. Even if I had, the eastern region vendors brought early 1800s quilts, quilts made of chintz, still glazed in some cases, toile fabrics and pieces of bed hangings from France, and woven coverlets. These we so seldom see en mass in southern Cal.

All the antique quilt and textiles vendors I asked were gracious to let me take pictures of their booths to share with you. I am going to show you a booth from New England vendor's today.








Pique,(accent on the e toward left) was a totally new vendor to me, owned by Julia and Valerie Kelly-Hodenius. Their coxcomb quilt was a little worn from friction during use, but the quilting was stunning. Interesting to me that the Turkey red fabric showed wear, but not the teal or background fabrics.



Their princess feather quilt- WOW- this quilt maker had time and talent. The quilt measures 127" x 131". Her applique quilt has a "coxcombesque" border flower and a compass design in-between the giant feathers. It is beautiful in person, grand and orange. Do you get a picture of the maker in your head?




Pique brought 18th century fabric from France and England on bolts! Of course these are not original, they are cardboard, but they had enough of the yardage to sell it this way, and they weren't cutting it up.
















In the photo below the toile on the left is early 20th century furnishing fabric, and the toile piece on the left was made one hundred years plus earlier.Both were made in France.








We will end with a blue and white double weave coverlet dated 1854, no name or region.



Thank you Pique for sharing your collection with my subscribers. You can visit their website at www.piquetrouver.com

Piece,

Kim