Celebrating 100 years of Balboa Park, Visions Art Museum have announced that four new exhibitions will run in Balboa Park, July 18 through Oct. 4.
Collectors’ Showcase
Collector’s Showcase is an opportunity to discover what compels collectors to add a particular quilt to their collection. This exhibition offers four distinct views with a broad range of design elements and quilt techniques that reflect the development of contemporary quilt design during the last 30 years. View quilts from the collections of Warren and Nancy Brakensiek, Carolyn L. Mazloomi, Yvonne Porcella, and Del Thomas’s Thomas Contemporary Quilts Collection. The exhibition opens with a reception on July 18th from 5-7 p.m.
Warren and Nancy Brakensiek began collecting art quilts in 1988 after being introduced to the first Pacific Northwest Quilt Exhibition by Rick Gottas of the American Art Company. The exhibition postcard featured a quilt by Erika Carter that became the Brakensiek’s first art quilt along with two others from that exhibition.
Carolyn L. Mazloomi is the founder of The Women of Color Quilters Network a non-profit organization founded in 1985 to foster and preserve the art of quilt-making among women of color. Dr. Mazloomi is among the most influential African American quilt historians and quilt artists of the twenty-first century. She has authored several books on African American-made quilts, most recently, “And Still We Rise: Race, Culture and Visual Conversations.”
Yvonne Porcella is the founder of Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) one of the most respected international art quilt organizations in the world. Since 1962 when she began making art quilts, she has won numerous awards and published several books on art quilts and apparel. Her collection includes works she acquired from the first SAQA auction which she has loaned for this exhibition.
Del Thomas has over 300 quilts in the Thomas Contemporary Quilt Collection (TCQC) reflecting her love of quilts with light-hearted themes and nature motifs. The TCQC includes more quilts by Ruth McDowell than any other private collection, five of which are shown in this exhibition. Thomas has been a quilter since childhood and began collecting in 1985 with a quilt by Judy Mathieson.
Balboa Park Arches
In recognition of the Balboa Park centennial, Visions Art Museum invited five San Diego County artists to interpret the arches in the Park. This begins a new tradition for Visions Art Museum to invite artists from San Diego County to create a series of quilts that are inspired by vistas in the County. Our inaugural exhibition features Linda Anderson, La Mesa; Karen Cunagin, Fallbrook; Jane LaFazio, Rancho Bernardo; Peggy Martin, San Diego; and Nelda McComb, Jamul. Each artist created two contemporary quilts measuring 24 inches by 24 inches.
Linda Anderson was influenced by the changing shadows the arches cast on the walkways of the Park. The photo-realism of her work highlights the allure that Balboa Park has held for the last 100 years with the strong contrast of bright sunlight and gray shadows.
Karen Cunagin was inspired by the infinite variety of flora and fauna in the Park, the architecture and surrounding landscape. One of her favorite spots is the reflecting pond.
Jane LaFazio used rusted cloth with paper and dupioni silk to mimic the “creamy vanilla stucco, reddish-pink terra cotta tile and dark brown-grey wrought iron” of the Park’s architecture.
Peggy Martin captured the latticework patterns the sunlight creates on the flowers and foliage of the Balboa Park Botanical Building. More patterns are created by the palm fronds that rise to the ceiling echoing the arched latticework.
Nelda McComb looked back in time at Balboa Park during the 1930s and ‘40s with her rendition of the Park during an earlier era.
Shaping Space
Artist Kate Stiassni has uses hand-dyed fabrics to play with pattern, angular geometric shapes and interweaving curves. She merges vibrant color against the contrast of black and white creating a spatial push/pull effect. The figure and ground relationships emerge and collapse in perceptual shifts. Her abstracted shapes are influenced by New York City architecture and the wooded hills of her northwest Connecticut landscape.
At the Beach
Visions Art Museum members have created theme related quilted textile works that measure 14 inches square.
Visions Art Museum: Contemporary Quilts + Textiles is located at 2825 Dewey Road in Liberty Station, San Diego, California. Museum hours are 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, noon-4:00 p.m. on Sunday. Admission is $7. Children age 12 and under are free when accompanied by an adult. Visions Art Museum members enjoy free admission. www.visionsartmuseum.org, 619-546-4872.
