Quilt show brings unexpected layers

TRIPPY: As part of the A Quilt Does Not Have to Stand Alone exhibition at Tairawhiti Museum, the fabric in Irene Smith’s padded room dividers has a traditional pattern called trip. “They’re not really quilts,” says show contributor Jamie Quirk. “They’re kind of wall hangings and all sorts of things.” Picture by Rebecca Grunwell

Forget the comfy, padded bed cover, the exhibition A Quilt Does Not Have to Stand Alone features work that pushes the hems of the art.

Eight textile artists were challenged to create artworks using objects and methods not generally associated with quilting. Quilter Donna Rowan partnered with photographer Lynne Haseldean to print photographs of doors and windows onto organza. This was layered with raw edge appliqué and traditional piecing techniques.

Sister and brother duo, Bronwyn Furlan and ceramicist Jamie Quirk combined textiles with clay. With the help of Makauri School students, Kathy Grimson created a mixed media design for the 2019 Te Ha Sestercentennial commemorations. Poll Wlliams reworked the back of her late mother’s chair with a combination of cane and quilted fabric while wire, stones, wood and twine, embellish the work of Deb Williams.

Morva Thomson’s dark towers of quilted cubes that incorporates paper made into fabric, CDs and fill, is inspired by the music of the late Leonard Cohen.

“One of his works was Tower of Song,” she says. “This is my tower.”

A Quilt Does Not Have to Stand Alone, Tairawhiti Museum, opens tomorrow.