Then she thought, what if the book and the quilt were of the same story, so that, by sending the quilt you are sending a hug, and you could then read the children the book by Zoom call while they are wrapped in the quilt version of the story?
“Then, they are feeling the connection that you and they have.”
Each quilt on display is completely different because it relates to a particular book that Jenny connects with in some way.
“This exhibition is quilt making inspired by a book,” says Jenny. “Even though these are not illustrator works, they are illustrating the feeling that’s in the book.”
One quilt is representative of the crazy thoughts and ideas in a girl’s head, and it even has thought bubbles from the idea maelstrom to a representation of the girl in the story.
Each quilt has a small panel of just the right colour — that’s Jenny’s signature.
Jenny chose the books from Paige’s Book Gallery next door to Lockett Gallery and spent a year creating the right quilt for each story.
“It’s like any art form: your soul has to get into it, and it’s not about the time involved, it’s about the process.”
Celia Bassett curated the exhibition. Some quilts are suspended on wooden clothes pegs and others are artfully draped over a chair or a table, with the book it represents nearby.
There are things in the quilt designs for children to find: a link with the book that jumps out at you.
These artworks, being quilts, are not just to look at to enjoy: they are to be used, to cuddle up in, to enjoy the tactile qualities of fabric and see the connections to the books.
“I want children to want to touch them.
“You can take them on a car trip and it becomes a cuddly,” says Jenny. “I want them to be loved like a teddy is loved.”
The books are delightful and the quilts add a whole new dimension to the stories.
Jenny says the quilts took about a year to make.
“There was a lot of nighttime stitching. Hand stitching is very calming. You sit there and stitch away, and you shut the weirdness of the world out.
“And you complete something: that’s the other thing that’s really important.”
Being a quilter, Jenny collects fabric, and in every quilt there is repurposed fabric — bits of shirt, pants ...
“I use natural fibres with a high element of repurposed cloth.
“It’s important to me that we are acknowledging that we need to be caring for this Earth, and art can be in that same place, where you make something and it doesn’t have to end up in a landfill.”
One of the first quilts Jenny made for the exhibition is inspired by a book called The Bantam and the Soldier, by Jennifer Beck and illustrated by Robyn Belton, and it incorporates part of her grandfather’s World War II army blanket that he took to war. That particular quilt has layers of metaphor in its colour and fabric — and it is a beautifully evocative quilt.
Jenny has been quilting for about eight years, although she trained as a textile designer in Wellington when she left school.
“So textiles have always been there, and design has always been there. This is just another form of artistic expression.”
The quilts are for sale but Jenny hopes people will be inspired to buy the corresponding book as well.
“I want people to read to children; it’s great for a child to read on their own, but we need to connect with our children — we need to read with them and they need to hear our voices. They need to know that time with them is important. Be present with each other.”
The exhibition is on for two months and includes the two weekends of Artists Open Studios.
