Earlier this year, my friend Mary treated me to an afternoon at the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles. I’ve wanted to go for years but needed to make the time.
Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry: Nice Ice #2
Mary in front of Kit Vincent quilt entitled Fracas
I’ve always loved quilts and greatly admire the skill, patience, and artistry required to create one. Several of the bloggers I follow quilt to create functional quilts, pieces of art, clothing, and sometimes all three.
The SJMQT exhibit featured textiles created during the pandemic. These artists use fabric, paper, buttons, and even emptied toilet paper rolls to create pieces reflecting the time of lockdown during COVID.
Here are a few of my favorites:
A sample of quilts and textiles from Quilt National ’21
Jean M. Evans: Sun on My Patio Chair, 2020 Isolation
This quilt blew me away. It looks like a colorized black and white photographic until you get close and see what she’s done with the fabric. It’s extraordinary.
Here’s one more for the road:
This is in the permanent museum collection. Sharon’s first car looked just like this one; a baby blue VW “Bug”.
About
The San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles is an art museum in Downtown San Jose, California, USA. Founded in 1977, the museum is the first in the United States devoted solely to quilts and textiles as an art form. Holdings include a permanent collection of over 550 quilts, garments and ethnic textiles, emphasizing artists of the 20th- and 21st-century, and a research library with over 500 books concerning the history and techniques of the craft.
San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles
I had hoped to share a link crediting all of the artists, however SJMQT hasn’t updated past exhibits on the website for three years. I will update this post in the future should more details emerge.
Do you visit museums in your hometown? What would you recommend if I could travel there?
Gardening Nirvana 
Oh my, what magnificent quilts. I love quilts and love quilting.
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Have your shared any quilts on your blog, Jane? I welcome a link.
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If you Google “Robby Robin blog quilts” you’ll get a list of quilting posts, but one of my faves is https://robbyrobinsjourney.wordpress.com/2019/12/22/designing-memory-quilts-summing-up-your-memories-in-12-squares/ I hope you like it!
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I love the texture of the button art!
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Me too!
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A wonderful display. I have never seen such representational quilting. I like the way you have chosen to photograph them, especially that of Jean M. Evans
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Thank you, Derrick. Several of these designs and techniques are unique to me as well. I’m going to try to make a point of attending more often. I’m sure you’ve visited your share of wonderful museums throughout the UK and France. There is so much history.
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Thank you
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Those quilts are wonderful! What a treat to visit that museum. I especially like Sun on My Patio Chair. Amazing! Also impressed with toilet paper rolls.
We have a a terrific museum within driving distance—the Colby College Museum of Art. Haven’t gone for quite a while. Before COVID, we went regularly.
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Laurie, the details are extraordinary. I lingered in front of each piece, intrigued by the stitching, the materials used, and the artistic process.
Thank you for pointing me to the Colby College Museum of Art. It looks like they’ve had several amazing benefactors over the years. I’ve always liked Andrew Wyeth’s work, and I remember several years back when someone discovered a trove of sketches not seen before. Goosebumps!
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No ordinary quilts! There are some amazing fabric artists out there. Looks like a wonderful museum. Historical Old Deerfield is a town away from me and it has a textile museum, mostly of Colonial era items. If you came to the area, the whole town is a museum of historic homesteads. Worth several hours of time… one could spend a whole day there.
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Oh, my. I’ve just had a look around here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historic_Deerfield
This looks like a fun place to explore. We’ve only been to MA once, and briefly. We spent some time in Boston, visited Plymouth Rock and then visited friends in CT. Do you get there often, Eliza?
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I haven’t been to HD in years. Funny thing that one is rarely a tourist in one’s own area! (I usually go when I have out of town guests.) We’re more apt to go for a hike (there are many parks and reserves), public gardens or museums.
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Parks and reserves along with public gardens are my cup of tea. It all sounds amazing.
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Wonderful exhibits Alys. Quilting is a bit of a mystery to me, as it is not that popular here. But I can appreciate how much work went into these. 😃
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Cathy, I’m intrigued to read that quilting isn’t common in Germany. It’s such a wonderful way to trap the heat for warmth, though the ones featured here are art pieces. The closeup details of these pieces are extraordinary.
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The old-fashioned way to keep warm here was either feather quilts or animal skins. A lot of people still have feather quilts here, and in the mountains they wear felted woollen clothes to stay warm. 😃
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That makes so much sense, Cathy. Thank you for sharing those details. People used what they could get their hands on to stay warm. Felted wool is an incredible insulator and water-resistant, too. I’ve taken a couple of felting classes and enjoyed learning the techniques and producing a result.
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Wow these quilts definitely belong in a museum – amazing!
I’ve been a fan of Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry for a long time – her work is mind blowing!
Thanks for giving us this wonderful virtual tour! (Oh and now I see I should save my toilet paper rolls to make art, ha!)
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I’m so excited to read that you know one of these artists. I thought about you a lot as I wrote this post. Your work is also extraordinary.
I was surprised when I approached this last piece to see it was made with leftover TP rolls. It immediately brought back the angst about securing toilet paper in those early days of lockdown. Such a clever idea.
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Oh my goodness, I remember those days of toilet paper being so precious! It actually took me a while, post pandemic to not hoard toilet paper after that experience!
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It went on for so long, it’s not surprising that we clung to those habits. It’s been a humbling experience.
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Those are stunning! Way beyond my skill level but I certainly appreciate the imagination and innovation involved. Love the little blue VW. :) You can’t help but smile when you see it. Museums here??? Umm. Nope. :( Nothing to see here. Thanks for sharing those.
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These quilts are incredible, thanks for sharing them Alys.
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My pleasure. They really are something.
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Amazing art quilts, Alys! I had to study each one closely. It’s so hard to choose a favorite, but ‘Fracas’ (Kit Vincent) is created with such happy colors and patterns that just draw you in. It’s just magnificent! I really should make time to visit our local museums again. They always have interesting exhibits! Sometimes life just gets too busy…
Sending hugs across the miles, my friend! 🩷
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Life does get busy. My inner voice often says “I can’t believe it’s already 3:00,” or the time-honored “where did they day go?” I hear you. I loved this exhibit, Dawn and I know you would, too. The amount of thought, planning, and design of these pieces, all unique, is really amazing. I hope you are doing well. xo
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Thank you for this Alys, I miss the museums in the Bay Area. The Berkeley Museum was gifted a collection of quilts by one benefactor, do check in with them to see how they are exhibiting them. I take the magazine Fiber Arts and the award winners from their competition will be exhibited at the San José Museum in August. Extraordinary. Thx again
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Barbara, thank you so much for taking the time to comment on my blog. Thanks as well for the tip on the upcoming exhibit. I haven’t made it to Berkeley in some time, but I’ll add it to the list. I’ve seen Fiber Arts before.
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those early days of lockdown – showed the many faces of our society – particularly those who felt they needed so many more “household objects” than the rest of us. But also there was that time for crafters and creators to “make” more on a regular basis …
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