Quilt by Diane Rhea, from the “With A Little Help From My Friends” quilt exhibit at The Arts Center in Athens, Tenn.
Contributed photo by Robert Burleson
Quilt by Marcia Taschenberger, from the “With A Little Help From My Friends” quilt exhibit at The Arts Center in Athens, Tenn.
Contributed photo by Robert Burleson
Quilt by Louise Ragle, from the “With A Little Help From My Friends” quilt exhibit at The Arts Center in Athens, Tenn.
Contributed photo by Robert BurlesonIF YOU GOWhat: “With A Little Help From My Friends” quilt exhibit.When: Through March 26.Where: The Arts Center, 320 N. White St., Athens, Tenn.Who: Quilters are Anna Kelley, Arliss Barber, Carole Spahn, Cynthia Bauer Buol, Claudia Nicholson, Diana Ferguson, Diane Rhea, Kate Meyeres, JJ Shay, Louise Ragle, Marcia Taschenberger, Pam George and Sandy Kambic.Hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday.Admission: Free.Phone: 423-745-8781.
Quilts are very often labors of love. Every stitch, every piece of cloth and every image has a meaning to the artist.
Each quilter might also possess a particular style, viewpoint or way of creating a quilt that is somewhat their own, so the challenge put to a baker’s dozen of such artists was a chance to break the pattern, so to speak.
The result of their almost 18-month exercise, “With A Little Help From My Friends,” is on display this month at The Arts Center in Athens, Tenn. The 13 participating members of Sisters with Artistic Attitude, a sub-group of the Village Quilters in Loudon, Tenn., were each challenged to come up with a theme. It could have been a color, an animal or whatever.
Each month, the 13 created a block, anywhere in size from 9-inches-by-9-inches to 12-inches-by-15-inches. When that block was completed, it was returned to the originator of the theme and work began on the next one. When all 13 were completed, the artists headed off to create a finished quilt, which 11 of them did.