Boulder is a hotbed of quilt artistry and textile genius, and I feel so lucky to have so many talented quilters living in the Front Range area. (Boulder, Denver, up and down the Colorado Rocky Mountains) Our state guild is active all over the state, our art quilt guild is world class, we have so many local/city guilds, and in the last 10 years we’ve had Modern Quilt Guilds popping up all over. I can only hope in some small way we’ve helped to support these fertile creative groups to incubate and expand the quilting arts in our area. My fervent wish is that all of you have these kinds of local support groups. If not, start your own!
This week I had lunch (in an outdoor plastic restaurant bubble) with an old friend. We started a creative support group with 6 people, a few years before eQuilter was launched. All of the members have gone on to have glorious quilting careers, locally and/or nationally. We have all gotten involved with guilds, galleries, or businesses that support and inspire other quilters.
Our local quilt Museum is just closing the Nihon Quilt exhibit, which helped to fill my thirst for Japanese quilts. (since there was no Tokyo Quilt Festival this year.) On Monday one of our local quilt artists will have her own exhibit opening up at the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum. Barbara Beasley is known for her sensitive detailed animal portraits, and we are lucky to call her a friend. Sophie and I took her one-day class at our state guild’s Fall Retreat a couple years ago, and now Sophie is a huge fan as well.
Barbara is featured in the brand new SAQA “Art Quilt Quarterly” and we also have her new book “Walk on the Wild Side“. We got this new SAQA magazine in stock on Friday, just in time for the SAQA annual conference which kicked off yesterday, and runs through next week. It has been so fantastic to see old friends online, from around the world. Say what you will about Zoom fatigue, but I am still thrilled to say hello to friends in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Europe & UK, Canada and Brazil. Equally thrilled to see US artists from so many states…both coasts and everything in between. We live in challenging times, but coming together with our quilting tribe is what keeps us going…til we meet again.
with hope for the future,
Luana and Paul
