Art Quilts Unlimited: the fabric of life
BY NANCY STETSON nstetson@florida-weekly.com
Some organizations have boring names as if Detective Sergeant Joe Friday's requesting "just the facts." Functional, but boring.

Some go by a long string of initials, looking like a secret message or as if an alphabet-soup can exploded.

But a Fort Myers art group has a name that's not only accurately self-descriptive but lyrical: Art Quilts Unlimited. Its members create art, not reproductions of traditional quilt patterns. And their view of what an art quilt can be is unlimited. There are no boundaries.

Faith Pfalz of Fort Myers has belonged to a traditional quilt-making guild for over 10 years, but Art Quilts Unlimited is "strictly interested in art quilting. It's innovative stuff, rather than the traditional, what-you-see-on-your- grandmother's-bed quilts," she says.

Or, as founder and exhibits chairperson Carol Holsopple says, "With art quilting, fabric is our medium. And there

are no rules in art; you do whatever you want to do. And that's what we do. There's no limit put on ourselves to express ourselves.

Bulls Eye by Joyce Grande

"There really are no rules. I'm serious about that. Quilts can be beaded, appliquéd, sewn, tied, glued, stapled, woven, put together any way you can get them together. They can be painted, stamped, dyed, embroidered, hand stitched, machine stitched, free motion, machine embroidered. A lot of us learn from each other, learn from exploring on our own, trying different things. You can even pick a synthetic fabric and burn it and the edges will curl, or you can burn holes in it.

"It's all part of the process of creating: what kind of effect do we want? What kind of texture can we create? There are no limits to what we can use as long as it produces the desired effect."

Art quilts, she says, are created to hang on the wall. They're not designed to be functional.

In 2003, Holsopple moved to Fort Myers from Denver, where she'd been a member of a large art quilters group. She began looking forr a They were too numerous gallery space, moved to the for the Arts, up similar group in Southwest

Effervescence by Pat Jennings

Florida, putting out a few feelers and attending a few traditional quilting events. Anyone interested in an art quilters group was invited to meet at the Arts ACT Gallery ery oreteen for an exploratory meeting.

Nineteen women showed up on March 2004, and became came the nucleus Quilters Unlimited. nlimited. e already us for the e, so they he Alliance , where they m the second Satur meet at 1 p.m. Saturday of every other month. They now boast over 55 members, some come from as far north as Venice and as far east as Miami. Everyone from beginners to experienced quilters are welcome.

The organization brings in three to four national fiber artists each year to teach various aspects of the art, and members also give workshops.

"Our main goal is to educate, educate, educate," says Pat Jennings of Port Charlotte, a member.

Queen Thalia by Cheryl Costley

They are, as their motto on their Web site says: "A group of creative people sharing ideas."

Through Jan. 28, some of the group's work can be seen at the Harborside Exhibit Hall in downtown Fort Myers in a juried show called "The Fabric of Life." (According to Holsopple, there were 57 entries, and the exhibit shows 34 pieces from 19 artists.)

"It's tough to get a fiber art exhibit, it's ays the toughest thing in the world," says for Jennings, "(because) it's been hard traditional galleries to accept unframed work. It needs to be more recognized as an art form."

Fiber art, in some ways, is where photography was during its earlier stages: not embraced by art everyone as an form. Just as some people dismissed photography as an art form, claiming all you had was point and click, do some dismiss fiber saying it's merely sewing or needlework. The fact as that it's seen woman's hobby also prejudices the male-dominated art field. quilters say they artists whose medium art artis is c are um cloth and thread and wha whatever else they want to in incorporate.

Fractured Manatees II by Faith Pfalz

Jennings's piece "Effervescence," shows how creative an art quilt can be. Made with hand-dyed cotton fabric, it's currently on exhibit at Harborside.

"It was an experimental piece," Jennings  says. "I just started choosing fabrics I liked the colors of, and started making little slivers. It just grew, there was no plan. You do one thing, and then  say, 'Oh, what if I do this?' Some of my pieces are so well planned."

But "Effervescence" was more organic.

"The pieces just grew like a plant would grow," she says. "Adding the round things reminded me of sparkling waters, so I kept on adding bubbles to it. It's a bubbly, fun piece. When I got these odd shaped squares put together, it was too wide. I didn't like the shape of it. That's why there' s a little mantle at the top, like a bunch of big bubbles, and then bubbles that hang from the bottom. It was a decision based on, 'I have to fix that thing.' That's how artists work: you just have to keep working at it. Most of it is trial and error and working with it, and not quitting."

Joyce Grande's piece, "Bulls Eye" was made for her daughter, who had recently moved into a condo.

"She did her bedroom in turquoise and green and brown color scheme, and asked me to make a quilt for the wall," says the Cape Coral artist. "I struggled with it for a while, because the colors are so different for me to work with. I wanted something organic, and the circles appealed to me. I was playing with it, and it was something that pleased my eye."

The quilt shows a set of six blocks with bulls-eye circles of varying colors and patterns. Grande used commercial fabrics, though she has also used hand-dyed fabrics for other work.

"Poor kid, she still hasn't gotten the quilt," Grande said her daughter, laughing. "It's in the show now, and then I put a price on it to boot, thinking, 'Hey, I can always make another quilt.'"

Pfalz's piece, "Fractured Manatees II," shows a trio of manatees frolicking in the water. She says she often works from photographs or pictures. She made the first in the series 10 years ago with "sort of manatee colors, gray and browns and taupe. It was a nice quilt, but it was so dull, I said, 'I should make some orange manatees.' So I did it again, in brighter colors, making the manatees reddish-orange."

Fractured Manatees II by Faith Pfalz

Pfalz, a legal secretary by day, says she tried painting earlier in her life, but found fabric was her medium.

"I've just been painting with fabric since I can remember," she says. "My mom taught me to sew when I was 12, and I never turned around. I went from clothing to embellished clothing to quilting. And I was 16 when I made my first quilt, which was very traditional."

Choosing fabrics for a quilt is called auditioning, she says.

"You have all your reds in a pile, all your blues in a pile, and you figure out, which is the best one for this spot, how does it look next to that one? You develop an eye for it, and you get to play with fabric."

Though a representational image, the quilt's divided into various sections, making it look as if beams of light are streaming down from above the water.

"There's a quilter who does what she calls 'fractured landscapes,' " Pfalz says. "You draw your landscape, and you divide the quilt into sections, and each section can be a different color or value. It worked out that it looks like light streaks from above the surface of the water."

The most repeated comment Holsopple heard at the opening of the show was, "Wow, this really is art."

"I'm creative, everyone in this group is creative," Holsopple says. "We're all artists... When you get into that mindset, you appreciate more what you're doing, and you stretch a little bit. And it's wonderful, exhilarating, invigorating. It makes me feel good.

"This is what I do for fun, this is what keeps me sane."

The group, she says, is a level playing field; there isn't a pecking order. Those with more experienced help those who are just starting out.

"The camaraderie is wonderful," she says. "People are generous, they'll share their time, inspiration, support. We're on the same wavelength. For example, a potter would say, 'I found the best clay,' and I say, 'Wow, don't you just love that color?' We all share that same passion for fabric and color. It's a very tactile thing to be involved in. It speaks to us all."