Surface and YoYo Series at St. Meinrad

A friend and I went to the St. Meinrad, Indiana, Archabbey Library painted quilt exhibit by Denise Mucci Furnish (a member of LAFTA—Louisville Area Fiber and Textile Artists) this afternoon. Furnish has seven quilts from her Surface Series and one quilt from her YoYo Series on display. (There are also some ceramic pieces by another artist displayed.)

If you are a “quilt purist,” the display will be painful for you. The quilts have been totally painted over with acrylic paints. However, if you can get past the thought of painting all over a quilt, you might find you enjoy the rich surface texture brought forth through the paint. Furnish says she is using discarded quilts for her pieces in this exhibit if that makes you feel any better!

The following information came from the artist's statement--She says she chose quilts because quilting is a craft medium most commonly associated with women’s domestic work; and that as a painter, she appropriates the remains of quilts and paints on them, interacting with their form, pattern, and surface. The worn quilt becomes a metaphor for aging. The deteriorating fabric and remaining quilting stitches combine with paint to create a rich surface. Beneath the wrinkled layers of paint, fiber retains a history--a trace of what went before.

This pink quilt welcomes you to the exhibit. I have taken a full view and a close-up view. This quilt was a Grandmother's Flower Garden in another life. Remember, you can click on the pictures to get a closer look.

This is a closeup of the Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt. You can really get a "feel" for the texture created with the paint in this closeup.This is the Mariner’s Compass quilt. If you look closely, you can still see remanents of the Mariner’s Compass blocks (especially in the closeup).
It is easier to see the circular Mariner's Compass blocks here.This quilt didn't have a label next to it, so I don't know what quilt pattern was used.
This is a closeup...
She also included a YoYo quilt in her exhibit. It looked like she had done some painting on it, but it was very different than the others. She mounted a YoYo top over canvas that had been painted yellow and had been printed with the words, “YES” and “NO,” in black ink.

This is the full-sized view of the YoYo "quilt." This is a closeup of the quilt.From the pictures, it is hard to tell how large these quilts are. I would describe these as "full-sized" quilts. The YoYo quilt is long and narrow. It definitely would not have fit any bed I know of. Personally, I would have liked to see a photo of the original quilts next to these versions. I think it would have enhanced the exhibit.