Monday, September 14, 2015

STITCH exhibit at Morehead 2


More things I liked from the STITCH exhibit at Morehead State University, which closed last month.  Two pieces by Lorie McCown were similar only in that they're made with raw edge machine applique; one was geometric, one figurative; one also had hand stitching, one didn't.  It's unusual for artists to enter, and for jurors to select, different pieces that don't "match" in character and technique, and while these two weren't all that far from one another, I did have to go back and check my photos twice to make sure I got it right.

I liked both quilts for their jaunty character and sophisticated color palettes; the machine-stitched line is confident.  But in the year between the two quilts (earlier is shown first) I think McCown made some big strides.

Lorie McCown, Encroachment (detail below)



Lorie McCown, My blue dresses (detail below)























I saw McCown's work for the first time at Quilt National this spring, where she used the dress motif in a much larger and more complex composition, incorporating other fabrics as well as cotton.  The dresses seem a lot more intriguing than the plain old squares, and by the time she got to the QN piece she was incorporating a lot of different images as well.

I like her work a lot and it was good to be able to see a progression.  I'll be on the lookout to see what she does next!

More on the STITCH show in subsequent posts.

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