Newest Greenly Art Space exhibit features works of textile art from local quilting collective

Greenly Art Space collaborated with quilting collective and nonprofit Quilts on the Wall for its latest exhibit “Stitched Together: Creativity in the Time of Covid,” which will debut this Saturday, Nov. 13. 

“Each piece gives voice to the unique workings of the artist’s vision,” Greenly Art Space Director and Curator Kimberly Hocking said. “This exhibit was curated based on work that speaks to the specific ideals, concerns, dreams, wonderings and imaginings of these talented textile artists.”

The exhibit includes quilts inspired by the collective’s twice-annual challenges where quilters submit pieces that adhere to certain themes. The collective was founded in 1998 by former Signal Hill resident and textile artist Rose Hughes.

The challenges on display in the exhibit span from 2020 to 2021. In “It’s Not All Black and White,” members were challenged to create a piece using less than 10% color. “Endangered” garnered works about endangered species and the environment, but also the endangerment of democracy and truth. “Fiddling with Fabric” challenged quilters to use any and all tools at their disposal. 

“Tear it, burn it, dye it, extract color from it, poke holes in it,” said Carol Churchill from the Quilts on the Wall exhibition committee. “Create an art piece that shows how you’ve manipulated this particular textile.” 

In the quilt titled “2020,” created for the “It’s Not All Black and White” challenge, a monochromatic face dons a bright green mask. 

Charlene Tuch, the creator of the piece, said she initially wanted the piece to be flanked by the words “I’m smiling under my mask.” 

“By the time I had gotten the face all done and I was putting pieces in to shape the eyes, the eyebrows, cutting the font… the world had changed,” Tuch said. “I wasn’t smiling anymore.” 

She was worried that, with the rise of anti-mask rhetoric, her piece would be seen as controversial. But she submitted the quilt as it was, hoping that viewers would imbue their own meaning. 

“The face looks to me like she’s thinking something, wanting to say something,” Tuch said. “I thought, just turn it, just be true to yourself.”

When it was selected for the Greenly Art Space exhibit, she felt “really honored.” It also appeared at an exhibit in the Newport Beach Library. 

Not all of the quilts are pandemic-specific, but all stay true to the exhibition’s subtitle “Creativity in the Time of Covid.” 

“I think the effect it has on me was mostly wanting to sew things that I found cheerful rather than creative,” artist and collective member Karen Guthrie said. “You know, creative can get a little scary sometimes. It’s like ‘I don’t know, is this going to be any good?’ We all have those self-doubts.”

Her piece “First Kiss” shows two abstract faces engaged in an awkward embrace. The piece was inspired by an exhibition of Picasso paintings in Paris, where she traveled in February 2020 just as COVID gripped nations abroad. 

“I particularly liked that one of them looks really into it and one looks kind of scared, which I think is very first-kiss-like,” said Guthrie, who first began quilting when she was 10 years old. 

She called her first-ever quilt “garbage,” full of uneven lines and misaligned fabric. She stopped quilting for years but picked it back up in 2008, which she said “ignited something.” 

Years later, after filling up her family’s blanket stashes, her quilts quite literally “started moving onto the walls” as she explored textile artistry. Then, she joined Quilts on the Wall, a gathering place for quilters looking beyond blanket-making. 

“Traditional quilting [from the 1800s and 1900s] had a utilitarian purpose,” said Churchill, who joined the group over a decade ago. “Textile art has moved out of this utilitarian format. It’s designed now for decoration. It’s for art in public places, decorations within the home, to make a political comment or social comment at a particular place in time. It’s artwork.”

The quilts in the exhibit use a variety of techniques, including appliques, patchwork, lines and textures drawn with threads and 3D elements that come with the layering of fabrics. 

“At a lot of standard quilting shows, it’s about how perfect it is. How perfect is your piecing? How perfect is your quilting? How tight is your quilting? Basically, how many hundreds of hours did you spend on this one idea?” Guthrie said. “I like that this is something where you can do things that are more free.”

Gathering together before and during the pandemic—via online happy hours and show-and-tells—the artists were able to remain “stitched together” in their love of quilting. 

“What people do with textiles to create art is extraordinary. It’s a viable art form,” Tuch said. “You’re painting with fabric, or collaging with fabric, or both.”

“Stitched Together: Creativity in the Time of Covid” will debut Saturday, Nov. 13 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. The exhibit will run from Nov. 13 to Dec. 30 at Greenly Art Space, 2968 Junipero Ave, #113 in Signal Hill. An online preview of the show will be available on Nov. 13 at 3:30 p.m. at greenlyartspace.org.