Visions Quilt Show - A Brief Review

While visiting Southern California over the holidays, I had an opportunity to visit Visions 2006 at the Oceanside Museum of Art. Living in Maui with infrequent visits to the mainland makes art and quilt show going a difficult, if not impossible, proposition, so I made it a point to see this one and took my mom and Bruce along for the ride. We weren’t disappointed.

The museum itself is a nice, albeit small, venue that is easy to find. The show layout was simple and easy to follow, with open spaces that allowed for a wide view of each piece. It wasn’t crowded, which is my subtle way of saying that they might have been able to add several more pieces and still retained that open feeling.

There were many names I recognized from chatter on the QuiltArt list, the Internet and through Blog-Land, and it was a pleasure to be able to see their work up close and personal. I was impressed with the diversity of the show, even though it tended to weigh a little heavy on the surface-design side. I wish there were more pieces available to view on the Visions website. I considered purchasing the catalog, which was in a very nice book format, but ended up passing.

One of my favorite pieces was “Waiting for the Rain,” by Margery Goodall of Australia. It was a simple hand-stamped batik fabric interspersed with strips of multiple colors. It incorporated some of the most intense and perfectly executed narrow strip piecing that I have ever seen. It created the illusion of embroidery from a distance and as you moved forward the precise lines of color emerged.

The few times I’ve seen the work of Lori Lupe Pelish, I’ve been taken aback by her masterfuluse of printed commercial fabrics. “Curtain Call for Aphrodite,” is eye-catching and encourages you to not only see the whole picture, but look up close and appreciate the variety of fabrics she uses.

“Striped Formations,” by Judy Langille, was one of the pieces that Bruce and I could agree on. I have a current fascination with trees, and this particular piece reminded me of a darkening forest as the sun sets. This is one of the few pieces available for viewing on the artists' website.

I had to go back and look at Elia Woods’ “In a Different Vein” a couple of times. The repeating and mirror image of a Swiss chard (?) leaf was beautiful in its simplicity.

There was much more to the show, but these were the few that spoke to me in a personal way. I left satisfied yet wanting to see more. From what I had heard about Visions in the past, I considered it way out of my league. But after seeing the show I feel much more comfortable about the level of my own work and might even consider entering something in 2008.