As recipient of the 2012 Aotearoa Quilters Scholarship, I was asked to write something on my project and progress – to share with members.

When I received the news about the scholarship late last year, I was already fully engaged in exploring a theme for my next solo exhibition.

After months of reading, researching, looking at fabrics, and listening to my inner voice, I decided on the Walled Garden theme. I spent many hours in Hamilton Gardens and in my own garden taking photographs and looking for inspiration.

And now that the long hot summer is drawing to a close, I find myself spending more and more time inside – gardening with fabric and thread and working on my new quilts.

I am planning to do a small collection of bed quilts based on the theme and I am exploring the fenced off garden as the symbol of serenity, peace, and protection.  I am interested in the idea of creating a space where something small finds sanctuary within something big and where nature meets human instinct, creativity, desire, values, and effort.

The idea of the exquisite paradise garden probably exists in our collective consciousness – as we try to replicate it in our own gardens as well as in our quilts.  Through my reading I became intrigued by the different perceptions of the paradise garden – ranging from a place of pleasure, a religious symbol of the universe, a monastic retreat, an enchanted place of immortality, a vision of a perfect past, or our own walled suburban gardens.

Old New Zealand patchwork quilts and coverlets inspire my new work and the medallion quilts remind me of walled gardens.  In addition I am learning old quilt techniques such as hand and paper piecing.

I draw on the work of many artists, including Miriam Schapiro from the Pattern and Decoration group.   Schapiro incorporated pattern, ornamentation and craft in her work as she appropriated quilt images and techniques such as Broderie Perse.  The latter is another technique that I am using in the new quilts.

I am also guided by the Pattern and Decoration mantra that decorative is not a dirty word; it is a humanistic approach to art and it relates to both the great and small occasions of daily living.  As such, I am using delicious floral fabrics, repeat motifs, pattern, and ornament in the Walled Garden quilts.

My sincere thanks go to the Aotearoa Quilters committee and members for supporting my project.  I hope to share my new quilts with all of you at ArtsPost Galleries in Hamilton during the September 2013 Craft & Quilt Fair as well as at Minerva Gallery in early 2014. 

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