Art Day

On Friday four quilting buds and I took the train into New York City to see two incredible art quilt exhibits. No pictures allowed at either venue which is too bad since we saw such great work. First we walked from the station to 45th Street to the American Folk Art Museum, next to MOMA, to see Kaleidoscope Quilts-The Art of Paula Nadlestern. I am very familiar with her work and even took a workshop with her several years ago, very tedious and challenging. The exhibit was terrific and we were so glad that we went. Paula uses teeny, tiny pieces of fabric and impeccable workmanship to make her splendid quilts. Her sense of color and design are truly wonderful. There were many quilts there that I had not seen before and to be able to inspect all of them up close was quite rewarding.
We had lunch at the museum cafe (forgettable) and then took the subway to 25th Street to the NOHO Gallery and the work of Ludmila Aristova. She has an article in the current issue of Quilting Art and makes beautiful cityscapes, using a wide array of fabrics and techniques. There was one small night scene that I especially coveted. It just glittered and glowed--hard to think that a mainly black quilt could have so much life. She also had several abstracts with layering of sheer and silk fabrics, and interesting stitching. Very hard to describe, but so beautiful to see. The NOHO Gallery is in a big building with many other galleries and we browsed through a few, mostly oil paintings.
We were hoping to see the Fashion Felt exhibit at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design museum, but that would have made it a very long day and some of us had obligations that evening.
I'm so glad that we live close enough to NYC to make these excursions possible. New York is such a treasure trove of art and inspiration.