Sunday, April 15, 2012

New Book


One of the perks of having a blog is occasionally getting a new book to review. This one The Natural World came in the mail while I was away in Florida and since it takes me so long to get back into the groove I am just getting around to reviewing it. I did peruse it when I first saw it, but didn't take the time to actually read it until this weekend. And what it treat it was!

First, the way the book looks. It has a nice heavy paper cover with an embossed picture of Barbara McKie's "Peacock Pride" quilt. You can feel the edges of the quilt, almost as if a real quilt had been pasted onto the cover. The inside pages are also heavy, glossy, high-quality paper.

This book is the first in a series of books by Martha Sielman about art quilts. This one focuses on art quilts inspired by the natural world, such as flowers, birds, animals, insects, trees, and water. There are profiles of 19 accomplished artists and galleries of work by other talented artists. I was familiar with many of them, but some were new to me.

The individual profiles each have an introduction by Martha and then interviews with the artists telling about their backgrounds and how they work. This was the part that I enjoyed the most. I loved hearing what inspired each artist and their methods of doing what they do. Many of the artist have fine art degrees and/or sewing backgrounds. Some work only with their own hand-dyed fabrics, some use only commercial prints. Some rely heavily on computers, some don't like them at all. Some work in many types of surface design, some use only pieced fabrics. Some sketch out every inch of the design, some work intuitively by putting fabric up on the design wall. Some make complex patterns, some don't. But they all have a love of nature and portraying it on fabric.

I should mention the gorgeous photography. There are plenty of beautiful pictures, some by professionals and some by the artists. I would have liked to see some details, though, and some of the photos were small.

And while I don't have a quilt in the book (boo-hoo), I do have Elaine Quehl's "Unfurling" on page 146 hanging on my wall. It was my purchase from the SAQA auction two years ago and I love it.

All in all, I think it's a great book and a worthy addition to any art quilter's collection.

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