Last week I traveled up to New Albany Indiana for the opening of FORM, NOT FUNCTION at the Carnegie Museum. I am happy to report that I received the Best of Show award! I have attended the opening of this exhibition three times during the seven years of this exhibit and the quality of the work continues to just get better and better so I was especially honored.
There were 31 works by 31 artists and it was a nice mix of works focused on piecing, applique, painting, digital printing and other surface design techniques.
Best of Show
Amulets by Terry Jarrard-Dimond
Award Presented by Carnegie Center, Inc.
Award of Excellence
Gesture #13 by Marina L. Kamenskaya
Presented by the River City Fiber Artists
Award of Excellence
Twin Dreams by Shelley B. Baird
Award Presented by Louisville Area Fiber and Textile Artists
Award of Merit
Image in Black and Gray by Judie Huss
Award Presented by Today's Woman Magazine
Award of Merit
Night Fright by Janet Steadman
Award Presented by Forget Me Knot Quilt Shoppe
Award for Political and Social Commentary
Dangerous Passage by C.J. Pressma
Award Presented by Kathleen Loomis
Honorable Mention
Pandemic by Caroline Szeremet
Just a few notes on the award winners. First I'd like to recognize Marina Kamenskaya. I have known Marina for several years and have loved seeing her work develop. The color in this work was rich and sophisticated and not well represented by my photograph. Her quilting work is intense and technically exquisite. I feel confident you will continue to see her work in shows and competitions.
Shelley Baird's work featured complex imagery with layers and layers of prints in her unique color palette and finished off with equally intense quilting. Shelley has a clear and recognizable style. Shelley and Marina were both participants of Compositional Conversation which was featured on my blog.
Judie Huss's Image in Black and Gray was one of my favorites. I wish I had permission to present it here. It was done, as the title states, in black with many shades of gray, a nice warm gray and then covered in Kantha embroidery. I would love to see this work done about 10 times the size. The piece was maybe 16" x 16" and on stretchers. I'm not sure this finish improved the piece.
Janet Steadman's offering Night Fright was a geometric composition of red, blue, and gold on black and it made a strong visual statement. Sharp elements crossed and played against one another in a sea of black. Despite this stark description, the work was beautifully made and very enticing.
I was also impressed with C.J. Pressma's digital print on fabric. The piece itself was not overly large, maybe 60" x 60" but the images in the piece were large relative to that size. The images and the color was edgy and unique. C.J. does need to work on how he structures this work so that the technique is up to his concepts as his concept is strong.
Caroline Szeremet's Pandemic was another rich surface design work with lively texture via the quilting and had a fantastic color palette. I'm not sure I understand the title as Pandemic sounds like something dreadful and I found this work very appealing. Caroline, if you see this, please let me know about the title.
I believe you can look to see Form, Not Function continue to grow and become one of the 'premiere' venues to see the best of studio quilt art. The staff is excited about the show and they have the support of the River City Fiber Artists, who instigated the show, and the community at large.
