Coastal Discovery Museum exhibition features new works by Art Quilters of the Lowcountry

If the idea of quilting summons images of elderly females in sewing circles and bees, of using fabric swatches from beloved clothing items to piece into traditional log cabin or star designs, of grandmothers lovingly passing down handmade bedspreads as heirlooms, then prepare to be amazed. An innovative show presented by the five-member Art Quilters of the Lowcountry opens July 18 at the Coastal Discovery Museum in Hilton Head, South Carolina, and it is both contemporary and, as the group’s name suggests, refreshingly artistic.

Meeting every four to six weeks, the cooperative of five friends is constantly learning, teaching workshops, showing work, and applying for future exhibitions. I met longtime member Jody Wigton in her home-based studio on Wilmington Island. Surrounded by multiple supplies and countless boxes of fabric, the Ohio native says, “This is my happy place.”

As a young child she made outfits for dolls, had her first sewing machine by age 8, and eventually learned how to construct and sew all her own clothing from her grandmother, whose mother had been a seamstress by trade. (It must have been in the genes, as she recalls that her father, a metallurgical engineer “made beautiful pinch-pleated draperies for our home.”)

In 1998 Wigton pieced together her first patterned bed quilt, enjoying it so much she joined a local quilting guild in Ohio. The president of the guild was an art quilter who helped inspire her to “take off” into a more contemporary direction. Employing a host of different techniques, Wigton has made 18 quilts for the Coastal Discovery Museum show, most of them since January. All work will be exhibited on stretcher frames as the group decided “that helps them look more like pieces of art.” Each quilter will give a demonstration of a favorite technique; Wigton’s will be on open weaving, which is a lengthy process whereby the quilter cuts holes in their work and then inserts, stretches, and stabilizes yarns and piece of fabric across the openings.

Another technique Wigton employs entails the use of Fosshape, a heat-activated material that can be formed and shaped into lightweight shapes and structures. The Great Escape is a quilt of three-dimensional flowers with one flower seemingly reaching out to enter a separately displayed vase she molded from Fosshape. This piece, like several others, is based on one of her abstracted and whimsical sketchbook paintings. I consider the quilts inspired by these paintings to be among her best. Phantasmic, a botanically themed piece in muted tones offset by black and white circles and by black-and-gray-striped fabrics, is contemporary, simple, and strong in its composition.

Sometimes Wigton dyes her own fabrics, uses embroidery, adds paper, incorporates beading, or adds Gelli plate images ― a technique that transfers images from magazines and newspapers onto fabric. If all of this sounds a little “crafty,” it certainly veers in that direction at times, but overall, I found Wigton’s artistry to be innovative and quite beautiful. I particularly liked her quilt of an oak tree at the water’s edge at Wormsloe. Beads, reed, and shells add texture to the foreground while crumpled cheesecloth perfectly represents draping Spanish moss.

Stained glass artist translates medium to fabric

Wigton tells me that Ron Hodge, a founding member of  the Art Quilters of the Lowcountry, will demonstrate beading: “He’s a wonderful piecer and beader. He also uses Fosshape to create three-dimensional forms to which he will add stitching, quilted fabric, and beads.”

Hodge began his creative career as a stained-glass artist who cut shapes out of fabric before piecing them together to check how the design and color field would appear when later cut in glass. He tells me that he once sewed the fabric pieces together and when that iteration sold before the stained glass did, he knew he was onto something. Son of a seamstress, Hodge is also a member of the Palmetto Quilt Guild and estimates that group to include eight male quilters.

Peg Weschke is the other founding member of the Art Quilters of the Lowcountry. She employs a painterly style and will demonstrate painting on fabric at her artist talk on August 1. Interestingly, several of her quilts in the show began as images she generated from A.I. Both Weschke and Donna Stankiewicz, the second Savannah-based quilter of the group, use Derwent pencils and Inktense blocks. Pastel-like in appearance and texture, Inktense blocks are applied to fabric and when dampened with a wet paintbrush, the pigment dissolves and the colors become exceedingly vibrant.

Wigton says Stankiewicz does some piecing and fusing, “but mostly she paints a quilt from a photograph she has taken and stitches over it. We call that ‘thread painting’.” To demonstrate, she showed me a quilt she herself painted in bright sunset colors and then stitched over with colored threads to accentuate the underlying colors and patterns.

Finally, the newest member of the group is Ro Morrissey who recently relocated from New England where she was a highly acclaimed member of several artist organizations, including a Cape Cod fiber arts group. Morrissey will give a demonstration on seascape stripes as she often employs linear, horizontal piecing in her quilts – a style that perfectly lends itself to portraying the marshscapes and landscapes of the Lowcountry. Morrissey’s painterly approach combined with thread work is beautifully demonstrated in Mood Indigo, an abstract view of beach and sea rendered in thin strips of pinks and purples.

Wigton encourages community members to visit the upcoming unique and colorful show. She laughs, “People don’t realize how much can be done with fabric. They are often incredulous that the quilts are not paintings. Whether they are quilters or not, they are truly amazed.”

Curated and hung by Elizabeth Greenberg, director of exhibitions, the opening reception for the Art Quilters of the Lowcountry show Imagine is 5 to 7 p.m., Thursday, July 16, and runs through Oct. 6.

Greenberg says she is pleased to welcome back the Art Quilters to the main gallery, their largest exhibition venue, and to highlight this unique art form. She says, “In their new exhibition Imagine, they each push themselves out of their comfort zone to try new techniques and to see the world in new ways. Visitors will be inspired by each of the artists, who explores the world of imagination in different ways that are deeply personal."

Artist talks will be held on the following Thursdays at 10 a.m. and are free and open to the public:

July 25               Ron Hodge: beading

August 1           Peg Weschke: painting on fabric

August 8           Jody Wigton: open weaving in art quilts

August 15        Donna Stankiewicz: Inktense blocks and pencils

August 22        Ro Morrissey: seascape stripes.

The Coastal Discovery Museum is located on the grounds of Hilton Head’s historic Honey Horn, 70 Honey Horn Drive, one mile over the bridge onto the island. It is open seven days a week and admission is free. Founded in 1985, the museum is a Smithsonian Affiliate with a mission to provide experiences that will inspire caring for the Lowcountry. It encompasses 68 acres of trails and offers exhibitions, lectures, workshops and events covering local history, cultural heritage, art, and the environment.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Lowcountry quilters exhibit works of art at Coastal Discovery Museum