Local Color 6 Flora & Fauna, a new exhibit of art quilts, has been touring Connecticut since February 2024. Its current home is the Brookfield Craft Center where it will be on display from July 28th until September 1st . Come meet some of the artists at a reception on Saturday, August 3, 2024 from 5 until 7pm. The Lynn Tendler Bignell Gallery at BCC is open Tuesday-Friday from 12-5, Saturday from 11-5, and Sunday 12-4. Local Color 6 Flora & Fauna, a touring exhibition of art quilts, consists of 32 pieces of fiber art created by 26 members of the Connecticut Region of the Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA).
Artist can belong to two regions within SAQA and must have a relationship with each region. The SAQA Connecticut Region presents a differently themed Local Colors exhibition every two years. The pieces on display range from realistic to abstract and depict real and imagined plants and animals. Some use plants to create the images; others are created by piecing fabrics together as a form of collage or through more traditional piecing methods, and some use dyes, paints, and/or stitching.
Each work was selected, or juried into the exhibit, by Owen Sea Luckey, a Branford artist and entrepreneur with a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design. The artists range from internationally known fiber artists to first-time exhibitors. Luckey is “genuinely excited by the choices made for the final show. The selected artworks not only reflect the exceptional skills of [the] atists but also celebrate the diverse artistry woven into the fabric of Local Color 6 Flora & Fauna.”
SAQA is a non-profit organization whose mission is to promote art quilts – “creative visual works that are layered and stitched or that reference this form of stitched layered structure”. SAQA has over 4000 members – artists, curators, collectors and art professionals – from all over the world; 127 of them consider Connecticut one of their artistic homes. To learn more about SAQA go to saqa.com.
A full catalog of the Flora & Fauna exhibit is available from Amazon.
This exhibition includes the works of these wonderful artists:
Christina Blais; Woodbridge, CT; Cardinals in the Snow and Eminence
Jill Blanchette; Westerly, RI; Winter Garden
M. Kathleen Burns; Stratford, CT; Doolin Darlings
Elizabeth Davis; Stratford, CT; Denim Peony and Winter Forest
Tamar Drucker; Ossining, NY; Family and I Think I Know Where I’m Going and Sabra Dance
Christine Janove; Brooklyn, NY; Forest Bathing
Karen Kebinger; New Britain, CT; Tree of Life
Gail Kotowski; Guilford, CT; A Shoreline Cygnet
Aurelle Locke; West Granby, CT; Predator or Prey
Gloria Michaelis; Greenwich, CT; In Bloom
Susan Knight Ober; Eastport, ME; My Backyard
Ruth Anne Olson; New Haven, CT; Dahlia Festival
Margaret Phillips; Cos Cob, CT; #194-2 Two Flowers
Dorothy Raymond; Loveland, CO; Many Leaves Falling (Sold and not exhibited at BCC)
Cheryl Rezendes Bernardston, MA; A Winter’s Dream and How I Remembered
Judy Ross; Braintree, MA; Iguana
Norma Schlager; Danbury, CT; Curvaceous
Barbara Sferra; Katonah, NY; Flowers in Harmony and The Flowers Are Yellow
Linda Stern; Somers, NY; Extending Boundaries and Summer Garden
Kate Stiassni; Salisbury, CT; Theme and Variations II
Kate Themel; Cheshire, CT; Transformation (Sold) and Wild Ride
Anna Tufankjian; Newington, CT; Mariposas
Carol Vinick; West Hartford, CT; Great Blue Heron #5: Proud Mama
Diane Wright; Guilford, CT; Endangered Species