Yearly Archives: 2009

‘Tis the season, apparently, for unconventional variations on the venerable theme of the great American quilting tradition in area galleries. Most notably, Westmont College’s Reynolds Gallery is presently showcasing the unique Gee’s Bend quilters, from an Alabaman enclave, offering us a glimpse at a fascinating “folk art by association” American quilting offshoot. more

It’s a cold night at Westmont College, but in a picturesque chapel hidden behind tall buildings, an orchestra has warmed the air with a stirring crescendo. Deane Chapel is so crowded that there’s barely enough space to walk around the 60 musicians and their music stands. Two young women glide their hands across towering harps that fit in one corner; a male percussionist gently plays the timpani in another. Men and women with oboes, clarinets, trumpets, French horns and flutes add rich layers, soft and loud, to the music as they rub elbows in the back rows. In front of the room, violinists and violists play melodies, both graceful and bold. Cellists are seated at the feet of conductor Dr. Michael Shasberger, who smiles at what he’s hearing. It’s the sound of success. more

Occasionally, some artistic “finds” sneak into the probing yet highly selective and fickle view of the fine art world. Such is the case with the increasingly popular and wonderfully idiosyncratic tradition of quilting in the remote, river-wrapped hamlet of Gee’s Bend, Ala. Going back through generations of African-American women, this distinctive quilting tradition has found itself thrust into the art world’s gaze, at the Whitney in New York City, and recently at the De Young Museum in San Francisco. As seen in a fascinating exhibition at Westmont College’s Reynolds Gallery, this quilting tradition defies categorization or cultural sorting as easily as it lures the eye and senses. Is it folk art transformed by enterprising art-world powers-that-be into a pocket of “outsider art”? Is it high art or high craft? Do we need to put a label on this work, other than to say these are things of beauty — and indigenously American beauty? more