Rio Patchwork Design Show 2013...in photos

(All photos by Helen Remick)

Seventeen CQA quilters participated in the Rio Patchwork Design 2013 exhibition, April 25 to 27, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Each quilter was represented by three quilts, offering viewers an opportunity to study each artist's style and how her work fits into a series.Two CQA members--Helen Remick and Marianne Burr--attended this year's show as guests of the show's producers, having been selected as "viewer favorites" by attendees at the 2012 edition of the exhibit. Both Helen and Marianne presented illustrated talks about their creative journeys and some of their working methods to enthusiastic (and paying!) audiences as part of the three-day exhibition.

Visitors to the Rio show enter the CQA area

Left to right, Burr's three quilts

One of Brewer's small pieces. Notice wall color.

Left to right, Remick's three pieces

Three pieces by Marylee Drake

Two of  Ruth Vincent's pieces

Above, several of Brewer's small pieces were hung in frames, back-to-back

Here, Marianne talks about her impressions of the 2013 event:

"Helen Remick and I have just returned from Rio de Janeiro where we were fortunate enough to see one of the world's best exhibitions of art quilts. The founder of Patchwork Design, Zeca Madeiros, is so passionate about this work that he refers to it as 'Art' without the qualifier.

"I have been to Visions, Quilt National, and Quilt Japan, and this exhibition in Rio is as professionally presented as any of them. It includes our CQA work as well as work of an African artist and some very fine pieces from the best Brazilian art quilters.What a thrill to see our work displayed as it would be in a fine museum!

"The crowds were very interested and many people spent considerable time studying the artistry we shared with them. Art quilting is new in Brazil and many quilters are interested in learning all they can about the medium."

Helen Remick provided some photos of the exhibit, seen here, and comments, "Notice the wonderful use of color on some walls, and how it enhances the quilts." She adds that "Bonny Brewer entered a series of small quilts, some of which Zeca chose to hang in sets of two, back-to-back down a long gallery. It was difficult to photograph, but very effective."

Part of the exhibition was a vendor area that, in previous years, offered mostly materials for the traditional quilts that have been "standard" in Brazil, but Helen reports that this year there was one vendor offering hand-dyed fabric of the sort that's popular with art quilters in North America.

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The CQA quilts exhibited in the Rio show also were shown several weeks earlier in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in a second show mounted by the same producers. CQA artist Sonia Grasvik attended the Sao Paulo event, again as a guest of the show producers, as she was selected as a "viewer favorite" from the 2012 exhibit. To view all the CQA quilts in the exhibitions, go to the Exhibitions Gallery section of the CQA website, http://www.contemporaryquiltart.com.