RSSBeyond a whisper, quilts speak louder than words
A photograph of an old refinery at an industrial center east of Loma inspired a series of 12 small quilts in a “Chinese Whispers” challenge by the Raven Mavens critique group of Grand Junction. Only one person saw the original photo beforehand.
The first of 12 quilts, made by Kathy Schattleitner of Grand Junction, closely resembles her photograph.
As the eighth quilter in the challenge, Angela Kenley of Grand Junction morphed a previous quilter’s curvy yellow road into one of triangles for her version.
Kathy Schattleitner took the original photo and started the challenge by making the first quilt, then passed it to the next quilter for her interpretation.
Suzanne Barnhart of Grand Junction created the final quilt in the “Chinese Whispers” challenge to reflect an Asian theme.
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At the Art Center in February
The Raven Mavens’ 12 quilts will be on display Feb. 3-24 during a 2012 members’ exhibit at Western Colorado Center for the Arts, 1803 N. Seventh St.
Whisper a secret in one friend’s ear and tell her to pass it on to the next. On it goes around a circle of players until the last listener announces the message aloud to the entire group.
It’s an old gossip game, often taught to schoolchildren as the telephone game, meant to show how much an original statement can change after it’s passed around. Usually, the words differ significantly and often amusingly.
A dozen art quilters in Grand Junction, who get together in what they call the Raven Mavens critique group, turned this silly game into a quilt challenge titled “Chinese Whispers.”
Here’s how it worked. Instead of a spoken message, the first player, Kathy Schatt-leitner, chose a photograph she had taken of an old refinery in an industrial center east of Loma and made a small piece of fabric art, about 12 inches by 14 inches, that depicted the image. She then handed her quilt, which closely resembled the actual picture, to the next quilter on the list. No one in the group saw the original photo except Schattleitner.
The second quilter made her own version of the quilt, based on the first, plus any creative flourishes desired, then passed her rendition to the third, etc.
“It’s amazing how things get interpreted,” says Schattleitner. The project ran from October 2010 to October 2011.
She explains how Jan Rickman of Whitewater sewed two yellow diagonal pieces of fabric across her quilt, and the next person, Gjeneve Hopkinson of Whitewater, translated those into a curvy yellow brick road. When Hopkinson’s version was received by Angela Kenley of Grand Junction, she turned that curvy road idea into yellow triangles.
Susan Strickland of Grand Junction misunderstood from the start, thinking the name of the challenge was “Chinese Whiskers” instead of “Chinese Whispers.” Although her friends did point out the correct title, Strickland decided to humorously feature a kite with a cat face complete with — what else? — whiskers.
When the Raven Mavens finally revealed all their fabric art pieces to one another and saw the original photo of the Loma plant, they not only had great laughs, but agreed that the concept had been most rewarding.
The Raven Mavens’ 12 quilts will be displayed Feb. 3-24 during a 2012 members’ exhibit at Western Colorado Center for the Arts, 1803 N. Seventh St.
The dozen women had so much fun, they’ve convinced a larger group, the Art Quilt Association of the Western Slope, to embark on a similar quilting adventure.
Schattleitner says the original idea came from her sister, Georgina Chapman, a well-known quilter and instructor in Edinburgh, Scotland. The siblings are from England. “Georgina is the particular one,” whereas she herself “flies by the seat of my pants,” Schattleitner says with a laugh.
These Chinese Whispers challenges are popular with quilters in the U.K., and Schattleitner is participating in a similar project with her sister and members of an Edinburgh quilt guild. About 14 women will participate and make larger pieces, about 24 inches square.
The photograph this time is a golf course in Scotland, and it was sent to Schattleitner first.
“I didn’t like the picture; it had too much green and yellow in it for me,” she says. “But it did have a good skyline, so I cropped it in Photoshop” until she had an image that was pleasing to her.
Schattleitner already has finished her quilt and mailed it to Scotland. She plans to travel there for the revealing party in May, when the quilts will be exhibited in Loch Lomond churches. The exhibit next travels to Birmingham, England, in August for the annual Festival of Quilts.
It’s another sign of our global community as quilters in Scotland influence the art of those in America and enjoy themselves in the process.
Now be careful what you whisper in a friend’s ear, you hear? You never know how your message may be interpreted. Someone could end up with whiskers on her quilt.
Email Sherida.Warner @GJSentinel.com.
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