David Taylor in Canmore
Good morning from snowy Calgary,
We woke up to flurries today, although we can’t complain because we had a gorgeous weekend. So much so that I spent part of both afternoons sitting outside in the sun! Incredible for the middle of February.
On Friday after work, Bev and I drove to Canmore for David Taylor’s lecture. He’s in town for a 2 and a 3-day workshop. David resides in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. His talk was light and had us all laughing when he talked about his love of fabric, and his shopping sprees. He also talked about how he loves to fondle the fabric, and just look at it on the shelves. The photo of one of his shelving units was incredible, as all the pieces of fabric were folded exactly in the same manner, and were all stacked in precise order. I am not sure I would ever show a photo of my fabric closet, where fabric is all over, with little bits and pieces stuck here and there.
David’s quilt Sally at the Window won him an award at IQA in Houston, and pretty much launched his career as an art quilter.
Here are a few photos of three of the four quilts he brought to show. The first ones are from “Marmalade’s first snow”:
This piece is stunning. You need to see it up close and personal to really get the full impact of it. It is not a large piece, it’s 47″ x 35″ but the detail on it is stunning. Enjoy the photos:
See the latch just above Marmalade’s left ear? It is made up of 8 different pieces of fabric!
He quilts with variegated thread; he uses both King Tut and Sulky Blendables, and uses the same thread in the bobbin. Below is a photo of the back of the quilt, so you can see the detail of the quilting. He uses a dark backing, so the back of his quilts look like a separate work of art!
And a detail of the wood:
This is another detail of one of his pieces, called Hidden Treasures:
And a detail:
And another one called “The Sentinel of Santorini”:
And a detail of the cat:
And here’s a photo of David, after the lecture, while he was talking to some of the people admiring his quilts:
All in all, a very enjoyable evening. The first time I came across David’s name was in Houston, when he won a major prize at IQA for his quilt Sally at the Window. I stood in front of that quilt for a long time, trying to figure out how it was constructed. When I heard the story on Friday, I understood then why the quilt won: it’s all fabric, no paint, no embellishments of any kind. Every window pane has been constructed individually, and every frame has mitered corners. Each frame is constructed of three separate pieces of fabric, about 1/8″ wide, and all needle turned. That gives you an idea of the complexity of his quilts.
In hindsight, I regret not signing up for his workshop. Although I don’t really hand applique, it would have been nice to see how he works and how he makes up the patterns, starting from a photograph. He’s going to be travelling quite a bit over the next couple of years, so maybe I’ll catch up with him somewhere else at some point in time. You can visit his website at: www.davidtaylorquilts.com
I hope you’ve enjoyed the photos. And yes, as you can see, practice does make perfect. So … keep quilting.
Ana
