In my first post from the Newark Quilt Show, where I admired Carolyn Forster’s quilts, I promised to show you more of the quilts on display, however I realised there were so many more that I wanted to share that I’d need to break them into smaller sections and do that over at least a couple more posts.
So in this post I’ll share something completely different to Carolyn’s quilts, but no less amazing. Here Alicia Merrett’s quilts were grouped under the title ‘Ways of Seeing’ and it’s obvious that she loves colour and texture. Alicia says that ‘beauty and feelings are important’ to her and she tries 'to convey them in her work, searching for the ‘wow’ factor’.
Alicia says her current work is ‘mostly abstract and is the result of experiments with photography, iPad apps and computer design’. The digital paintings are played with, altered, changed and distorted often with several layers being superimposed. The final designs are printed on fabric, then layered and machine stitched.
It’s a completely different approach to the quilts I shared in the previous post, but I think it’s fair to say that Alicia has definitely succeeded as her quilts definitely have the wow factor and are also beautiful works of art.
ALICIA MERRETT: DECODING THE RAINBOW
As you’ll see the rainbow is Alicia’s main source of colours, for the quilt above she says that ‘it seems as if the rainbow has an almost undecipherable code hidden within it, defiantly asking us to discover its meaning’ and so the computer code like letters accentuate that. Maybe that’s why we’re fascinated with rainbows, we’re trying to understand them as well as admire their beauty.
Alicia describes this next quilt as a ‘magical kind of Urban Jungle’ to me it has a hint of moroccan spice to it, but as for other pieces of art, we each interpret them differently and they can be many things to many people.
ALICIA MERRETT: URBAN JUNGLE
I really like this next quilt, though it’s hard to chose an absolute favourite from any of these. I think this one appeals as it is so dramatic, and so different - and once you know it’s called Eye of the Storm, that almost pulls you in too. Look closely and you’ll see the quilting is exquisite, but it also has a serious meaning the card alongside it reminding us we all need to take action, governments and individuals, as there is no Planet B.
ALICIA MERRETT: EYE OF THE STORM
Though her work Alicia also explores colour further as waves of colour transmitting through the air which become particles when on the fabric. I don’t know about that but this interpretation does make for a fascinating quilt.
ALICIA MERRETT: WAVES OF COLOUR
I also enjoyed the smaller quilts on display purely for the colour, the contrast and their designs, as well as the amount of work that’s gone into creating these. Of the four below, the Colour Burst quilt (top right) is my favourite, I think that matches most closely to how colour explodes for me.
ALICIA MERRETT: HILLSIDE VILLAGE AND COLOUR BURST QUILTS
ALICIA MERRETT: LITTLE BOXES AND DANCING SQUARES QUILTS
This last quilt which I’m sharing is one that I think you could look at for a while, and it’s the sort of image that could take your imagination in different ways depending on your mood. Knowing this is titled ‘The Colour of Nature’ initially leads me to see a garden pond with flowers, lily pads and frogs - though I suspect this isn’t quite its intention, and you may see something else entirely.
ALICIA MERRETT: THE COLOUR OF NATURE
But isn’t that the beauty of these magnificent quilts, they allow your mind and imagination to roam?