Masters: Art Quilts

Have you seen the new book Masters: Art Quilts: Major Works by Leading Artists?
I was captivated by the quilts included in it. Among other artists, it was great to see more works by German quilt artist Inge Hueber, whose quilts I first saw in Robert Shaw's book The Art Quilt. She has developed a unique style using visible seams and layering, to depict texture and depth. Of her work she states:

"My quilts have developed into a kind of visual diary. I cannot plan changes - they occur when they are due, just as in real life. Making quilts has given me a key to my own life, a key to open doors that would have been locked otherwise."

Another artist's work that I instantly fell in love with and whose work I had never seen before, was U.S. quilter Joan Schulze. She creates collages of hand-dyed fabrics in somber or muted colours in combination with gray scale digital images transferred onto cloth. Her work has a surreal, dreamlike quality which is both serene and jarring at the same time. Of her work she says,

"Erasure, fragments, and layering are my primary processes...I find things are more interesting to me if they are elusive and poetic."

There are truly many breathtaking quilts in the book and the diversity of inspiration, design, and construction techniques is impressive. The book is an international compendium and includes artists from Belgium, Canada, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, Scotland, South Korea, South Africa and the United States. I highly recommend it.