the sarratt student center at vanderbilt university has a terrific quilt exhibit that ends this week: a change of heart is a showing of nine quilts by pattiy torno. the quilts incorporate a variety of cotton fabrics from japan, switzerland, and england, and are primarily composed in a large-scale version of watercolor quilting.
the exhibit area is spacious and allows the viewer to step back far enough to see the patterns emerge. this is especially important for the exhibit's title work, which is a tryptich of quilts whose designs continue from one quilt to the next. all the quilts are machine pieced but hand quilted, with a small stitch that is not closely spaced but consistent in size, and the quilt patterns add a complimentary texture to the overall design of the tops. unfortunately, several of the quilts do not lie flat--i think this is mostly due to the way they are hung, although one of them is quilted in a way that i believe warps the quilt (irregular amounts of quilting over the surface, with some areas heavily quilted and other areas with large, unquilted fields).
i appreciated the hall providing gloves so that viewers could inspect the backs of the quilts.
overall, i enjoyed this exhibit, and i wish i had heard about it sooner so that i would have a chance to go back and see the quilts again.
