I have spent some serious time in this round enjoying every minute of studying and celebrating the life of a dear friend and mentor, Yvonne Porcella. I had worked on the centre block of the quilt as my entry here, but it was a rather thin and long quilt without a story…and I wanted something more interesting to celebrate the ‘river’ I inset across the diagonal of the piece. I needed to add something, and so I went directly to the stories of the career and the truly amazing life of Yvonne, and our connections! As the founder of Studio Art Quilt Associates with many artist friends, she built an amazing list of supporters following her lead in bringing many of us together as textile artists. How could I miss this chance to share making a small celebration piece, with inspiration from my thoughts and memories?

I love her books and designs, and especially her love of the insertion of black and white, often thin bands of half-square triangles. She was a master Kimono artist and her work wakes me often as I am dreaming the steps to my own new work… her books and stories will be with me, always.

The timeline for my piece offered just enough daytime focus to create the two side pieces using a collection of beautiful Japanese fabric I had kept on a shelf for many years. The insertion of some of those pieces and adding a few “prairie points” that were often found in Yvonne’s quilts carried my ‘pattern play” to the finish line. (I might need to make another replacement piece should I have taken this step without consulting the team, but it was a wonderful way to walk through the snow and ice days of winter months here in Ontario… I could not resist being inspired by my well-loved, long-missed friend. (One of the Yvonne Porcella quilts I love, just below)

With gorgeous colour, beautiful design, and always masterfully executed art, the Yvonne Porcella Kimono pieces we can easily find online or in our books remain a treasured reminder of a strikingly amazing designer and teacher.

My Kimono is nowhere near the mastery of my mentor, but I loved the stitching and layering and yes, developing my own pattern including the little half-square black and white strips. A couple of details I added are shared. I have learned from this project, mainly that the bold artistry of simple, solid colours will be a focus for new quilts in the next year, and always remembering the focused artwork of others who walked before – a lesson in gratitude. Enjoy a search of Yvonne’s work when you have time… it is still very much sought after in our art world!!

With just 1 full metre of the beautiful Japanese fabric I used for the centre piece, and I split it diagonally allowing for the insertion of the contemporary fabric “river”. And those little half-square triangles…the ‘signature’ as a reminder of a friend is always welcome.

I may have broken our rules… and I am hoping that my ‘pattern’ is acceptable. This quilt is different than the 10 previous ‘rectangular’, 40′ high quilts I have made over the two years with our Cloth in Common artists. Having worked on the ten other art quilt prompts and spending focused time exploring how to meet the deadlines and create a piece that speaks to me has been so much fun!

A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT

Bethany Garner

Dimensions: 40”h x 32” wide

Material: Vintage commercial fabrics, Japanese collection

Technique: Machine pieced and quilted