Weeks Ringle Workshop
Last Saturday, the South Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild hosted Weeks Ringle for a three hour workshop on the Role of Color in Your Quilts. If you’ve taken her Craftsy class, there are similar topics covered, but it was a very inspirational workshop! Please forgive all the cell phone pictures, but I didn’t bring my real camera to the workshop, which I really regret.
One of my favorite things that Weeks talked about was actually the definition of “Modern Quilting.” The Modern Quilt Guild has a list of design elements that make up modern quilting, but I admit they’ve never sat particularly well with me. There are too many exceptions to the rules, and the rules feels more prescriptive than descriptive. Weeks has the best definition of modern quilting I’ve ever heard:
“Modern quilting is about making quilts that are expressive of the times in which we live.”
– Weeks Ringle
This one comment broke through a creative wall I didn’t even realize I had. I suddenly have so many ideas for quilts, and I immediately had to sketch out some of them. The example she gave is that log cabin quilts are beautiful, but she doesn’t live in a log cabin. Instead, she created a quilt with silhouettes of pigeons on telephone wires because that is her modern reality of living in Chicago. (The quilt appears in their Quilts Made Modern book.)
We did an exercise where we were each given a classic painting. We then tried to match fabrics to as many colors as we could see in the image. If you thought you were done, Weeks would come around and point out colors you had missed. It’s a great exercise in learning to see; so much of what we think we see is interpreted and simplified by our brains. (Which is necessary for getting through life, but sure makes art harder!) There were of course also jokes made amongst some of us about how some sort of software tool that pulled colors out of an image would be really helpful right about now…
The second exercise was to choose a fabric we had trouble using (preferably from our own stash). I have TONS of graphic/single-color prints (or single-color with white) and have a lot of trouble using multi-color prints. So I started with the grey, pink and orange print on the left. At one point Weeks came around and I told her I felt I wasn’t pushing myself hard enough, so she took another print with a very different feel to it and added it to my stash (the white and aqua one with pink flowers). She told me to make it work (thanks Tim Gunn!) In the end I ended up with the palette above, and I really love it. I didn’t have the right greys with me, but I think adding a some prints with greys in them would really round it out.
Finally it was time to see all the beautiful quilts they brought! You can see their quilt, “Fade Up” at the top of this post. It’s made using their new fabric line, Passport. It fades in hue from left to right, and in value from top to bottom. Simple, clean, I love it! Another thing that Weeks mentioned is how often we blind ourselves to specific types of fabrics because “they’re not modern.” She pointed out that “it’s not the fabrics, it’s how you use them.” She had a number of examples of this, but my favorite is this dark quilt (a real man’s quilt) made with Parson Gray fabrics mixed with civil war reprints. I have always been a little bit snobby about civil war reprints, but they were stunning in the quilt.
Overall, the workshop was full of wonderful information and inspiration. If you have a chance to take her Craftsy class or attend a workshop in person, I really can’t recommend it enough! (I’m not being compensated for anything I say here, I’m just a fangirl!)
-Anne
Love that definition!! Thomas Knauer said something similar at QuiltCon on modern quilting being our reaction to what is going on right now. It’s gives the genre the ability to change and develop rather than being stuck in a box. The workshop looked like fun!!! Can’t wait to see what you make:)
Oooh, I missed most of the lectures at QuiltCon, I’m sad I missed that! I like what you said about it giving us room to change and develop, I think that’s really the key.
Maybe something small!
The workshop was a ton of fun! The time flew by! I find it much harder to work from fabric to quilt design than from quilt design to fabric, so I’m a little stuck with what to do with the palette.
What a great post and experience with Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr. They ARE very inspiring and sounds like you learned so much! They were fabulous at Quiltcon and their concepts translate so wonderfully to quilts.
Thank you! The workshop was just with Weeks (although we got to meet Bill briefly before and after the event) but it was still very inspirational. I love the way they approach quilting and design. It makes me want to be more mindful in my own designs.
I really like Bill and Weeks’ definition of modern quilting – it sits well with me because it really feels authentic. There’s a view in architecture that it’s not good design to try and exactly replicate old style houses, because they are a product of their time, and new houses should be a product of the times in which we live. I think you can apply the same thinking to any kind of design, including quilts.
I also agree that the Modern Quilt Guild definition of modern quilting feels a bit prescriptive to me – part of the reason I was initially attracted to modern quilting was to get away from THE RULES and the quilt police and find a style that worked for me. I think modern quilting is genuinely different to “traditional” or “art” quilting (it’s more than just using different fabrics and simpler or more graphic quilt designs), but so far I’ve found it difficult to describe. I think there’s still room for debate on this topic.
Looks like a fabulous workshop, both from a practical quilting perspective and thinking about the ideas behind what you’re doing. It reminds me that I need to watch the rest of Weeks’ class on Craftsy!
I love the parallels you bring up with architecture. We live in an older house, and things are definitely laid out differently than is the general preference these days.
Although regardless of the design, quilts are still able to fulfill the same role (keeping you warm), so the changes are mostly aesthetic rather than functional. Still, I like the idea that as an artistic movement, it’s defined by the intent as opposed to the final output.
I think it’d be an interesting conversation to have, and one that I hope the Modern Quilt Guild opens up to its members. I do know that modern quilting is definitely not defined by being “not traditional” because there are so many other areas of artistic expression that are not traditional but are also not modern. Of course, maybe not everyone would find this conversation as interesting as I would. lol
I also need to finish watching Weeks’ class! I got through the first two lessons and had so much creative inspiration that I had to stop and work it through. I never got back to the class, though.
Sounds like a wonderful experience. I love that exercise – sometimes it’s amazing to see what we don’t “see”. Their definition of modern quilting resonates with me better than the MQG definition does. I have been toying with taking their craftsy class. Guess I’ll go sign up. Thanks for a great post.
I hope you do sign up, it’s really inspirational! At least, I found it
She talks about her definition in the class, as well.
to be.
The exercises were great!! Definitely pushed my creative boundaries.
I agree about the MQG definition, despite their attempts to loosen it up.
Is it possible that trends are moving “post modern”?
Hmm, I suppose that’s possible. I mean, “modern design” in interior decorating certainly doesn’t refer to current design! However, I think modern quilting might be a new enough movement that we have a few years left in us. But I do think/hope that it opens up the possibility of new movements and design aesthetics!