January 25, 2007

Chicago artists break traditional quilt patterns

The art quilts that Chicago artists Mary Jo Bowers and Donna June Katz create are meant to enhance a wall rather than a bed.

Their colorful, one-of-a-kind creations will be featured during the Dittmar Memorial Gallery’s winter exhibition “Forms and Formations,” which will be open for public viewing through Feb. 11.

Bowers and Katz — who work independently of each other — like to break the traditional patterns of quilt making by creating flowing organic images with vivid shades of paint or dye and various fabrics.

Bowers, who has a studio in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood, creates art quilts that appear harmonious and yet have elements of tension that she achieves by manipulating the emotional impact of color, shape and line.

Natural history and the environment and an exploration of the boundaries between art and nature inspire Katz, who was raised in Evanston and works in her Lakeview neighborhood studio. She hand paints her quilts on unbleached muslin to reflect her interest in geology, landscape, nature, maps and patterning.