Goodbye 2020; Welcome 2021!

There was no nostalgia in leaving 2020 behind, and I have seldom been so eager to start a new year. I felt like I couldn’t get away from this year of disaster soon enough, and I know I wasn’t alone. It’s hard to put into words how I feel about the unnecessary loss of loved ones and economic hardship that so many are suffering. I’m hopeful that the changes in our government will lead to better management and a more just society for everyone. All this has also impacted my desire to write blogposts about becoming and being an artist. It seemed so trivial in light of everything else that’s happening. But I’m making a fresh start in 2021 and hope to post updates on my journey a little more often.

I’ve found that despite everything I actually did get quite a lot done creatively. It didn’t feel that way during the year, and it only became apparent to me when I looked back at my quilting projects for the year in photos and Instagram posts. I want to share a quick look back to some of my personal favorites and write about how I hope to shape this year.

Last year started with my first visit to QuiltCon and my first quilt, “Extraterrestrial”, in an exhibition. It was a wonderful highlight to kick off the year, but it was also the last event before the pandemic disrupted everything. My next project “Pandemonium” was made during those first few months, as a form of respite and distraction from the anxiety and uncertainty, and the many weeks in total lockdown. I was thrilled that it was selected to be featured in Sandra Sider’s upcoming book “Quarantine Quilts: Creativity in-the-midst-of Chaos”. Originally planned for a special exhibition at the Houston Quilt Festival in Oct, it was shown in the online substitute in Dec instead. But Sandra Sider was able to secure additional live viewing opportunities for this exhibition, and around the time the book comes out this summer, the entire special exhibition will be shown live at the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, KY, and then travel to the New England Quilt Museum in Lowell, MA in the Fall. That’s another two big firsts for me, and I couldn’t be more excited about it: first publication in a book; first exhibition in a museum. “Pandemonium” was also accepted to QuiltCon 2021.

In Aug I made “Casting Shadows” for the Curated Quilts mini challenge, using the plus sign as inspiration. It didn’t make it into the publication but it was significant for me for the message it contains. The concept was triggered by my feelings around the pandemic, economic crisis and persistent systemic racism, and my hope that where there is shadow there is light, and that we would be steering towards better times.

Through the NJMQG I also took a class with Jenny Haynes and made my version of the Hole Punch Ribbon quilt. That was definitely a skill builder and I learned a lot, especially no-pin curve sewing, which I have since practiced like crazy in my 100 Day Project. Jenny featuring my quilt top in her promotion of scheduled future workshops on IG and her website was a great honor.

In Oct I re-created “Ship Ahoy”, my reinterpretation of a MQG Modern Classic pattern for the special exhibition at QuiltCon 2021. I chose the “Merge” pattern by Karen Foster, because I loved the design, but also for the freehand cuts of the blocks’ curves which makes each quilt just a little different and unique. To put my own mark on the quilt, and for a minimal waste approach, I pieced the back with the cutoffs from the front, an improvisational process guided by the shapes of the cutoffs, and only adjusted and filled in with additional rectangular piecing where needed for size. I was thrilled when it was accepted into QuiltCon 2021.

I also finished my first ever 100 Day Project last year. “Tiles” was the start of what I think will be a small series. I’ve written before about how the project came about and shared some reflections at the halfway point. I finished the quilt top in early Dec, and it will be quilted soon. I was touched by the people who followed my project and provided encouragement via Instagram. That meant a lot and helped me to keep going. It was fascinating to realize the different observations people were making on the design. The circles reminded someone of ripples in the water, a friend suggested that the colors point to Fall while at the same time still show a hint of summer, and that the colors and circles together create a sense of embrace. I’m so excited and encouraged how this piece has engaged people.

Personally, I think the asymmetrical curves provide an element of unpredictability, and they create interest and movement. The juxtaposition of the square tiles and the free form curves add to that. It’s definitely one of my favorite pieces. I want to make this a no-waste project and use up as much of the cutoffs as I can. “Tiles II” is finished and quilted, and there is a mountain of scraps waiting to be used for further offshoots of this concept, some of it already in progress.

And lastly, in Dec I finished “On the Fence”, a quilt I started during an online workshop with Maria Shell during the virtual Vermont Quilt Festival in Sep, and that kept growing in the weeks following the workshop. It’s based on a palette of 10 colors, and after the initial middle section I added corner blocks and connections in between to surround it. I considered to leave it at that, but I had started to make improvisational tracks and experimented with some pinwheels based on Maria’s teachings. These blocks took many weeks to complete as I made them in between other things whenever I felt like just playing and improvising. In the end I incorporated them as a final circumference in a rail fence style, and this became a 66” square quilt. Because the design is complex I kept the quilting simple and opted for a straight line grid of horizontal and vertical lines.

I’ve come to realize this year how much I love improvisational work. I pick a color palette and decide what I want to do conceptually, and I typically give myself a few rules to guide the process, but I can break those with ease if I think they’re not effective. Sometimes I make rough sketches in advance, other times the shapes are decided while cutting and sewing. I’ve thought quite a bit about the influences so far in my very short career as a quilt artist, especially with regards to improvisational work. I have learned from different people at different stages in my development and I’m grateful to all the teachers I’ve had the pleasure to encounter. Rayna Gillman introduced me to improv in 2018, which was a revelation for me, as I had mostly been a perfectionist all my life and initially stuck to cutting exact measurements with a ruler. And I was so excited when Rayna featured the quilt I started during her class on her blog. In 2019 I took my first workshop with Maria Shell which marked another milestone in my journey towards becoming more free in my approach to creating compositions. The quilt resulting from that first workshop became a real momentous teaching for me. And most recently I explored the work and teachings of Cindy Grisdela, online and through one of her books. I admire her work, especially for her use of color and balanced compositions, and I’d love to take a class with her sometime this year.

I look forward to continue my learning curve on design and improvisation in the coming year. I’ve planned to take some classes and want to focus on making original designs. QuiltCon is approaching fast, and I’ve signed up for classes to improve technical design skills using EQ8 and Procreate, to become a better quilt photographer, and one to further fine-tune my skills of piecing full circles. More on these after QuiltCon. Beyond that I’ve also signed up for a two-day virtual workshop with Irene Roderick in March. I’ve been drawn to her Dancing with the Wall designs and can’t wait to learn the kind of piecing techniques she uses for that. I feel that the more piecing techniques I’m learning, the more free I can be in my own compositions. Currently, after only three years of quilting I often still feel inhibited by my own limitations. So 2021 is the year I want to learn as much as I can. I had also secured a spot in a weeklong live workshop with Nancy Crow at Hudson River Valley Art Workshops in Upstate New York at the end of March, and was super excited about that. Learning from such a great artist was a dream come through. No final decision has been made yet, but I’m waiting to hear if they’ll go through with it. And lastly, on top of all the learning and focusing on making original work this year I’m also trying my hand at pattern writing. That’s in early stages, so more to come on that.

All in all it’s been a productive year despite the craziness of a pandemic and a very tense political environment. I’ve certainly cut myself some slack and there were many goals on my list that I didn’t get to. Some will be lined up for 2021, and others weren’t as important after all. As usual I’ll probably put way too many goals on my list, but that’s ok. I’ll do as much as I can.

Thank you so much for following along on my journey. I hope you can look back at your own accomplishments from last year with kindness and encouragement, and have some exciting plans for the year ahead.

Lenny van EijkFebruary 4, 2021

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Goodbye 2020; Welcome 2021!