On and Off Our Walls: Terry Aske

Recently, B.C. member Terry Aske posted on her blog the delightful news that one of her pieces has been featured on the cover of the Spring 2015 issue of The Canadian Quilter, a publication for members of the Canadian Quilters Association.  I asked Terry if she would share with her SAQA colleagues. Here's what she wrote:

When I was invited by the Canadian Quilters’ Association (CQA/ACC) to donate a 12 x 16 inch quilt for the ‘It’s Time for Colour!’* traveling quilt show, I had several ideas for colorful subject matter - tulips, fall foliage and sunsets all came to mind.   But I decided to create yet another version of one of my favorite themes – Rainy Day People.

I live in Vancouver, B.C. which is located in a spectacular scenic location between the ocean and mountains. With a temperate sea climate, we have mild but very dark, wet, dreary winters. After weeks of gray rainy weather, I’m always cheered when I see a pedestrian carrying a brightly colored umbrella. The idea of a quilt featuring people with bright umbrellas percolated in my head for a long time before I finally incorporated into my fiber art.  

In 2012, I created the first of my Rainy Day People series (the title ‘Rainy Day People’ was inspired by a wonderful song by Gordon Lightfoot, a great Canadian singer-songwriter).

To date, I have created 6 pieces with this theme, all featuring dark pedestrians carrying colorful umbrellas - including one for the SAQA 2013 online auction, and one for the SAQA 25th Anniversary Trunk Show.*   More information about the series can be found here in my blog.

For the 'It's Time for Colour!' exhibit, instead of dark adult pedestrians, my art quilt features two small girls with huge adult-sized umbrellas (based on photos I took of a little girl last year).   I dressed them in bright, cheerful colors to contrast with the rainy gray background, and added colorful reflections on the wet ground.

I was thrilled when the editor of The Canadian Quilter magazine asked if I would like to have my 'Rainy Day Girls’ on the cover of the Spring issue - now they are Cover Girls! 

Terry's "Cover Girls"

In addition to being on the cover of this Spring 2015 issue, Terry's quilt appears again in Laine Canivet's article about the "It's Time for Colour" exhibit, page 48 -- and in the same issue, an article about the Fibre Art Network's exhibit, "Abstracted", for which she partnered with her sister to create a realistic and an abstracted piece -- "Solitude I" (Terry's) and "Solitude II" (her sister, Anne de Verteuil's).

Congratulations, Terry! 

*"It's Time for Colour" has been travelling through Canada in two shows of 19 pieces each under the auspices of the Children's Wish Foundation.  Those of you who are attending Quilt Canada in Lethbridge, AB this year (June 4-6) will have an opportunity to see all 38 pieces of this exhibit at the end of it's one-year tour.

**Terry's contribution to the SAQA 25th Anniversary Trunk Show is touring as part of "Trunk Show B", currently travelling in the Alabama/Arkansas/Mississippi/Louisiana Region through the end of March and going from there to Southern Indiana (April) and from there to the Catskill Mountain Quilters Hall of Fame and the Calico Geese, Liberty, New York (May 11).

If you're part of an exhibit, if you've won an award, if you've been published, if you're having a creative adventure of any kind -- please share it with your SAQA colleagues!  To tell us what you've been up to, contact margblank@xplornet.ca -- and we'll work out the details!