Lowell

Since I found myself in northeastern Massachusetts last week helping out with a three-year-old bundle of delightful and exhausting energy, I decided I had to take a small break, drive the thirty minutes to the Lowell Quilt Festival, and spend some of the day with a quilting friend from northwestern Massachusetts. The main exhibit was surprisingly traditional, although they did have several quilts that drew my attention, this one ("My Mind: All Skewed Up Without Zentangle Meditiation" by Patricia Washburn) among them:

The variety of stitching in the outer border was impressive.

There were also a few interesting quilts in the Ayer Lofts Gallery, but no photos were allowed there.  This was a small space and the exhibit was limited to small quilts.  There were only about 20 quilts in the whole show, and I was a bit disturbed that of that small number, three were by one artist and two sets of two were by two other artists. I suppose they were going for a uniform look to the exhibit, but I would have preferred seeing the work of more artists. 

Nor were photos allowed at the New England Quilt Museum, where they were celebrating their twenty-fifth anniversary with an exhibit of quilts from big name quilters that attempted to capture the range of quilting in the last twenty-five years. 

The theme at the Brush Gallery was music and there was plenty of variety here--everything from realistic portraits to completely abstract pieces.  I took lots of photos and here are two:

This one, "Vivaldi's Four Seasons: End of Summer," by Diane Wright, caught my eye every time I walked by it.  I seemed to see something new every time--I'd missed the birds on the first pass by and then the next time I noticed the color changes.

And this one, "Hear the Color See the Sound" by Helene Kusnitz, seemed to attract everyone's attention with its bold colors and shiny silk fabric:

I loved the quilting and beading on it as well. 

My friend and I topped off the day at this great little organic, vegetarian restaurant that was very busy, where I had one of the best lunches ever:

I came home wishing I lived a bit closer to Lowell--and that three-year-old bundle of energy.