“Crossroads” Exhibition by Central Iowa Textile Artists

Crossroads
Group Exhibition by Central Iowa Textile Artists
September 5th – September 30th, 2023 At The Octagon Community Gallery

About this group exhibition:
“Crossroads” – A place where two roads meet and cross each other. An intersection where a choice must be made, to go straight, or change course and take a new direction. We come to many crossroads in our lives, places where we decide to stay on the straight path, to take the path least taken, or to create a new path altogether. Sometimes life events force us down a path we don’t choose.

The artists who are members of the Central Iowa Textiles Artists have been creating art for many years. They come from varied backgrounds. Although only one member has a degree in art, all have studied with various artists in the field of textiles and beyond, for many years as they honed their own style and process.

Artist List:
Ilene Bartos, Janet Bergeron, Mary Cecil, Barbara Jones, Rebecca Kemble, Sue Kluber, Rebecca Loew, Janet Pittman, Wendy Read, Barbara Riggs, Barbara Stewart, Fern Stewart

Exhibition Dates:
September 5th – Exhibition Opening Day & Reception at 5PM
September 30th – Exhibition Closes

Artist Biographies:

Ilene Bartos –
Ilene has been working with fiber arts and quilting for over 20 years, designing both traditional
and art quilts. Her works have hung in galleries and shows and won various awards and blue
ribbons. She enjoys being a lecturer at guilds and loves teaching others how to make quilts that
are slightly beyond their comfort level or outside the traditional box. Quilting combines her
passion for color with her love of fabric and gives infinite possibilities for creative
expression.Ilene authored two traditional quilt books in 2009 and 2010 but has since been
devoting her time to designing contemporary art quilts and writing patterns for them. She loves
teaching others how to work with bright colors because it makes everyone smile – her motto is to
spread joy, one quilt at a time.

Janet Bergeron –
Textiles have defined Janet’s world since the age of eight. From garment construction,
costume design, quilting, dyeing, and construction, her happiness has always been
found in her sewing room. Her work has been exhibited locally and in a number of regional and traveling
exhibitions, as well as many homes and offices.

Mary Cecil –
Mary Cecil has always had an interest in the arts but never found her niche until she
discovered quilting. As with most quilters, she began with more traditional designs but
then began to see challenges in more diverse forms of expression. Her life in both the
US and Mexico has offered endless inspiration from images of architecture, birds, plants
and more, which she captures with her camera and then brings to life in fabric. Her work
has received recognition in a variety of venues and she continues to improve and
explore textile art making.

Barbara Jones –
For the past twenty years, Barbara has been involved in quilting, primarily in creating
fabric wall art rather than making bed quilts.
Over the years she has sold many of her “fabric paintings” and has had her art
displayed in galleries throughout the US. Her work as also been displayed in magazines
and newspaper articles. In 2006 she started a pattern company of primarily whimsical animals. The patterns are
sold in quilt stores throughout the US, the UK, Australia and Canada.
Her process for many of her art quilt “paintings” begins with a sketch of the motif,
(usually an animal) which is then transferred to the background fabric. The quilt
“paintings” often include various media, i.e., painted or hand-dyed fabric by the artist,
wool, silk, yarn, zippers, buttons, sticks, etc. many of the fabric “paintings” are done
entirely by hand, so each piece requires months to complete.
Barbara likes to bring awareness of the environmental issues facing many animals that
are disappearing or on the endangered species list through her art.

Rebecca Kemble –
Rebecca has always been inspired by her environment, and found joy in creating.
Whether in the countryside, or the city, there is always something that catches her
interest to influence her art. As a mixed media artist, she tends to combine the use of
paint, dye, fabric and stitch to create both image and texture. Her work has been shown
internationally, nationally, and resides in private collections throughout the United
States. Because of her awareness of the world around her, she is also keenly aware of how the
environment is being affected by changes in our climate. Her latest works have focused
on the “little” things that provide so much for our survival.

Sue Kluber –
There has never been a moment in Sue Kluber’s life that did not include art.
Observing all that nature offered consumed her. Love of the changing seasons ,the
wildlife, and a grandmother who lived “by the signs”  were treasured inspirations, as
were life lessons from a colorful and diverse cast of talented characters that crossed
her path.  She has entered some shows, won a few awards, and sells some pieces,
but the rewards are really the joy of capturing moments that she loves in the art.

Rebecca Loew –
Rebecca Loew is a textile artist living in Grinnell, Iowa. She has been quilting for more
than 40 years, but in the past ten years Rebecca has explored many other areas of the
fiber arts. She has exhibited her work in several gallery shows and has art in private
collections. She has taught Shibori, natural dying, and other textile arts at the Des
Moines Art Center.

Janet Pittman –
Janet Pittman, a quilt artist from West Des Moines, Iowa, has been quilting and
designing as owner of Garden Trellis Designs for over 30 years. Janet’s quilt designs
have appeared in Love of Quilting, American Patchwork and Quilting, and Country
Marketplace magazines. She the author of Appliqué, the Basics and Beyond, Colorful
Quilts for Playful Kids and First Time Machine Appliqué.
Inspiration for her wall hangings comes from photographs she has taken of her own
garden and of gardens and other sites on her travels. She finds that the color variations
in hand-dyed fabric and batik fabric add to the natural feel of her mostly realistic
designs. Many of her quilts are embellished with decorative threads, machine or hand
stitched, to add texture and color to the images.

Wendy Read –
Just as many young children have throughout the generations, Wendy Read became
comfortable with the fiber arts at an early age, from playing with her mother’s button
basket and the fabric scraps that fell on the floor as her mother sewed, to making many
of her own clothes as a teenager. As an adult drawn to the arts, she naturally
experimented with the media she was most familiar with, incorporating exotic and
interesting fibers and materials, paints, and dyes to create her art. Born in Baton Rouge,
Louisiana, she was fortunate to have the influence of several professional and amateur
artists in her family, as well as year-round access to nature.
Her work has been displayed in numerous exhibits and private showings, and has won
many awards throughout the country. While she uses many fiber art techniques, there is
usually extensive thread-painting in her work, where the thread becomes her paint, and
the sewing machine her paintbrush.

Barbara Riggs –
Barbara Riggs has been a fiber artist and art quilter for over 20 years. Having grown up
on a farm in Iowa has greatly influenced her art. Nature is a theme that is very much
reflected in her work. Capturing what she saw with drawings and paintings was what
drew her to the art world. When the paints and solvents had to be put away, she had to
find another medium to continue to create art. Having had a needle and thread in her
hands from a very young age, it was a natural transition to move to fiber art. Her work
has been shown internationally, nationally and in many local and regional venues,
featured in national publications, and received numerous awards.

Barbara Stewart –
Barbara (Barb) Stewart was first associated and greatly influenced into the art world by her
maternal grandmother, who was an outstanding artist, and by her Uncle Harry whose
drawings would have received numerous awards had they been displayed. Unfortunately,
she never inherited these artistic blessing, but was quite crafty and could literally sew
anything. For her, quilting was always a dream to pursue, but that was not possible until her
retirement. However, prior to her retirement, quilting expanded from the traditional style to
include an amazing form of “art quilting”, which allowed more creativity and spontaneity.
Then, with the directive of many exceptional art quilters, books and classes, she was able to
acquire knowledge involving various techniques that expanded her art quilting abilities,
including creation of three-dimensional quilts. Barb’s quilts have been influenced by her life
experiences, by nature, by other artists, by various themes or challenges from art quilt
groups she is involved with, and quite often by scripture. Exhibits of her art quilts have
occurred in various venues and at numerous private showings. Her quilts have also
received awards and have been purchased. Art quilting became a blessing for Barb, always
encouraging her to stretch her mind and imagination to create artistic beauty for others to
enjoy.

Fern Stewart –
Fern Stewart has quilted for the past 40 years.  Her early work mimicked the quilt
movement of the time relying on templates, a limited color palette and traditional
approach.  She quickly moved beyond those limitations and acknowledged her
independent creative spirit.  She has created a number of award winning quilts. 
Currently she is working on a series of quilts entitled Urban Development in which
she reflects on the changes to cities due to population growth and developer greed. 
Social changes, housing density, loss of habitat and related concerns will be the
focus of her next four quilts.