Art Quilting
Ruthann Adams is an art quilter and has been involved in this creative outlet about ten years. “I enjoy the process of creating a picture from a story,” she explained. This year, her efforts are being rewarded with the acceptance of three pieces to be shown nationally in three different nationally acclaimed exhibitions.
“My mother was a quilter, but I never felt I had her needlework skills and so I decided early on I wouldn’t try to compete with her,” Adams noted. She elaborated, “My mother’s quilts were admired by many, including me.”
The stitchery bug bit the girl, but the bite lay dormant for many years until Adams went to a demo of landscape quilts and thought, “I could do that.” She found her niche and has been forging her craft since. Her creativity takes on three-dimensional shapes and is always based on personal experiences resulting in beautiful scenes from her life’s journeys.
Sacred Threads Quilts accepted Ruthann’s rendition of “Grief.” This exhibition appeared in Herndon, Virginia just south of Washington, D.C. for two weeks in July, 2019. Each quilt related to the artist’s spiritual journey.
Within a short year, both of Ruthann’s parents died and her quilt portrays that adjustment time period. She and her American husband of 19 years decided to immigrate to the United States where she found work as a Registered Nurse. However, her work environment seemed hostile and difficult as she continued to move through the stages of grief. “It took a couple of years before I felt a sense of renewal and the ability to move forward,” she admitted.
The symbolism of this piece is raw in the depiction of a half-dead tree with a healthy, albeit broken heart dangling from a branch. Grief dissipates from that organ into the atmosphere in the form of little pieces of black floating away, leaving behind a heart ready to bring new life and love to the artist herself.
The second piece is for a different exhibition, “Connecting Our Natural Worlds.” It will begin in the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson, Arizona from October 5, 2019, through January 5, 2020. The exhibition will then travel to various sites around the country. Each piece is meant to inspire viewers to get closer to nature and become better stewards for our environment.
Ruthann’s quilt is called “In Awe.” It was inspired from a photograph shared by an out-of-state friend who came across this photo opportunity on a trail while hiking in the Red Rock Desert Reserve in St. George, Utah. It’s a scene likely witnessed by only the most diehard of hikers and definitely worth the expended effort. Ruthann had the photo enlarged and printed on linen and then quilted it. In the description of this art quilt, she wrote, “Shush, don’t tell anyone.”
Her third entry is entitled “Flying Free” and will be part of an exhibit of the American Quilting Society’s (AQS) Quilt Week Daytona premiering in February 2020. Members were invited to submit representational and abstract two-dimensional works of what it means to be aloft. The invitation goes on, “Humankind has found ways to fly from Icarus’ attempt to create his wings to the advent of mechanized flight, satellites, space exploration and cameras on drones that give us a new perspective on our world.”
Ruthann answered this call with an entry inspired by a brief but thrilling paragliding experience she shared with her husband. “We took lessons and at one point got off the ground, but then I got scared and pulled down on the sail. I fell forward on my nose,” she added with a laugh.
Ruthann Adams envisions a picture and then, could it be she is inspired by her mother to create a piece of art? She has certainly found purpose in her senior years.
You can enjoy your own gallery walk of the Sacred Threads Exhibit 2019 by going to www.sacredthreadsquilts.com.