Friday, January 14, 2011

Breathtaking

That has to be the only way to describe it. Last night, at our London Friendship Quilters Guild meeting, we had the pleasure of hosting Helen Fujiki as guest speaker. She is a quilt artist from Toronto, retired math teacher, who does amazing quilts.
I'm not talking about "oh, that's nice," or "what a lovely colour palette." I'm talking about "oh, my God. That is breathtakingly gorgeous" quilting. Helen started quilting in a traditional way, but soon was looking into her husband's Japanese heritage. She was hooked. She now uses a lot of Asian fabrics in her interpretation of Japanese culture. One of the foci of her work are her manhole covers. In Japan, manhole covers are a work of art, designed by local artists to depict the essence of their town. Helen has recreated many, many of these in her quilt designs. Each round quilt is labeled as to which town it is from.
Helen also makes drop dead amazing wall hangings. Vivid colours, three dimensional, raw edge applique that will make your heart skip a few beats.
If you'd like to learn more about Helen Fujiki, either google her name - you'll find several hits, or go to http://www.helenfujiki.com/Fuji_Wa_Quilting/Welcome.html
Breathtaking.

1 comment:

Christie describeHappy said...

Thank you for the inspiration! I lived in Japan for three years and it makes me homesick to go back looking at Helen's work. Your so right -- it's breathtaking!!