Central Virginia Modern Quilt Guild member Kat Von Bourgondien with one of her creations, part of “UnBound: A Selection of Modern Quilts” at The Gallery at Main Street Station (Photo by Jay Paul)
Starry constellations. Hidden cats. Albert Einstein. Expressions of freedom. A preoccupied mind unable to sleep. Rocket ships. These may not be subjects you expect to see depicted in quilts, but a new exhibition in the first-floor gallery of Main Street Station is likely to surprise you. The show, “UnBound: A Selection of Modern Quilts,” on view through Aug. 31, is produced by the 82-member Central Virginia Modern Quilt Guild (aka CVAMQG), a local branch of the international guild.
Natalie May, CVAMQG president, grew up in Ohio and Michigan and remembers driving through Richmond when her family headed south for winter vacations in Florida. She recalls being particularly impressed by the Main Street Station clock tower. “Seeing the train station juxtaposed against the skyline of the city, I just thought it was magical,” she says. “I couldn’t wait to see it. if I’d fallen asleep in the back seat, they’d wake me up: ‘Let Natalie see Richmond!’ The fact that I ended up here, and that we’re having a show here, is really full circle for me.”
May discovered quilting when she moved to Lititz, Pennsylvania, as a young teacher and found she could hear the clip-clop of horses pulling Amish buggies from her apartment window. She became fascinated by dynamic Amish quilting and is still fond of the log cabin style, which has a square in the middle representing a chimney and rectangular “logs” around it. During her time in Pennsylvania, she made many log cabin quilts and variations on other Amish styles.
Then came a 20-year sabbatical from quilt-making, during which May earned a doctorate from the University of Virginia’s School of Education, married and became a mother. About 15 years ago, she started the nonprofit Change the World RVA, which supports high school and college students and young adults who are experiencing homelessness and housing instability.
Piecework from the exhibition (Photo by Jay Paul)
CVAMQG makes quilts for community groups. Around 2018, they chose Change the World RVA as a recipient and reached out to May. “I came to tell them about our organization and looked at their patterns, and what they were thinking, and I was supposed to go home and meet my son for dinner — but I couldn’t leave,” she says. “I realized, these are my people.” Coincidentally, she adds, she had just pulled her sewing machine out of the basement.
May became the guild’s membership chair a month after she joined. She says that in addition to learning about modern quilting — which is what she was doing without realizing the method had a name — she enjoys that the guild attracts women of different backgrounds, ages, ethnicities and careers.
CVAMQG President Natalie May with one of her log cabin quilt designs outside Main Street Station (Photo courtesy Natalie May)
When she became guild president last year, May approached her friend Chrystal Lowery, program and operations manager at Main Street Station, and asked whether it would be possible for the guild to hold an exhibit there. Lowery agreed, so May set out to persuade the membership.
Prior to the meeting, May sent around a teaser black-and-white photograph of Main Street Station from when it was new, circa 1901, which is how she learned of a fellow member’s relationship with the building.
S. Maggie Schubert is the founder of Chestnut Knoll Studio, a design practice, and an architect who worked for SMBW, a firm involved with the station’s renovations completed in 2017. For the show, she made a Bauhaus-style quilt called “Frequency.” The piece possesses a musicality, as though capturing the sound waves produced by a contemporary chamber group. For Schubert, the work represents “the frequency and flow we as architects, designers and creatives must find to create work from our authentic self. If we tune into our frequency and vibration, we can elevate the community and world around us.”
Schubert is also the chair of Modern Richmond, a group that promotes an understanding and appreciation of modernism in all its forms. Modern Richmond is partnering with CVAMQG on Aug. 13 for a workshop aimed at introducing a broader audience to a modern take on a traditional piecing method, as well as a panel discussion featuring guild members who have work in the show.
The exhibition is on view through Aug. 31. (Photo by Jay Paul)
To choose the pieces for the exhibition, a selection committee invited members to submit up to three examples of their work. The guild then voted for 24 pieces, which the committee further narrowed to the 15 major works on display. A complementary video presentation expands the exhibit with 116 images of quilts, their makers and their methods.
“Everyone was excited,” May says. “This is our first big show. It’s the harvest of what we do.”
Schubert adds, “These modern quilts that speak, explore, celebrate and express are the first of many shows to come by CVAMQG.”
“UnBound: A Selection of Modern Quilts,” is on view through Aug. 31. Also at Main Street Station, the Central Virginia Modern Quilt Guild partners with Modern Richmond on Wednesday, Aug. 13, for an open workshop, “A Modern Take on English Paper Piecing,” at 4 p.m., followed by a panel discussion on modern quilting at 5:30 p.m., plus community sewing circles from noon to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 23, and Friday, Aug. 29.
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