My exhibit “Specimens” opened this past Wednesday evening at the International Quilt Festival in Houston. It has run for the last two and half days and continues until the end of the festival on Sunday night.

I’ve been having a pretty fun time visiting with folks–past students, blog and newsletter followers, fellow teachers. The response has been pretty amazing and so very rewarding for me. But for those of you can attend in spirit only, I’m thinking of you too. Here are some photos from the show.

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The way the show is hung, it appears that “Crocodylus Smylus” is “showing an interest” in the marabou stork in “Kaloli Moondance.” This part of the exhibit faces “Main Street” in the Special Exhibit section of the International Quilt Festival.
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As viewers walk around the display to the left, they are greeted by “Samuelsaurus Rex” and five other Specimens.
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Continuing around the display, viewers encounter the last three quilts.
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Three times during the day I give a tour of the display.
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The tour starts in the “Tickled Pink” area and ends here with “Crocodylus Smylus.”
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Students from a local gifted and talented academy are introduced to Stevie the croc.

I have been making periodic (okay, sporadic) updates to my Facebook and Instagram accounts while here, as well. I’ll keep on posting photos as I’m able.

I know it’s not exactly the same, but I’ve also created a virtual version of the show below. I don’t think I’ve shown all eleven quilts (plus one: Polka Dodo, who is traveling on his own with an AQS show) in one place, either in real life or virtually before this week. Now both are happening at once!

I also include links to “Quilt Stories” where I’ve talked about each quilt at length.

To start let me quote the introductory text of the catalog I created for the show (which will be for sale in upcoming weeks through my “new and improved” website):

Specimens

noun   an individual animal, plant, piece of a mineral, etc., used as an example of its species or type for scientific study or display.

With these quilts I hope to help the viewer see all creatures—great and small—with fresh eyes. Unlike those of a scientist, my specimens are not “lifelike.” A pink rhino, a polka dotted dodo, a much-larger-than-life-size golden toad: the liberties I take, the choices I make are intended to provoke a response. Typically, I hope to invoke a sense of wonder. I could have made my saltwater crocodile any size I wanted. It would have been much easier, trust me, to make it smaller. But I chose to make it twenty feet long because that is what is truly awesome about this species. The size of the quilt is the point.

In some ways, my images are simple. The ­compositions are basic, simple profiles displaying as much of the animal as possible, often mimicking the posed figures in museum cases. In other ways my images are complex. Seen up close, the sheer number of pieces of fabric used makes for a density of color and texture. That, too, is part of the point. Each of these creatures is easily recognizable. Because we think we know them, our familiarity may lead us to dismiss them too easily. It’s only when we look closer that we understand how unique each is and how irreplaceable.

However, political or ­social or environmental statements are not the main point of my quilts, or let’s say that the statements are of the most obvious kind: our world and its inhabitants are at risk. I make quilts because I love fabric for its color and texture. I make quilts of animals because I’m an unabashed animal lover. That’s it, really. If my “Specimens” can speak to others at a tactile level and encourage them to look at animals at a deeper level (make people more aware of these animals), then that’s a good thing, I think. I think that’s enough.

—Susan Carlson


Kaloli Moondance

kalolifullwp
Kaloli Moondance, 2016, 63 x 72 inches

In Progress: Introducing “Kaloli Moondance”


Crocodylus Smylus

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Crocodylus Smylus, 2015, 21 feet by 6 feet

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Quilt Stories: (Re)Introducing “Crocodylus Smylus”


Golden Temple of the Good Girls

goldentemplewp
Golden Temple of the Good Girls, 2015, 50 x 58 inches

Quilt Stories: Golden Temple of the Good Girls


Dixie Dingo Dreaming

pippinoverall
Dixie Dingo Dreaming, 2011, 48 x 48 inches

Quilt Stories: “Dixie Dingo Dreaming” (Update with Slideshow)


Million to One

goldentoad
Million to One, 2008, 29 x 51 inches

Quilt Stories: Million to One


Fructos

fructos
Fructos, 2007, 36 x 40 inches\

Quilt Stories: Fructos


Polka Dodo

polkadodo
Polka Dodo, 2006, 40 x 44 inches

Quilt Stories: Polka Dodo

Though not at Houston, Polka Dodo is intended to be part of this show when it appears elsewhere.


Gombessa

gombessa
Gombessa, 2006, 70 x 43 inches

Quilt Stories: Gombessa


Tickled Pink

tickledpink
Tickled Pink, 2005, 64 x 42 inches

Quilt Stories: Tickled Pink


Exuberance

exuberancewp
Exuberance, 2003, 60 x 45 inches

Quilt Stories: Fire Beetle & Exuberance


Fire Beetle

firebeetlewp
Fire Beetle, 2001, 33 x 49 inches

Quilt Stories: Fire Beetle & Exuberance


Samuelsaurus Rex

Samuelsaurus
Samuelsaurus Rex, 2001, 48 x 40 inches

Quilt Stories: “Samuelsaurus Rex”

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