'Touch of Kismet' quilt exhibition begins at Hillestad

From June 1 through Sept. 4, the Robert Hillestad Textiles Gallery presents "Jan Myers-Newbury: A Touch of Kismet ­-- Quilts, Color, Pattern, Chance," an exhibition of recent work by one of the widely acknowledged leaders of the art quilt movement.

For more than 35 years, Pittsburgh-based textile artist Myers-Newbury has explored the interface between hand-dyeing and the pieced quilt. Her lyrical and sensuous quilt surfaces have set a high standard for color artistry in the studio quilt domain. This exhibition brings together a collection of works that exploit the pole-wrapping dyeing technique known as shibori, and more recent explorations in clamp and resist methods, that Myers-Newbury has helped to popularize among non-traditional quilt makers and surface designers.

Commonly known as "tie-dyeing," these processes and their expressive outcomes are as diverse as the cultures that have developed them. Shibori originated in Japan, but its variants -- jiao xie in China, plangi and tritik in Indonesia, mudmee in Thailand, adire in Nigeria, tie-dye in 1960s America -- have explored and expanded what can be achieved with simple folding, pleating, twisting, tying, clamping and fabric-binding techniques. Each of these methods creates resists to the dyes, resulting in unique and highly variable fabric patterns that play off the contrasts of dyed and undyed areas.

In the world of so-called art or studio quilts, Myers-Newbury has explored the relationship of shibori to patchwork with singular vision and ambition. With undergraduate and graduate degrees from St. Olaf's College and the University of Minnesota respectively, she has built a unique body of quilt work that has influenced the hundreds of students she has taught in workshops across the United States and abroad. Her advocacy of shibori processes has increased the reach and influence of resist dyeing through an enormous subgroup of makers in the textile art field.

Of particular interest to Myers-Newbury are the serendipitous and unpredictable outcomes of the shibori process.

"You would think that as many times as I have unwrapped a pole after dyeing, I would become ho-hum about the results," she said. "But it never fails: I can't wait to see how each piece turns out. I guess that's because I've realized I only have a certain amount of control and the rest is kismet."

This surrender of control -- albeit, an "educated" surrender, one informed by years of experience and practice ­-- is not so much abandon as embrace. Myers-Newbury sets the stage for "accidents" intentionally, and the results can seem magical.

Myers-Newbury will speak on her work at 3 p.m. Sunday, June 7, in room 11 of the Home Economics Building on East Campus. The talk is free and open to the public. A reception with refreshments will follow in the Hillestad Gallery on the second floor.

The Robert Hillestad Textiles Gallery is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, and by special request. Inquiries can be directed to the department at 402-472-2911. Weekday visitors to the gallery are welcome to park on East Campus in areas marked "visitor parking." Parking passes for these areas can be obtained at the time of the visit in either the dean's office, room 105, or the department office, room 234, in the Home Economics Building. Additional metered parking is available north of the East Campus Union and west of Hardin Hall.

On Friday, June 5, the Hillestad Gallery will participate in First Friday events and will be open to visitors from 5 to 8 p.m.