Fantasies made of patches

People have been fond of doing patchwork since old times: we know about Egyptian ornament made of pieces of leather in the 10th century B.C., Japanese clothing of the same era with patchwork ornaments, Chinese carpet from the 9th century assembled from many pieces of pilgrims’ clothing in the Thousand Buddha Caves. In Europe and America quilting as a form of art has a long history, while in Ukraine it appeared not so long ago and now is experiencing its prime in a favorable environment.
More and more talented artists participate in festivals and competitions, dream of creating a Ukrainian Association of Quilters and tell about their activities on a variety of websites (“Everything about Patchwork and Quilting in Ukraine” www.quilters.com.ua). Patchwork is making things by means of sewing patches of fabric together. Quilting is a kind of textile design where a few layers of fabric are joined by a special sewing method. Art-quilting includes patchwork technique, fabric applique, embroidery, batik, various stitches, use of beads, buttons, and glass beads.
Tetiana Bohachuk and Olha Chebotareva are members of the Union of Artistic Textiles Artists of Ukraine, they have participated in many exhibitions and festivals: Ukrainian Congress of Quilters, the international project “The Nutcracker” of the Alexei Bakhrushin Museum of Theater (Moscow, 2010), the International Russian-Ukrainian exhibition “Carpet of Fairy Tales” (Kharkiv, 2012), and others. Mosaic shine of their joint project “Unity of Contrasts” captivates the audience from the first glance and it seems impossible that these images are made of fabric. When you look closely you notice carefully selected patches, geometric designs, and immaculately made stitches…
One of the leading quilters of Ukraine Bohachuk has been professionally engaged in patchwork sewing for 15 years now, she made nearly 200 large-sized quilts and many other works – pictures, clothing, bags, and accessories. The master is captivated by fairy tale element: in the images presented at the exhibition The Kingdom of Berendei, On the Golden Porch, and Yarylo she encrypted Slavic rites and folk tales, embroidered towels and flower wreaths, stove tiles and craved frames. Magic bird Sirin looks with kind eyes from the image Grandma’s Tales. The author said that in this image she used the “artichoke” technique, when a triangle of fabric is folded in a special way, like in art of origami (this art work was awarded the Grand Prix at the Kharkiv Festival of Artistic Textiles “Berehynia,” 2012).
Love of the Samurai is a panel, stylized kesa, a veil of Buddhist monks, which was sewed from squares that symbolize rice fields connected with strips of fabric like roads. Following tradition Bohachuk used an odd number of rectangles arranged in a particular order, from which, like from windows, you can see Japanese ornaments. The theme of a road again appears in the panel Alley of Freshness – where is leading the inviting road through blossoming garden? It led the artist to Prague, where she presented this art work at the European Quilt Festival and to the international exhibition “Days of Patchwork and Quilt” in the Netherlands.
“My favorite work is Transformation because we cut it out together with my seven-year-old son: we sorted the patches, laid them out into long and short stripes and he enjoyed this a lot,” said Bohachuk.
Chebotareva began learning quilting in 2008 and today her works show a high level of skill, not by chance she presented her course paper here. It is a delicate panel in muted colors called Debut (it is a classic sampler – quilt made of several blocks). The secret of transformation is revealed in… pillows. In the tale of Wilhelm Hauff Caliph said the magic word “Mutabor!” and turned into a stork. Chebotareva used the name Mutabor for her pillows. Pieces of fabric turned into intricate patterns. The pillows from the Majolica series sparkle with variations on the subject of majolica in Barcelona. These pillows were made in the “kaleidoscope” technique – creative discovery of the author.
Two guiding stars of Chebotareva illuminate the exposition: first one is the Christmas Star with an amazing combination of colors, colorful game of backgrounds and rays, it reminds of the forthcoming winter holidays with a promise of miracles. Second is the Eastern Star that adorns the panel Isfahan (Iranian town – the birthplace of Persian carpets). Bright, traditional patchwork eight-pointed star with colorful rays against the dark background in malachite pattered frame hand sewn from six kinds of fabric and decorated with three-dimensional parts, and another little star in the center – artist’s know-how.
Fantastic panel Middle Earth, inspired by Tolkien’s epic: there is so much of the sea and turquoise of the heavens, interwoven with the wisdom of ancient stones that know the right way to the coveted ring. The panel is made in the “bargello” technique: cut strips of different fabric (a total of about forty kinds) are joined in a ring, then are cut again and sewn with a shift – this creates the effect of multicolored flowing waves.
The exhibition “Unity of Contrasts” is open until December 17 at the Department of Arts in Lesia Ukrainka Public Library in Kyiv.