In December 2020, my “Berks in Stitches” show was Art Plus Gallery’s featured exhibit. It was the culmination of an 18-month project that took me across Berks County. I visited 86 local town and boroughs, in alphabetical order, to make a small quilt for each.
As the show opened, it occurred to me that the iconic landmark of Berks County–the Reading Pagoda–had been in only one quilt . . . which sold before the show opened!
So for my next series, I collaged vintage postcards of the pagoda into small quilts. Yet I felt that more was still needed. So I stitched elements of both of those series in this one.
Next, I printed enlarged scans of the vintage postcards onto fabric and collaged them into fanciful settings, some including colorful dragons inspired from my 2019 visit to China. I hope you can follow that long thread and enjoy the final result!
I thank my husband Jay Ressler for making all the frames, which were crafted from ash wood harvested on our property from trees killed by emerald ash borer.