Review of byCONTRAST: Apparent Contradictions SAQA NJ + NY Region exhibition 2025 by Linda Colsh

By Contrast: Apparent Contradictions presents 29 art quilts made by members of the New Jersey and New

York Region of Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA). The exhibition examines commonly used expressions with

words that have opposite meanings. Juror Ann Johnston selected 29 works in a blind jury process (maker

names were not visible). Johnston writes that “The most important thing I looked for was originality in the

artist’s approach to the challenge: did it look and sound like it came from the person’s own experience?”

The theme challenged the artists to visually translate a phrase of two contrasting ideas that combine into one

concept. The prospectus asked artists to explore “seemingly contradictory or incongruous figures of speech,

used for dramatic, humorous, or ironic effect.”

Each artist chose a two-word juxtaposition to portray in the form of an art quilt. SAQA defines the art quilt as

“a creative visual work that is layered and stitched or that references this form of stitched layered structure.”

Therefore, art quilt creators often work with nontraditional materials or processes in an art form freed from

the bed to hang on the wall. They are not bound by the usual rectilinear form. They frequently alter fabric or

other materials with surface design techniques.

Working within the “layered and stitched” form, byCONTRAST: Apparent Contradictions artists used their

imaginations and creativity to decode the apparent contradiction between the words of their chosen

oxymoron.

Perhaps the most down-to- earth 2-word contrast is Plastic Silverware by Carol Boyer. To drive home her

point, she attaches real plastic cutlery to the surface of quilted cloth knives, forks, and spoons.

The lonely, isolated landscape of Forgotten Promises by Eileen Donovan evokes a climate of disillusionment

when promises are abandoned. The bleak gray scene divided by a fence stands as a visual metaphor for

disconnect. Glimmering gold confetti of promises made floats high on the hilltop, very distant from the

outlined boxes of empty promises seemingly buried out of sight below the fence. The rectangular foreground

quilting subtly echoes the colorfully embroidered boxes. Close lines of quilting on the far side of the fence

and a hazy horizon blur the memory of commitments made and then never fulfilled.

With different approaches, several artists probe word combinations that connect the dichotomy of chaos

with the regularity of order. In Random Order, Denise Giardullo deconstructs and recombines circles,

scattering them across the surface, sewing parts together with both straight and curved seams. She adds

additional circular marks to result in a nearly, but not quite square art quilt.

Barbara Sferra tackles the same pair of contradictory words with circle-printed squares and rectangles as her

main shape, varying their size. While the elements of Random Order appear to be arranged in an orderly grid,

it is not quite perfect, with further randomization of the composition in various smaller rectangles on the right

and bottom borders. Both artists also contrast straight with curved stitching lines.

Also among the art quilts examining random order, Liz Kuny’s A Roll of the Die piles strips from one side of the

color wheel on her art quilt. As the composition moves from bottom to top, the strips burst out of orderly

stacks and explode upward as if propelled by a detonation. Numbers representing pips on a pair of dice

mingle in the cloud of erupting strips, adding to the randomness of a game of chance.

The amorphous, black-outlined form of Linda Stern’s Controlled Chaos breaks out into the space below the

art quilt, while simultaneously containing a cacophony of wild thread scraps that threaten to escape and spill

onto the background.

Denise Elizabeth Kooperman stitches a comforting esthetic with soft, layered fabrics to convey Youthful

Ageing. Pops of bright color indicate the brashness of youth. They blend with and transition to softer, warmer

neutrals of old age. She alters repurposed blankets and felt pieces with eco-print techniques that use

materials such as leaves and metal pipes. The irregular perimeter of Kooperman’s art quilt seems to

demonstrate that the aging process is full of rough edges and periods of trying to control an unstoppable

progression. In a piece reminiscent of Shakespeare’s “sweet sorrow” Judith Gignesi takes on the poignant concept of

Together Alone. She pairs two figures in an idyllic landscape letting the viewer speculate on whatever has

come between the two people, who touch but also recoil.

Old News by Tamar Drucker speaks on several levels. While her chosen oxymoron is two words, Drucker

includes three people. Literally in between old and young is middle age, yet the middle-aged man is not

positioned between the old man made of print and the baby. News as communication is shown as shards of

newspaper, a medium, like the other media in the lower left box. The items in the box now seem old and out

of date means of delivering news.

All 29 examples of creative expressions in byCONTRAST: Apparent Contradictions showcase the medium of

art quilts. Each artist uses the art quilt form to create and present a unique visual interpretation of an

oxymoron. Thus, each artist found an “impossible solution” to the challenge of depicting a concept

consisting of two words with opposite meanings.

Over the 35 years of its existence, SAQA has championed art quilts as a fine art medium. A global

organization of over 4000 members, SAQA promotes the appreciation of the art quilt through its publications,

conferences, website and internet activity and global and regional exhibitions.

The exhibition will travel to four venues, opening at the Rochester Contemporary Art Center and traveling to

The View in Old Forge NY, the Trenton