Montgomery County Community College, the Schuylkill River Heritage Area, Valley Forge National Historical Park and Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site will present a traveling juried art quilt exhibit, “Piecing Together a Changing Planet,” which illustrates how pollution and climate change have affected national parks.
The 26-quilt exhibit has been on display at national parks and partner venues since 2014 and is continuing its journey across the country in celebration of the National Park Service’s Centennial Anniversary this year. Since the exhibit started, it has been seen by nearly a quarter-million people, according to Gary Bremen, a park ranger who helped to coordinate the exhibit.
The exhibit will be held at at MCCC’s Fine Arts Gallery, North Hall, 16 High Street, Pottstown, from Oct. 3 through 28 with an opening reception on Wednesday, October 5, 5-7 p.m. Both the exhibit and the reception are free and open to the community-everyone is welcome.
The quilted artwork was created by Florida members of the Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA), a 3,000-member international organization dedicated to the promotion of art quilt. In addition to traditional stitching and piecing, this type of quilting features graphic design and layering of pieces of fabric, creating a dramatic, three-dimensional effect. As a result, butterflies appear to flutter from treetops, while glaciers seem to melt into oceans.
According to exhibit curator Maya Schonenberger, “The artists’ goal is to help open people’s eyes to the beauty of nature that surrounds them, and share their concern for its loss.”
Over the years, climate changes, particularly the warming of the atmosphere, has created many changes in the environment, which are often evident in America’s national parks.
“Stories of how artists have played a crucial role in environmental protection are legion,” said Bremen. “The arts convey beauty, fragility and urgency in ways that touch the heart and soul, thus opening the mind as well.”
The national tour of Piecing Together a Changing Planet is made possible by SAQA and Biscayne National Park, with financial support from the National Park Service’s Climate Change Response Program, the South Florida National Parks Trust, Les Bouquinistes Book Club and an anonymous donor.
For more information about the Schuylkill River Heritage Association, visit http://www.schuylkillriver.org/.
For more information about Valley Forge National Historical Park, visit http://www.nps.gov/vafo/.
The Fine Arts Gallery is open Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. and Friday, 8;30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Closed weekends. For more information about MCCC, visit http://www.mc3.edu.
