“The Mechanical Quilt” Fine Art quilter Lynne Pillus at Orland Art Center Gallery July 3 through July 25, 2015

Orland Art Center Gallery

“The Mechanical Quilt” Fine Art quilter Lynne Pillus 
July 3 through July 25, 2015 
  A fascinating fusion of fabric Fine Art and today’s mechanized world. Fine Art quilter
Lynne Pillus captures the movement and motion of the many machines used every day in factories
and farms across the land.
  
Friday,  July 3  Artists Reception 3:00 - 7:00 p.m.
Refreshments and live music
Young musician Melania Raygoza at our baby grand piano.
  Pop in Friday and meet the artists, or linger over refreshments.



Orland Art Center Gallery
732 4th St.
Orland, CA 95963
1 to 6 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays
http://www.orlandartcenter.com/gallery.html
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Orland-Art-Center/114602481932857
530-865-5920

About Lynne Pillus 
http://www.mechanicalquilt.com/about/

Lynne Pillus lives in Oroville, California, a small town about 70 miles north of Sacramento.  Oroville is in the middle of farming country, which accounts for her fascination with farm machinery.  Many small family farms are disappearing, leaving us with rusting equipment by the sides of fallow fields.  This is her attempt to memorialize that part of our heritage.

Lynne's first attempt at quilting was in the '70's, the days of harvest gold, avocado green and orange polyester.  She started with an ankle length patchwork skirt built on a muslin foundation with inserts of brown corduroy.  That's when she discovered that quilts were generally made for warmth.  That skirt was too warm to wear, and too heavy to sleep under.

She tried again in the early '80's with a maple leaf pattern, three colors of calico and a whole lot of muslin.  There were several cereal boxes involved also, with template sized holes missing.  Forty-five hand-pieced blocks later, and 44 plain muslin alternate blocks, she had a quilt large enough to carpet a room. 

Time to take some classes.

Lynne has taken many classes since then, and enjoyed many retreats, and had been making traditional quilts for about 25 years.  During this time she tried many new techniques, unusual fabrics and interesting combinations, all in a search to find her own voice.

During a farm tour she spotted an interesting looking harvesting machine, took a photo and wondered if she could reproduce that feeling of depth and motion in fabric.  That was the start of The Mechnical Quilt.