Sew New: Contemporary Artist Quilts, an exhibit at the OSilas Gallery at Concordia College in Bronxville, features works by 14 quilt artists who explore the possibilities of artistic vision through fabric design, craft, and technique. Quilters, interested community members, artists, and students filled the gallery Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. for the exhibit's opening and a gallery talk by Kenise Barnes, Director of Kenise Barnes Fine Art in Larchmont, and curator of Sew New.

Barnes stated that, as a curator, she's always looking for connections when assembling an exhibit. She selected these fourteen quilters for their "passionate, almost devotional treatments of their subjects and fabric." Several of the quilters hold degrees in fine art and/or art history. Five of the artists have quilts placed in permanent museum collections; several have received state grants as well as grants from the National Endowment for the Arts; 20 quilts by the artists have been exhibited in the Quilt National, the most prestigious and largest quilt show in the world.

Traditionally considered a craft, which focuses on perfection of technique, or a folk art, art quilting has experienced a steady growth over the past four decades. First identified as an art form in 1971 in a show at the Whitney Museum of American Art in Manhattan, the quilts shown displayed similarities to abstract painting and design of the day. Art quilts are now part of the permanent collections of noted museums, including the High Museum of Art in Atlanta and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Three works in Sew New by Susan Else of Santa Cruz, California expand the concept of quilting to three-dimensional sculpture. Her chess set, "Your Move," stands in the center of the gallery.

Joining Barnes for the gallery talk were two artists whose works are part of Sew New. Karen Miller of Corvallis, OR, was a professor of marine biology and chemistry at Oregon State University when she began quilting. She works almost exclusively with katazome, a Japanese stencil dyeing process. Miller finds inspiration in the patterns of nature—a leaf skeleton or the underside of a starfish. Randy Frost of Bronxville, a former graphic artist and painter, incorporates painterly techniques in working with fabric to improvise her quilt compositions.

"I've been very interested in doing a quilt show," said Patricia Miranda, director of the OSilas Gallery. "I wanted this to be different from the typical quilt show. These artists use quilts as their medium and produce colorful, accessible, contemporary new forms."

In conjunction with the exhibit, OSilas Gallery will offer a day of quilt appraisals Nov. 20, beginning at noon, by Eugenia Barnes, an appraiser certified by the American Quilt Society. Music in the Gallery will present Song Patterns: A Tapestry, a concert designed by Concordia Conservatory, November 21 at 4 p.m. Miranda said the gallery will stage chess matches using Susan Else's sculpture.

Sew New: Contemporary Artist Quilts runs through Dec. 12 at the OSilas Gallery, located in the Donal A. Krenz Academic Center on the second level of Scheele Memorial Library. Concordia College is located at 171 White Plains Rd. in Bronxville. For more information: www.osilasgallery.org.