Folklife Quilt Exhibit: Where Stitches In Time Stay In Mind

"By Design: The Quilt as Art," an exhibit presented by the Contemporary Quilt Association, at the Folklife Museum, Seattle Center Pavilion, preview reception 5:30 tonight; 11 a.m.-8 p.m. tomorrow through May 27; noon-7 p.m. daily through June 9; free admission; guided group tours available, call 684-7300 for information. ------------------------------------------------------------ If Seattle's Folklife Festival has any one theme, it's the relevance of tradition to the present day. Try - just try - getting through a day at the nation's biggest free cultural celebration without linking up with some part of your own heritage, something that speaks to a wordless joy in your heart.

"By Design: The Quilt as Art," organized by the Contemporary Quilt Association and opening tomorrow in the Folklife Museum, is likely to stitch itself into memories. The show, co-curated by Jean Koskie and Stephanie Randall Cooper, has classic American quilts of the sort that used to warm both body and soul. But it also shows a traditional craft thriving in a modern-art setting - rather like seeing a folk dancer whirl in space-age sneakers.

"Still Water" by Karen Perrine is a good example of the quilt as art, with accomplished craftsmanship wedded to strong design content. "I was intrigued with the idea of representing water in basically a warm, fuzzy medium," Perrine commented during an interview. She began with white fabric, which she painted with watercolors before starting the quilting process.

The scene of trees and rippling shadows is deceptively peaceful. Look closely and you'll see that the reflected forest is actually truncated - a symbol, for Perrine, of the lives cut short by the recent Gulf War. "My intention is not just to make a pretty picture," Perrine said. "But I don't like to be real overt. . . . I don't need to slash it and cut it and then throw red paint on it."

Most of the three dozen modern quilts in "By Design" are making their debut in the display. They've been produced by members of the Contemporary Quilt Association, a local group of 70 quilters who meet monthly to discuss artistic expression in their medium.

The exhibit is dedicated to the memory of Sharon Pelton, a CQA member who died last year. Her quilt "Red Window," a subtle color study with advancing and receding visual lines, is included in the display. A memorial fund for Pelton has been used to support some of the costs of "By Design."

In the Beginning, a Seattle fabric and supply business, is another sponsor of "By Design," and has provided several antique quilts from the collection of owner Sharon Yenter. These traditional quilts, with names such as "Whig Rose" and "Double Wedding Ring," connect the exhibit to its origins in the everyday life of earlier American women.

While the basic process of quilting - attaching an assemblage of fabric pieces to a backing - has remained essentially the same, today's quilters are experimenting with a wealth of expressive surface design possibilities. Frayed-edge applique blocks hint at fragile mountain ecology in "Polychrome Pass" by Linda Kumura Rees; curving wind patterns of stitching sweep across the quilt.

Along with a wide range of imagery from figurative to abstract, "By Design" helps to dispose of the stereotype of quiltmaking as a rigidly prescribed task. "Spirit Venture" by Teresa Cooper Jacobs was six years in the making, its winged female spirit, mandala symbols and tiny butterflies growing along with their maker's personal awareness.

"Conflict of Interest" by Stephanie Randall Cooper took shape much faster, after a frustrating school board meeting. It was "constructed with anger, with simple goals: Don't think, don't be neat, work fast," reads the artist's statement accompanying the raggedly outlined, torn collage with shiny metal hanging grommets.

A quilt near the entrance to the exhibit sets to rest yet another quiltmaking myth: that only women are inspired by the medium. "Desert Wings" by Jason Yenter spreads its intricately designed, artfully arranged piecework above a sign reading "By Design: The Quilt as Art."