Second Friday Reception:
January 11, 6 – 8pm
The New Year opens with two solo exhibits at Davis Arts Center, Mini Quilts, featuring the work of Karen Richardson and the second exhibit titled, Sharing Lost Secrets, featuring the photography of Robert Kennedy. Mini Quilts will be on display in the Tsao Gallery and Sharing Lost Secrets will be on display in the West Hall and Atrium of the Davis Arts Center. Both exhibitions will open on Thursday, January 10th and run through Saturday, January 26th. There will be a Second Friday ArtAbout on Friday, January 11. Karen and Robert will both be present during the reception and the public is encouraged to attend the free reception and exhibitions.
As one may assume, Mini Quilts features small quilts, most around 1 square foot in size. There are a variety of techniques being used to make the quilts including pieced and paper-piecing. Most of the quilts are based on traditional designs, but Karen’s attentive eye to color and pattern give the work a contemporary sensibility. Each of the quilts has a story and an importance to Karen. She writes of the Ohio Star in a Star, “The Ohio Star block was the first I ever made using triangles (half square and quarter squares) which form the star. I made a quilt using this block pattern which I considered my ‘first real’ quilt. Quilts before it were made with whatever fabric I had, including old clothes, and done in squares or rectangle pieces.” Twisted Boxes was inspired by the beautiful silk fabric, Karen comments, “I love the way it catches the light. It also has a tiny antique button from my Grandma’s button box (RIP Grandma) that just seemed to want to go there.” All of the work in the exhibit is for sale and each piece is priced at $100.
Karen, a native to Florida, has been sewing since she was a young girl making clothes for her dolls and later sewing prom gowns. Karen began quilting more than 40 years ago under the guidance of her grandmother, a professional seamstress. Karen then took a hiatus from quilting until the birth of her grandchildren which has rekindled her passions.
During her hiatus, Karen was a competition skydiver. She competed on various teams over the years with the most notable one winning the Gold at the 1996 US National Skydiving Championships in the 10 Way Speed Star event. She has also made several long distance solo kayak trips on the East Coast. Her last over 2,000 miles from Florida to New Hampshire.
Today Karen teaches various quilting techniques and is a member of the Flying Needles (a quilting group from Woodland that often collaborates with the Linus Project). She had a show in September 2018 in Woodland as a member of the Creative Women’s Circle, Davis Chapter. Karen has also been an instructor at Davis Arts Center as well as contributed items she has made to the Davis Arts Center Holiday Sale Secret Store.
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Sharing Lost Secrets features the work by Robert Kennedy. Starting early in 2016 Robert began experimenting with film and alternative processes. The photographs often have several overlapping elements and require time to process due to their visual complexity. Robert writes. “The pieces that are exhibited were born of a desire to see what could be made with the basic fundamental building blocks of photography: light, the passage of time, and uncertainty.” He continues, “Eventually, the pieces revealed themselves as an observation of the unknown and unremembered lives that have come and gone before us, saved only by the remnants of an original, dated image that has been adopted, adapted and manipulated to fit my needs.”