Vista Art Night with Janet Swigler

Name: Vista Art Night with Janet Swigler
Start: 2024-11-22T17:30:00-05:00
Location: 1051 Greene St, Columbia, SC, United States, South Carolina 29201

Schedule

Fri Nov 22 2024 at 05:30 pm

UTC-05:00

Location

1051 Greene St, Columbia, SC, United States, South Carolina 29201 | Columbia, SC

As a member of the Vista Guild Association, the Koger Center for the Arts is proud to partner with the Jasper Project in Third Thursday Art Night. We feature a different artist every month with an opening reception on the Third Thursday of the month — but THIS month we’re hosting our opening reception on Friday, November 22nd, preceding Live in the Lobby Jazz: The Music of Miles Davis. Our featured artist of November is Janet Swigler.
Artist Bio:
"Since retiring in 2013 I have traveled numerous times to Ohio to study with Nancy Crow, an innovative quilt maker and a Master of her Medium in the Smithsonian Museum’s Renwick Alliance. A background of musical training and a career in music education provide me with additional perspectives and depth of artistic understanding. Travel – as a child in an Air Force family and as an adult, observations of daily life and nature, reflections on personal insights, and a regular tai chi practice inspire and inform my abstract creations."
Artist Statement:
“Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.” These words of poet Mary Oliver encapsulate my philosophy for living life and creating art. Our world is brimming with wonders if we notice them and take the time to express that appreciation. I consider myself very fortunate to be in a position to create art that conveys my sense and awareness of the natural world’s beauty.
My quilts are improvisational, cut free-hand, and created intuitively without patterns or templates. Quilt making is my art form, and it incorporates principles of art: quality of line, value, proportion, and figure/ground composition. Exploration of color and imaginative re-structuring of a simple shape are essential components of my abstract work. Mindfulness of the aesthetics of everyday life and attentiveness to nature are underlying influences on my work.
Constructed in the traditional manner, the layers of my quilts – a pieced top, batting, and backing – are sandwiched together with machine quilting. These intentionally visible stitches add an additional layer of depth and dimension to the quilt surface. My art honors the long history of quilt making and shows the versatility of a medium that uses only fabric and thread.