By: Erin Negley, LancasterOnline (1.9.17)
Quilting and fiber artist Mary Stoudt will have a retrospective exhibit at GoggleWorks Center for the Arts in Reading. An opening reception will be held Friday, Jan. 13, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., followed by an open studio night which ends at 8:30 p.m. The exhibit ends Feb. 19. Stoudt layers fabric, often six or seven layers, in a grid pattern to create art quilts.
“I love the warmth, the flexibility, the play of color and textures of quilt making,” Stoudt says in an artist’s statement. “Improvisation is important to me. Working within the stability of a grid, I feel free to change color and direction as I move through the construction of a quilt. I imagine the composition in my head, and then work intuitively through the process.”
Stoudt was one of the original GoggleWorks studio artists and had a studio there for almost a decade. Her work has been included in art exhibitions there, regionally and internationally.
“When Mary Stoudt retired from the studios at GoggleWorks her presence was greatly missed in our artistic community,” gallery director Lauralynn White says. “The exhibitions committee at GoggleWorks decided to host a retrospective of her work to honor Stoudt and showcase her National Award Winning Art Quilts. Stoudt’s quilts are a terrific example of fine craft and fine art successfully combined.”