Japanese quilt artist Emiko Toda Loeb will be at the International Quilt Museum on Oct. 4 to offer insight into her unique and inventive quiltmaking style.
“Her demonstration and lecture will give visitors the opportunity to better understand her double-sided Log Cabin technique and appreciate how she developed it during the past 30-plus years,” Marin Hanson, curator of international collections at the International Quilt Museum, said. “This is an event not to be missed for anyone who loves to learn about artists’ processes and aesthetic evolutions.”
The demonstration begins at 4:30 p.m. at the museum, 1523 N 33rd St., with a lecture to follow at 5:30. For the First Friday event, museum admission is free from 4 to 7 p.m. The demonstration and lecture will be broadcast on the museum’s Facebook page.
Loeb’s work is currently featured in the IQM exhibition “Dualities: Emiko Toda Loeb,” on display in the Lois Gottsch Gallery through Oct. 27. Her quilts are meant to be viewed freestanding—from both sides. To give visitors this unique opportunity to view both sides of a quilt, the IQM built unique frames that allow people to walk around the quilts while they hang in the gallery.
Loeb explores a range of geometric and biomorphic forms that break out of the rigid or repeat patterns typically associated with Log Cabin quilts. Sometimes, the elements on either side of a quilt echo one another. Often, there is a dynamic tension between the quilt’s dual faces, each emphasizing different kinds of line, shape and color.
“We are pleased to offer Emiko Toda Loeb’s visually and technically complex quilts in a beautifully designed installation,” Hanson said. “Our freestanding display units allow visitors to fully appreciate both sides of her intricate quilts. I think everyone will be awed by her skill and vision.”
Loeb started making quilts in the 1980s after moving to the United States from Kyoto, Japan. She had trained as a classical pianist, but realized that quiltmaking was her true expressive calling. Making quilts became both avocation and profession. Loeb now splits her time between New York City and Kyoto. She teaches classes all over the world and is the founder of the New Zephyrs quilt group, which exhibits work annually in Tokyo and Kyoto. Loeb is recognized internationally for innovative, double-sided quilts that combine a traditional American format with Japanese materials and aesthetics.
Learn more about “Dualities: Emiko Toda Loeb” and other exhibitions at the museum.
