We started our day with a visit to the North Carolina Arboretum, right around the corner from our campground. We walked through the gardens, admiring the plantings. The bonsai collection was interesting because it incorporates local plants, including beech trees and azaleas.
We were lucky to visit during an exhibit of painted quilts by Bernie Rowell. We had never seen painted quilts before. They are mixed media creations which include fabric and stitching but also painting and collage. We were fascinated to notice that most of the works incorporated postage stamps.
We were doubly lucky to find that a Dahlia Show was being held in the Education Building. The show was opened to the public just after judging was completed, and we were delighted and amazed by the great variety and showiness of the dahlias on display.
After we had finished with the gardens and exhibits, we set out on a hike through the Arboretum grounds. There are ten miles of trails, but we walked only two of them, along the Carolina Mountain Trail and the Bent Creek Trail.
After a brief stop at home for a snack, we headed back to the Parkway and drove to the Folk Art Center. We enjoyed the permanent exhibits and the arts and crafts for sale in the first floor shops.
After leaving the Folk Art Center, we drove back south on the Parkway, getting off at Hwy 191 (Brevard St.) to go to the laundromat recommended by the campground hosts. It was a nice clean place with up to date front loaders. We were the only ones in the place the entire time we were there, which surprised me. Perhaps Saturday evening isn't the most popular time to do laundry.
Description of Rowell exhibit from Arboretum website:
Nesting Wrens and Other Garden Pleasures
Painted Quilts by Artist Bernie Rowell
July 1 – October 2, 2011
Bernie Rowell’s series of painted quilts represent a synthesis of thirty years of making art. Through daily work and an exploratory approach with materials, she has developed and refined a personal vocabulary of techniques and processes.
This “visual vocabulary” is a hybrid of fine art techniques (painting and collage) with sewing techniques (machine embroidery, beading, and quilting). Using light reflective metallic fabrics and thread, layered canvas forms, and machine embroidered detail, she builds a rich textural tactile surface on the underlying compositions. In doing so, she is able to create a beautiful work of art that reconnects the viewer with the beauty of the natural world while referencing the textile memories of home and family, women’s work, and community; the very essence of “quilt.”
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