BPM 2025 – News
I agree with the BPM press release 2025.
Wish You Were Here
I am in the grip of two contrasting states of mind, the first derives from the satisfaction of having admired textile works of exceptional workmanship and notable artistic value, while the second is given by the awareness of having missed an opportunity.
I'll start with the latter, or from the regret of not having been able to know a textile artist well in person who, for decades, it operated in the same province as me, while I was busy visiting exhibitions across half of Europe. One could say that my inattention was unforgivable, ma, however strange this may seem, I confess that I have the feeling of living in a cul-de-sac where collaboration between artists is not always easy, therefore it happens that we operate in no particular order. For good weight, a certain character confidentiality should be added that often induces local artists to avoid any media overexation, a feeling that has nothing but to disappear with modesty (artists have the right to be modest and the duty to be vain, wrote Karl Kraus), but with a sort of respect towards those who will find themselves evaluating the work of art, the same consideration that should be used when entering other people's homes.
I confess that I was disappointed when they told me that Laila Grison Cavalieri had died a few months ago, therefore I would never have been able to let her know how much I liked her works. Those who know me a little know well that my compliments are not so long in the kilo, so the bittersweet taste of that visit is well justified. Continua a leggere
Good news
Evviva! I got a granddaughter, Cecilia.
I could perhaps have just sat there with my hands folded? No. Così, instead of clothes and blankets, my practical spirit pushed me to create a sort of storage rack to hang next to the changing table which will be used by the new mother to store some nappies, the pacifier, towel, scissors, spazzola, eccetera.
Poi, when the little girl grows up, she will put whatever she wants in those pockets, toys, matite colorate, slippers, pelouche and other little things that will be part of his little new world.
I dug through my drawers to find fabrics to help me achieve these African themes, simple and colorful designs that Cecilia's mother and father should also like, since giraffes, zebras, leoni, and elephants were not missing during their beautiful honeymoon.
The art you don't expect
There are those who have what it takes and there are those who have what it takes.
I'm talking about the inhabitants of Vico Pancellorum, just over a hundred resilient people who populate a small village in Lucca, more precisely in the Lima Valley.
I defined them as "resilient" because they hold up despite the fact that the town is more than 15km from what we consider indispensable aspects of a fairly urbanized society (negozi, services, offices, leisure points, ecc.). For good measure they are forced to travel along treacherous and uncomfortable roads, overcoming a height difference of 450m, a journey in which there is no shortage of hairpin bends and overhangs, plus crossing paths with some crazy people (and they are not few) which proceeds at “sports” speed.
I probably wouldn't have known anything about this remote village if it hadn't been for my photographer's proverbial tendency to chat / sherpa / driver / webmaster / ecc. , who met the right person by chance. The fact is that we were in Benabbio, near Bagni di Lucca, for the awards ceremony for the finalists of a literary competition dedicated to the train, and the one who always accompanies me on my travels was among those with one of his poems, and if you want to read it you can find it qui.
Having some time available (you will have already understood that we love to take it easy), they were in our forecasts of short-range movements in the surrounding area, but the technological situation in loco it was despairing, nel senso che internet it was completely absent (and sometimes even the simple telephone signal), therefore there was no way to search online to find useful information on possible interesting places to visit, and then there's no sign of guides and tourist offices.
From what we understand, There are children and stepchildren, both at a regional and provincial level, e, except for the usual most famous locations (and crowded), the indications for smaller towns are somewhat incomplete, leaving the burden of discovery to the traveller's curiosity.
So you're probably wondering what the hell my companion's uncontainable talkativeness has to do with anything. It's easy to say. Continua a leggere
BPM 2024 – One Step Beyond
Eccoci qua, on stage again, to tell you about our trip to the Czech Republic and the quilt that we saw there.
Reading the title you may have noticed that the acronym of the Czech exhibition is now BPM, ovvero Brno Patchwork Meeting, and no more PPM. Let's say I miss Prague a bit, and not just because I find it fascinating and complicated, but also because there I discovered many years ago some artists who were looking for their own expressive way to break away from the Anglo-Saxon and French schools. Today I can say that I have seen a long view, and I admire with satisfaction the works that quilter Czechs can boast of exhibiting their works all over the world.
As always the journey to Brno was slow and complicated, and therefore pleasant. Set off with the sun, and already in Celje the bus proceeded among the snowflakes that were falling copiously, but luckily the experience had prepared us for everything. The first stage included a stop in Vienna for a day shopping. Badate bene, I'm not talking about clothes, footwear and accessories, but of materials and equipment for copperplate printing and painting. Mission accomplished. I found everything, e anche di più, and now I know where to go when I need something that they don't even know exists here. While we were there we visited the Wien Museum on Karlsplatz, just reopened a few months ago, where on the top floor the walls were covered with admirable engravings of 17th century Vienna and beyond.
After saying goodbye to Vienna we took a bus headed to Moravia, and we found the same Brno as last year, with its strengths and weaknesses. This time though, our reporting duties finished, we decided to rent a car to take a few trips out of the city. You can find some images of this little trip to Moravia in post “Not just Brno”, dal blog ultimalune.it of mine webmaster / photographer / tourist agency / sherpa / ecc.
But I guess you're here for the patchwork, and that all this travel drama leaves you quite indifferent, so here I am ready to satisfy your curiosity. Continua a leggere
The flying carpet
You also know how these things go, they give you a piece of fabric, and then it happens that without you realizing it the desire to do something with it grows. Strange, because maybe until the day before you were planning to get some’ breath, or there were ideas floating around in your head about other jobs, but that piece of fabric persists, it shows up, it makes itself felt, it creeps into every one of our projects. So I gave up and set up a flying carpet, in the sense that I accomplished it “on the fly” without thinking too much about the composition, to the drawing, to colors, così, as it comes it comes.
In my opinion it turned out well.
