PPM 2023

341512459_1455918538278149_9185444930607691383_nWorse than a Renfe train, this time we have truly accumulated an unforgivable delay, and precisely for an article that I wanted to publish quickly.
It happens that the deities of information technology are not benevolent, and indeed, as I reported in post previous, a serious problem with the computer motherboard had left us stranded. Unfortunately the replacement could not be found, and after some failed attempts to repair it we decided to carry out a revamping of the car, an update of thehardware essentially, replacing the card, processor and memories. Certo, we would have done it sooner by buying a new PC, but our nature always pushes us towards recovery, and this computer is also a kind of patchwork electronic, without forgetting the advantage of having spent less than a third of what we would have had to leave at the checkout of a computer store.
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Bene, let's move on to the narrative of our expedition to Moravia.
Actually no, we stop first in Vienna.
In autumn I will need a fairly elegant dress suitable for a ceremony, and, desperate to find something nice at "humane" prices nearby, I felt like making it myself. It goes without saying that for a beautiful elegant garment you also need the right raw material, but the panorama of fabrics available in local emporiums was, ed è, in despair: low quality, unlikely colors, banal fantasies and minimal choice, not to mention the "exotic" origin of most of the products.
My travel agent / webmaster / photographer / sherpa / editor / pusher / ecc. he proposed an interesting idea to me, that is, instead of going directly to Moravia we would have stopped in Vienna, and then leave from there to visit the PPM in Brno, less than an hour and a half by train, and so we did. The aim was to spend an entire day wandering around the shops of the Austrian capital hunting for fabrics.
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We know that man proposes and God disposes, and this time too things took an unexpected turn. We had a large list of emporiums at our disposal, all addresses, the times, maps to get there, but when I entered the first shop on the list, da Komolka, I quickly realized that the rest of the information was perfectly useless. Three floors, two thousand square meters of shop, fabrics of all kinds, variety of colors to hurt your eyes, and also an area where you can consult fashion magazines for inspiration, but not only that, also to find the tailor-made pattern for the garment you want to make. Poteva bastare? No, he could not. To top it all off, I'll add one not negligible detail, an element that generated two conflicting feelings in me, anger and pleasure. Everything I should have found in my house I found there instead, and I repeat I should have, given that almost all the fabrics were made in Italy, and I won't add anything else.
After almost three hours I left that store with everything, but just about everything I needed, and the rest of the day would just be enough to get rid of the emotion of having come across a reality that I didn't even imagine existed. If I had seen aliens get off a flying saucer I would have been less impressed.
The next day, breakfast fast and off to Brno, where we got acquainted with the ticket payment system on public transport. It all turns out to be extremely simple: and his, you swipe your credit card contactless next to the machine, wait for the confirmation beep e voilà, the game, indeed the ticket is done, 25 crowns, one hour of validity. No maps, coins, presales, obliterating, ecc. Practical, no?
This time at the Brno Exhibition Center we oriented ourselves a little better (it's big, very big, just too much), also thanks to some indications that were missing last year, therefore we found the entrance without too many worries.

BVV

Ecco, as soon as you enter, just a quick glance on the fly before dwelling on some particularly interesting work.

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Così, on two feet, I would say that the number of exhibited works is greater than last year. Now all that remains is to check its quality…
The first works we encounter are those of Birgit Schüller, an artist in the true sense of the term, as he has long since decided to escape from the classical representations of patchwork to explore new avenues of expression, without betraying the technique or circumventing the difficulties.
Birgit Schüller – Hole Cloth

Birgit Schüller – Hole Cloth

This cloth has holes, and therefore one might believe that it has lost value. In reality we could consider that these are accidental windows that overlook a panorama that is much more colorful and attractive than the predictable everyday monochrome.
I would interpret it as an exhortation to everyone quilter who is watching him, And he says: tear the canvas, released to the imagination is the data an expressive form!
Birgit Schüller – Vanishing Points

Birgit Schüller – Vanishing Points

Il patchwork it is often a question of point of view. Those who defend the traditional blocs with drawn swords are answered by just as many voices who declare them obsolete, and there is no way to agree, as in some sort of cold war. There are those who blame the quilter “progressive” the use of shortcuts to avoid the technical difficulties that making a traditional quilt entails, and from the opposite barricade we praise freedom of expression everything short, the only bridge to art.
Birgit Schüller shows us that ultimately it is just a point of view, an element that has lost importance in contemporary art, at least from Picasso onwards, and not just in art, also in physics and philosophy. Technique and experimentation are present in equal measure in his works, with finely crafted color solutions.
If I remember correctly, and from 2013 that I meet patchwork di Anke Pradel-Schönknecht at PPM e, if I remember correctly, the dominant colors were cold, the green, the gray, purple. This time, however, she turned on the light, with works that are almost blinding in their brilliance, both chromatic and aesthetic
Anke Pradel-Schönknecht – Desert Adventure

Anke Pradel-Schönknecht – Desert Adventure

There is no doubt that Anke Pradel-Schönknecht is an eclectic artist capable of mastering the brightest colors as well as the darkest shades.

I had already seen something by Elke Klein in Val d'Argent, but in Brno an entire exhibition section was dedicated to it. It couldn't be otherwise given the size “generose” of his textile works.
each Small

each Small

Elke Klein – Tiles #15 - Falling rain

Elke Klein – Tiles #15 – Falling rain

If you go to exhibitions in the future I am sure you will meet patchwork Tue Elke Klein, nor will they go unnoticed. It couldn't be otherwise given the high expressive impact of each of his works, the result of patient research where painting and structure marry perfectly, anche se, per fortuna, not permanently.
You may wonder why that is “per fortuna”. When you happen to observe one of his works, try to focus your attention on the stripes that, in an orderly or expertly disordered manner, suggest a plot, un disegno, a project, and at that point forget about patterns, drawings and projects. Then you will see them vibrate, move, fall, fly, a real escape from the structure where the observer is an unconscious accomplice of this formal escape.
Guest of the edition 2023 of the PPM was Poland, and the works of quilter Polish songs were much appreciated, so much so that it also stands out in this year's competitions. For me it's nothing new as it was already in 2016 I had the opportunity to see their ability in Treviso.

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I would start with a rather sumptuous work by Sylwia Ignatowska, intitolata “Stone Ring of Power”, which took first place in the competition dedicated to the theme “Wedding Rings“.
Sylwia Ignatowska - Stone Ring of Power

Sylwia Ignatowska – Stone Ring of Power

Sylwia Ignatowska - Stone Ring of Power - Detail

Sylwia Ignatowska – Stone Ring of Power – Detail

This is a classic theme that often comes across in the exhibitions of patchwork, also known as “Bali Rings” o “Bali Wedding Star“, and which presents moderate executive difficulties.
Sylwia Ignatowska don't hold me against it, I'll be honest (as almost always), but I appreciated it more patckwork “With hope” Milena Kankrlíková, from Moravia. I preferred it for the choice of colors, for the search for a compositional variant of a very traditional theme and for the contamination due to a very careful embroidery that embellishes the work
Milena Kankrlíková – With hope

Milena Kankrlíková – With hope

Milena Kankrlíková – With hope - Detail

Milena Kankrlíková – With hope – Detail

Even the title says it all: “With hope”. When you get married you do it with a heart full of hope, a perhaps naive feeling, maybe fragile, maybe misunderstanding, perhaps ephemeral, and it should always be like this because if there was no hope nothing would make sense.
Contamination I was saying, and it works even without hunting for a special effect, without attempting daring and unlikely experiments, without assembling a hodgepodge of styles. In this case it is sufficient to use a very common technique with patience and imagination: embroidery
Eva Linhartová – Embroidered almonds

Eva Linhartová – Embroidered almonds

Eva Linhartová – Embroidered almonds - Detail 01

Eva Linhartová – Embroidered almonds – Detail

Eva Linhartová made a needle 48 little ones mandala, all different from each other, as colors and as design, chain stitch, full stitch, daisy stitch, eccetera.
Maybe it doesn't follow the fashions of the moment, maybe it doesn't reveal artistic ambitions, perhaps it is not the result of a plan studied in advance, but the skill, in questo caso, there is no discussion.
You will have understood that I am not just looking for artistic expression “at any cost”, as I am also and above all fascinated by what is original, so how can you not fall in love with this work?
Hana Crhová - Butterflies

Hana Crhová – Butterflies

It could very well represent the essence of patchwork, where that which is material or predefined, like the color in the tubes and the blocks that distinguish them, find a higher form, lighter, more complex and freer thanks to the artist's imagination, or in a sort of gestalt textile where “the whole is more than the sum of the individual parts”.
From the competition whose theme was energy, I chose to show here two works that are only apparently easy to read, and in any case completely different in the treatment of the proposed subject.
Barbara Pieczynska – The energie of the sun

Barbara Pieczynska – The energie of the sun

At first glance you might think we are looking at the sun, ma, almeno secondo me, It is not so. Barbara Pieczynska wanted to give visual form to the burning energy of our sun, and he did it through chromatic variations, representing colors (or no colors) to which we connect the intensity of the energy that rains on our heads throughout the day.
Another discussion, very different, for this cryptic work by Ivana Brzáková, for which my judgment still remains suspended (which is a point in its favor, s’intende…).
Ivana Brzáková – Energy of men

Ivana Brzáková – Energy of men

What is depicted therein lends itself to different interpretations, I would even say antithetical, and the title already poses the first question.
“Energy of men”, men's energy, so far it's simple, but also generic in that for “men” sometimes all components of mankind are meant. Since only males are represented here and wanting to specifically indicate the “loro” life energy, it would have been more correct “Energy of males”.
However, let's ignore this lexical detail and focus on the figures represented in the quilt. We can see that alongside figures who carry out various forms of physical activity there are almost as many who seem to avoid it, from those who are loitering to those who have been knocked out by alcoholic excesses.
I would think that the artist understood “demystify” the presupposed masculine energy, relegating it to a mere display of strength, not always constant and not always productive, when we know full well that, albeit with smaller values ​​such as “power” pura, women have always had energy to spare, and to a much greater extent.
Come sempre, the PPM had no shortage of works by well-known female artists.
Elisabeth Nacenta-de la Croix – Water Movements

Elisabeth Nacenta-de la Croix – Water Movements

Elisabeth Nacenta-de la Croix brought a series of works “liquid”, or that, albeit with different titles, they remembered water, its colors, its chiaroscuro, its transparencies.
Uta Lenk – A Scrap a Day

Uta Lenk – A Scrap a Day

“A Scrap a Day”, a little piece, a clipping, one scrap a day, and day after day Uta Lenk created this decidedly original abstract work.
In Brno I met an artist who was one of the pleasant surprises in 2021 in Val d’Argent. From the very cold Riga, Elina Lusis-Grimberga has brought works in which low-intense colors often dominate, and neri, i grigi, and overlaps.
It has Lusis-Grimberga – Flight

It has Lusis-Grimberga – Flight

Generally she prefers the contrast between light and dark, with the shapes that at times give the sensation that they are independently seeking a difficult balance.
However, even when Elina Lusis-Grimberga tries her hand at brighter colors, the result of transparencies and unexpected combinations is remarkable.
Elina Lusis-Grimberga – XXX

Elina Lusis-Grimberga – XXX

Original, anzi no, Interesting, anzi no, challenging, anzi no, divertente, in short, I don't know what adjective to choose for this idea of ​​a compulsory titled competition “Project Veba – Africa”.
Generally, in competitions a theme is proposed to be interpreted, and the artist does his best with the materials he deems most suitable to obtain the result he has in mind. At the PPM, however, the matter is more difficult, it's a real challenge.
BVV Trade Fairs Brno, the organizing body of the Brno fairs, e Veba, a Czech textile company, they provided 4 pieces of cloth 40 x 40 cm, with the colors and designs that you can see in the image below. take heed, it wasn't just any fabric, but it was African brocade, that is, a fabric 100% cotton with shiny finish.
In addition to those fabrics, other materials could be added, but always with an auxiliary function compared to the main figure. It goes without saying that every patchwork it had to have Africa as its theme.
P1050038Here are three examples of how, starting from the same materials, the theme has been developed in completely different directions, which leads us to think about a sort of paradox, that is, more limitations are imposed on quilter, the more their imagination will find a way to express itself freely.
Marcela Lístiková – Mask

Marcela Lístiková – Mask

Heike Rosenbaum – Beauty of Africa

Heike Rosenbaum – Beauty of Africa

Renata Edlmanová – African sun

Renata Edlmanová – African sun

Sincere congratulations to the artists who participated and to those who organized this competition.
For more than ten years there has been no edition of the PPM without Romana Černá, and I can say that it has never disappointed me, Indeed, I happened to observe how she has repeatedly explored new stylistic paths, but without easy escapes forward.
Romana Černá – The volcano

Romana Černá – The volcano

Romana Černá – The volcano - Detail

Romana Černá – The volcano – Detail

What I like about her is her versatility, the one that allows her to move from abstract to figurative themes, from bright colors to nuance more delicate, from dream to reality
Romana Černá – Speed

Romana Černá – Speed

I had yet to meet one quilter sports car enthusiast, like the one above, a fireball more hinted than represented, almost a predator crouched down waiting to shoot under the pouring rain that camouflages it.
I think that “Textile jazz” is the perfect name not only for the underlying work, but also for all of Gerlinde Merl's production. Infatti, like in music jazz, we find an expressive freedom that relies on excellent technique.
Gerlinde Merl – Textile jazz

Gerlinde Merl – Textile jazz

Gerlinde Merl – Textile jazz - Detail

Gerlinde Merl – Textile jazz – Detail

Same color here, the green, was “declined” in different structures, was “sfumato” in various degrees, was “dirty” from other colors, was “caged” into five separate themes, yet everything holds together, like the tempos of a piece of music.
Remember the wedding ring that you saw at the beginning of this post? Bene, these below are also rings, but only if you intend to marry a witch.
Monika Smičková – Monika Voříšek Vágnerová - Witch'rings

Monika Smičková – Monika Voříšek Vágnerová – Witch’rings

Monika Smičková – Monika Voříšek Vágnerová - Witch'rings - Detail

Monika Smičková – Monika Voříšek Vágnerová – Witch’rings – Detail

Everything contributes to creating a magical atmosphere, the dark colors, the shape of the rings, the choice of fabrics, the eruption of sharp points in the rounded areas, the suggested heaviness of the network that the rings form, and despite all this patchwork it doesn't feel overwhelming, tutt’altro.
In Genoese we say “make sèngoe from 'na pria” (draw blood from a stone) to define a mission impossible, yet the artists of Art Quilt Harbor have succeeded in the feat of depicting the blood of the stones, the colors the veins, the lumps, the wounds, in a series of works on the topic “Stones”.
Eva Brabcová – Stones III

Eva Brabcová – Stones III

Irena Zemanová – Stones II

Irena Zemanová – Stones II

Jana Štěrbová – Kameny V

Jana Štěrbová – Kameny V

Jana Štěrbová – Kameny V - Detail

Jana Štěrbová – Kameny V – Detail

Mission impossible? Certainly not for these Czech artists, which have formed a group that is not afraid to face new challenges. Who knows what they will be planning now…
If you like cats this patchwork by Anna Zychowa Duda is for you.
Anna Zychowa Duda – Cat Carnival

Anna Zychowa Duda – Cat Carnival

Anna Zychowa Duda – Cat Carnival - Detail

Anna Zychowa Duda – Cat Carnival – Detail

This is the cat carnival, a Polish holiday during which cat masks are worn. Obviously it is mostly dedicated to children, but the artist intended to represent the close bond between us and those felines who, despite not being as expansive as dogs, they manage to steal our hearts.
The writer James Boswell reports in his “Visit to Rousseau and Voltaire” an interesting dialogue with the famous Swiss philosopher.
Rousseau: "You like cats?».
Boswell: «No».
Rousseau: "I was sure of it. It's a sign of character. In this you have the human instinct of despotism. Men don't like cats because the cat is free and will never adapt to being a slave. It does nothing at your behest, like other animals do".
Boswell: «Not even a chicken, obeys orders".
Rousseau: «He would obey you, if you knew how to make yourself understood by it. A cat understands you very well, but he does not obey you.”
Renata Edlmanová - Conversation with a cat

Renata Edlmanová - Conversation with a cat

The title of this beautiful patchwork that's right “a conversation with the cat”. And tell me, you talk to us with your cat? And what does he do then, he answers you, ignores you, he gets pissed off?
Marty Ornish, or as you prefer, Marty-O, it is also defined “the woman who whispered to quilt“.
Mi spiego. You don't just realize gods patchwork to hang, but also gods patchwork to wear, and it does, badate bene, reusing old partially ruined quilts. Already in itself a patchwork it has more value if recycled fabrics are used, and you decided to square the reuse of those materials.
Here I will only show two-dimensional works (almost…), but I invite you to take a look at his sito web to see the wonderful dresses she designed.
This activity refers to its philosophy of sustainable consumption, the same one that condemns the waste of materials used in “junk clothes“, i vestiti spazzatura, che appunto in breve tempo sono destinati a diventare veramente spazzatura, e veramente inquinanti.
Non servirebbe ricordarvi che la maggior parte di ciò che trovate negli scaffali dei grandi magazzini (e magari anche nelle boutique) è stato realizzato da maestranze sfruttate e sottopagate, perolopiù donne, quindi dei soggetti ancora più deboli socialmente. Sapevatelo.
Marty Ornish – The Pill of Rights #2

Marty Ornish – The Pill of Rights #2

Marty Ornish – The Pill of Rights #2 - Detail

Marty Ornish – The Pill of Rights #2 – Detail

Note on women's rights Marty-O stakes his claim focus, as in the work above which identifies the contraceptive pill as a fundamental and essential protection of female freedom. Thanks to the pill, motherhood finally stopped being a casual situation, suffered, involuntary, punitive, I would say almost necessary, and finally the woman was able to enjoy her body without that sword of Damocles over her head. Again thanks to the pill it was no longer necessary to resort to more or less reliable methods, more or less allowed, more or less available to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. Let's not forget the risks our grandmothers took when they had to “to break free” of yet another gestation by relying on archaic methods, improvise, alone or with the help of figures who are not always competent and clear, without prejudice to the oppressive sense of shame that a bigoted society had expertly instilled in them.
Let's not forget it because today we happen to observe a sort of tendency towards the return of those dark times, a fundamentalist and retrograde fury that masks itself behind so-called policies in favor of the birth rate regardless, obviously with the blessing of the clerical institutions, and I am sorry to note that too often it is women who fall into that media trap.
Quindi, if you think a patchwork is only a nice decoration made with fabric you are doing an injustice to all those artists who, despite the difficulties imposed by the technique and the materials, they try to get an important message across.
Marty Ornish - When Will We Stop Banning Books (question mark)

Marty Ornish – When Will We Stop Banning Books?

As in the work above, whose title should already say a lot even to those who are not Americans. We know that it has already happened too many times that some books have been put on the index, sabotaged, hidden, destroyed, and always for reasons that had nothing to do with literature, but rather because they were “disturbers” of social peace established by power (politico, ecclesiastical, commercial, patriotic, eccetera). There are reports of forbidden and destroyed manuscripts already in ancient Rome, two thousand years ago, to get to the books burned in public in compliance with today's directives of the Chinese dictatorship.
However, there are even more subtle and equally effective methods for destroying a book, that is, it is sufficient to boycott its distribution, and in a society not accustomed to reading, in which the book economy languishes (except for the usual and unoriginal ones blockbuster), it's all too easy to put pressure on publishers.
“When Will We Stop Banning Books?” it is a book written in 1968 by Maya Angelou, the autobiography of an African American who has faced the problems of racism and poverty since the 1930s. The title refers to the poem “Sympathy” composed in 1899 and Paul Laurence Dunbar, considered the first African American to have “dared” write novels set in the world of wasp (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant), and for this reason his texts have often found very little editorial acceptance, forcing him into a miserable life for years.
In the upper area of patchwork find a title that perhaps will tell you little. It's about the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird”, which is perhaps better known in its film adaptation with the title “The dark beyond the hedge”. Even in that case, as there is an open condemnation of racial prejudices in the text, in the United States the book was the subject of denigrating campaigns (of white citizens obviously) which required their exclusion from every public library, with that of schools in primis.
After the success achieved in Val d'Argent, Mattea Jurin chose to continue with the performance “forte” of what it means to be a woman.
Mattea Jurin – A piece of fabric does not determine a woman’s

Mattea Jurin – A piece of fabric does not determine a woman’s

What is a piece of cloth? And above all because fabric has a considerable impact on the female world?
The connection between the making of clothes and women is often the result of a misunderstanding, in fact, tailors have always existed, and I suppose in greater proportion to the female counterpart. Unfortunately, social inequalities have relegated poor families to dealing with their survival in the most efficient way possible, relegating man (male, robust, dominant) to hard work, and the woman (female, weak, succubus) taking care of the home and children, and among those tasks there was also the making and maintenance of clothes.
For the luckiest (rich laws) a piece of cloth was not simply a raw material to be used sparingly, but rather an aesthetic choice, a distinctive way of dressing, uno status symbol, it's a pity that, except very rare cases, it was a gilded cage in which women had to follow the dictates and constraints of male taste. In essence, the raw cotton chain had simply been replaced by one of very soft silk.
They shouldn't be forgotten either (and condemned) all those situations where a piece of cloth becomes a prison in which the woman is forced to hide, a life imprisonment that has the express purpose of making her feel like one minus habens, and therefore subjected to male power.

Another matter applies to the quilter, from the former patchwork forward, that is, since the fabric lost its original functions to become the seed of something bigger, more expressive, more distant from daily hardships or social impositions.
So I find it reasonable to think that a piece of cloth should cease to be an aesthetic mark, social and economic, and at that point every woman could look at the fabric as a sea on which to sail beyond the known horizon, that it is one quilter o meno.
Here is the demonstration of how a very classic element like the hexagon of “Grandmother's Garden” can be expressed in an original and artistic way.
Fabia Delise - Crag

Fabia Delise – Crag

The cliff is a rocky stretch of coast that drops sheer into the sea. I imagine that, at least from a media point of view, the cliffs of the white cliffs of Dover are the best known, just as we should remember well those present in the famous film “The guns of Navarone” (filmed on the Tremiti).
I like to think that Fabia Delise wanted to represent the cliffs of Duino, vicine a me, and for certain reasons close to her too.
I am convinced that an association has more strength when it is able to imagine shared initiatives, that is, when he proposes to interpret a single type of subject with fabric. At PPM2023 I had the opportunity to admire some works created by quilter del Bohemia Patchwork Klub che presented a collection of windows from synagogues in the Czech Republic.
This association brings together around thirty quilter, and every summer they have the habit of spending a week together in the town of Neveklov (but because I wasn't born in Prague?), to exchange ideas, impressioni, progetti, dreams and, there's nothing bad, also some gossip.
Having learned that there was a local project to recover the synagogue and the Jewish cemetery, the BPK quilters have decided to collaborate with the initiative “Patchwork windows of synagogues“, in which they participated, as well as eleven associates, sixteen more quilter ceche, and if this isn't a success…
The result obtained is an interesting collection of works that were exhibited in Prague and then in Brno. Mission accomplished, direi.
Side note: We didn't take the photographs of the original windows, but we picked them up here and there on the web. Who had anything to say, all you have to do is write to us.
Hana Dlhá – Luže Synagogue

Hana Dlhá – Luže Synagogue

Synagogue Luže_01La synagoga di Luže è part 1780, therefore in Baroque style, but like many others it is possible that it was rebuilt on top of a previous one, given that a Jewish settlement has been reported since the 16th century.
The synagogue has been preserved quite well in a completely accidental manner. Nel 1940 the apartment of shammash The place was occupied by a person who tanned rabbit skins, process that took place in the large spaces of the synagogue. To dry the hides it was essential that the environment was dry, and furthermore the chemical products used kept harmful insects away. These two facts prevented mold and woodworms from ruining the synagogue, anche se, to be honest, the building on Zidovna (name “unofficial” used by the inhabitants of Luže) suffered total abandonment after the conflict, and even some precious gravestones from the cemetery were stolen. The restoration, started in the late 1990s, he restored the state of the synagogue to the appearance of 1930, even if religious services are no longer held. Both the building and the attached cemetery can be visited.
Bozena Zámečníková – Vine – Cologne Synagogue

Bozena Zámečníková – Vine – Cologne Synagogue

Cologne-synagogue

The current synagogue of Kolín was built in the second half of the 17th century, on the same site as an earlier 14th-century synagogue. If we exclude the Prague synagogue, that of Kolín is the oldest in Bohemia.
After the war the synagogue returned to its function as a place of worship until 1953, when a Jewish community ceased to exist in Kolín, and became a national monument of the Czechoslovak Republic. Most of the furnishings were taken to a synagogue in Denver, while smaller objects are found in the Jewish Museum in Prague.
Anna Bradiková – Klaus Synagogue Prague

Anna Bradiková – Klaus Synagogue Prague

Clausova SynagoguePraha_01This one above is not really a synagogue window, since it is instead one of those in the ceremonial hall of the Prague Cemetery which is part of the Klausen Synagogue in Prague, and more precisely it is a building linked to “Chevra Kadisha Gomlei Chasadim” (The Holy Brotherhood of those who carry out charitable works), an organization founded seven hundred years ago that aims to ensure that all Jews are buried according to the dictates of Jewish tradition. I am not here to describe the operations that the brotherhood of Chevra Kadisha performed before burial, It seems macabre and out of place to me. Comunque, if you want to know, on the web you will find enough information, including the fact that many women participate in that process of preparing the body, in some cases in double the proportion compared to men. How to say, thankless tasks always happen to us…
Marcela Listíková – Golem – High Synagogue Prague

Marcela Listíková – Golem – High Synagogue Prague

I confess that having visited Prague several times, including the High Synagogue, but I have no memory of a window depicting the Golem. In any case this panel patchwork It has its own charm (dark).
Built in 1577 on the foundations of an ancient medieval building, the High Synagogue also owes its name to its slightly higher position which protected it from the frequent flooding caused by the Vltva (Moldava) that afflicted the Josefov neighborhood.
However also on the legend of Golem there would be a little discussion to be had.
Nel lontano (ma neppure tanto) 1915 “The Golem” was released in cinemas, un film ispirato alla leggenda del gigante d’argilla creato nel XVI secolo da un potente rabbino del ghetto ebraico di Praga, rabbi Loew.
In realtà (la realtà sulle origini di questa leggenda e non la realtà di un essere immaginario) già nel XII secolo, a Worms, a 500km from Prague, in a mystical treatise the creation of a Golem through a magical ritual. However, nowhere in the ponderous documentation left by rabbi Loew hints at a Golem, pertanto è da escludersi un suo collegamento con questa leggenda, neanche ipotetico.
It is likely that the story of the Golem has traveled over the centuries as an oral fairy tale, forse per spaventare i bambini, forse per vaticinare una protezione suprema contro un sempre possibile pogrom, fatto sta che nel 1838 un certo Klutschak, giornalista di belle speranze, pubblicò alcuni racconti suggestivi sul vecchio cimitero ebraico, on the famous rabbi and on his clay creature: il Golem (anzi, sbagliando, il My son). Dieci anni dopo questo racconto di fantasia fu ripreso da altri autori, con maggior risonanza, fino ad arrivare alla ribalta mondiale della settima arte, diventando oggetto di credulità generale tra coloro che cedono volentieri al fascino dell’occulto.
Vorrei far notare una piccola coincidenza temporale.
Nel 1818 “Frankenstein or the modern Prometheus” was released in bookstores, un romanzo gotico della giovanissima Mary Shelley, ripubblicato poi nel 1831. Potrebbe darsi benissimo che Klutschak, visto il successo del best seller londinese, abbia pensato bene di dare forma scritta a quella storiella del ghetto per ricavarsi una fettina di celebrità.
Enough mysteries, enough sadness, enough story, It's time for a breath of fresh air, better if scented with the colorful flowers of Květa Surá, un quilt at kilometer zero, as she is an artist of Patchwork Club Brno.
Květa Surá – Crazy rose

Květa Surá – Crazy rose

Květa Surá – Crazy rose - Detail

Květa Surá – Crazy rose – Detail

Come si dice, the omen in the name. In fact Květa stands for flower in Czech, and I would say this quilter morava immediately found his way.
Other quilter, other flowers, another style.
Mirosława Pucek – Blue Garden_01

Mirosława Pucek – Blue Garden

From what I understand, Mirosłava Pucek is particularly fond of flowers, when they are there, in meadows or on trees in spring and summer. or on patchwork, in autumn and winter (and we know that the Polish winter is no joke…).
In this blue meadow there could be some cornflowers, forget-me-nots, of blue poppies, fate voi, however the effect is notable.
To survive you need to adapt, you have to open yourself up to art, to new materials, to new forms, to new techniques, essentially at new intersections, because only in this way will new forms of expression be able to grow, and only then who admires but does not love the patchwork traditional will find the courage to expose themselves.
Adelheid Lau - Opening

Adelheid Lau – Opening

Print, paint, cut out, paste, they are typical actions of those who see fabric not as bricks to erect a formal building, but rather a blank page on which to fix the desire to give visible shape to dreams, fears, memories, hopes, and soul.
“Opening”, opening, this is the title of Adelheid Lau's work, and it couldn't be otherwise due to the variety of materials and ways of using them, without prejudice to the non-negligible peculiarity that it involves the reuse of pre-existing elements in another form, a value today, in a world of excessive predisposition to consumption, too often overlooked.
Come sempre, here's one too clip which we edited and which you can also find on YouTube, even in HD if desired.

 

I closed this article with the photograph of the work that came closest to mine (strange) lord, I just have to wait a little longer’ di somme (attenzione, whoever I take, I take…).
If I go back in memory to the edition 2022 del PPM, the image that comes to mind is that of a person who has just recovered from a serious illness. This year things were definitely better, let's say that the “convalescence” is proceeding in the best possible way, even if it takes a while’ of time before we fully recover.
The presence of many international female artists at the PPM is a good sign, and the quality of the works on display also showed a trend positive. My anguish a bit’ the feeling that the event perhaps did not receive the public success it deserved. Maybe the numbers will prove me wrong, perhaps everything is due to the vastness of exhibition spaces in which one gets lost, Maybe I'm the one who always expects too much, but this is it, I can't do anything about it except throw out some hypotheses.
As per my habit, once again I express the belief that the Chinese plague, in addition to the painful list of victims, has left a legacy in which I recognize widespread pessimism, a certain creative inertia, less predisposition to travel and even a hidden phobia towards public events.
Nothing takes away from my mind other than the choice of Brno as an exhibition venue, while responding to plausible practical advantages, it lacks the charm that Prague can boast, although I still remember the climate well “equatorial” which was enjoyed in the Step Hotel in Prague, as well as the “facilità” to reach Malletova, in suburbs. Però, especially for those coming from abroad, the visit to the PPM could coincide with the visit of the capital, or what they say “kill two birds with one stone”. It's not that the city of Brno is bad, there is something beautiful to see there too, especially in the surrounding area, but it is undeniable that the call of Prague historically has another weight. Perhaps, I'll throw it there, we could think of some related initiatives for the occasion, for example a guided tour of the city, excursions to the numerous castles (difficult to reach without a car), a trip to the Moravian Karst or to Olomouc, in short, there would be no shortage of material.
For the moment all I have to do is say goodbye and meet you at the next edition of the PPM, reminding you of two things, the first is that other images not present in this article are visible on my Flickr page lastoffagiusta2022 (for previous years see lastoffagiusta2021, lastoffagiusta2019 e lastoffagiusta2013), the second, more important, is that the photographs we have included do not do justice to the original work, I mean live. So if you care about textile art, visit the exhibitions, You will thus give satisfaction to the exhibitors and you will be able to admire the patchwork in all their splendor. They are!

 

3 thoughts on “PPM 2023

  1. Pingback: Prague Patchwork Meeting 2023 – Brno | My3Place

  2. How can you not admire the masterfully crafted craftsmanship ,reviewing the reality around us ,always struck by the work behind perhaps forgotten fabrics ,always masterpieces, Well done.

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