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Michael James (quilt artist)

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Michael James
Born
Michael Francis James

(1949-06-30) June 30, 1949 (age 77)
New Bedford, Massachusetts, U.S.
OccupationsArtist, educator, author and lecturer
Known forLeader of the Studio Quilt movement

Michael Francis James (born 30 June 1949) is an American artist, educator, author, and lecturer. He is best known as a leader of the Studio Quilt movement[1] that began in the 1970s.[2] He currently lives and works in Lincoln, Nebraska.[3]

Early life and education

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James was born into an English and French-Canadian Catholic family in New Bedford, Massachusetts. After high school he enrolled at Southeastern Massachusetts University in neighboring Dartmouth (now the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth), where he studied painting and printmaking.[4]

After receiving his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1971, he moved to Rochester, New York, to attend graduate school at Rochester Institute of Technology,[5] majoring again in painting and printmaking.[4] Even as he pursued that degree, his interest in the medium began to wane. Before the end of his master's program, he had decided that he had "nothing important to say in painting."[5] Within months of receiving his Master of Fine Arts degree in 1973, he stopped painting altogether, turning his attention to fabric construction.[6]

James had experimented with patchwork and quiltmaking as an undergraduate.[5] His growing enthusiasm for these processes in the early 1970s coincided with a national re-interest in traditional arts spurred by the approaching US Bicentennial celebrations.[7] In the summer of 1971, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York mounted "Abstract Design in American Quilts," selections from the quilt collection of Jonathan Holstein & Gail van der Hoof. The exhibition attracted widespread media attention.[8] In 1973 James heard Holstein and van Der Hoof speak[9] and reflecting later on some of the quilts they showed at that talk, he said, "The idea that quilts can be art may not have occurred to me had I not seen Amish quilts."[10]

Early career

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In 1974, James began teaching adult education quiltmaking classes at Bristol Community College and at the deCordova Museum. [11] Through the deCordova, he participated in the June 1975 exhibition Bed and Board, an early museum show of non-traditional quilts, [12] which helped shape the direction his work.[13]

In 1977 he published a three-part series, "Color in Quilts," in Quilter's Newsletter,[14] and in 1978 Prentice Hall published his book The Quiltmaker's Handbook: A Guide to Design and Construction, covering design fundamentals for hand and machine methods and the grid-based structure of quilt blocks.[15]

Artistic development

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Dawn Nebula, 1979

James received a Visual Artist's Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1978,[16] the first of three NEA fellowships he was awarded over the next twelve years.[17] In 1979 he served as a juror for the inaugural Quilt National[18] and received a Craftsmen's Fellowship from The Artists Foundation of Boston.[16]

From 1980 he produced strip-pieced yardage by sewing cotton and silk strips [19] into graduated-color panels and cutting components for quilt designs from the resulting fabric.[20]

In 1981 he published The Second Quiltmaker's Handbook: Creative Approaches to Contemporary Quilt Design, [21] which drew on workshop exercises and addressed design theory and techniques including curved seams and strip piecing.[22]

Strip-pieced quilts

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Many sources describe strip-piecing as James's signature technique.[23] His compositions used pieced panels of graded color and value—sometimes incorporating up to 150 colors—and contributed to his reputation as a colorist.[24]

Rhythm/Color: Spanish Dance, 1985

In the early 1980s, James taught workshops in Europe[25] that emphasized design principles and color rather than quiltmaking techniques.[26] In 1985, the Newark Museum commissioned Rhythm/Color: Spanish Dance for their permanent collection[27]—the first in the Rhythm/Color series[25] and the first quilt in which James began to deliberately override the predictability of the traditional block structure.[28] Through the mid to late 1980s, James increasingly obscured the grid underlying his designs and experimented with the overall silhouette of the quilt beyond the standard rectangular format.[29] The construction no longer relied on square blocks.[30]

In 1988 he received fellowships from the Boston Artist's Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. His first European exhibit was shown that year at Galerie Jonas in Switzerland, a gallery to which his work would return five times over the next two decades.[31] By 1990 he received a USA/France Exchange Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and completed a residency at La Napoule, France,[17] which he credited as a turning point in his work.[32]

He later described the quilts made between 1992 and 1995 as a "last hurrah" for the strip-pieced panel technique.[33] During this period he received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (1992), was inducted into the Quilter's Hall of Fame (1993),[34] and had Quilt No. 150: Rehoboth Meander acquired by the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. (1994).[35] In 1995 a retrospective monograph, Michael James: Studio Quilts,[36] was published,[37] and he exhibited internationally, including the International Triennial of Tapestry[38] in Lodz, Poland, where he received a juror's citation.[17]

Academic career

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The Terminus of One Path, 2008

James joined the faculty of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in 2000[39] after serving on the advisory board of the International Quilt Study Center,[40] founded there in 1997.[41] He taught textile design and quilt studies[42] for nearly two decades and served as chair of the Department of Textiles, Merchandising and Fashion Design from 2005 until his retirement in early 2020.[43] He maintained an active studio practice during this time.[44]

Digital quilts

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In 2002, the department acquired a digital textile printer capable of printing reactive dyes on fabric,[45] prompting James to explore digitally generated imagery.[46] He produced fabrics from scanned materials and photographs,[47] manipulated using software such as Adobe Photoshop® and Illustrator®.[48]

By 2010, he had created nearly 100 quilts using digitally developed fabric as noted in a review of the exhibition Hand Craft: A Decade of Digital Quilts.[49]

Late career

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James's wife Judith was diagnosed with younger onset Alzheimer's Disease in 2009.[50] Her illness informed a body of work that culminated in the exhibition Ambiguity & Enigma at the International Quilt Museum (2015–2016),[51] which was described by critic Kent Wolgamott as his “most powerful" exhibition.[52] Judith died in August 2015.[53]

His memoir of their experience, Dear Judy–A Love Story Rewritten by Alzheimer's, was published in 2023.[54]

Following his retirement from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, James donated his papers related to the studio quilt movement to the university's Archives and Special Collections.[1] He continues to maintain a studio practice in Lincoln, and his work is represented by Modern Arts Midtown in Omaha.[3]

Notes

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  1. 1 2 Barnes 2020.
  2. ↑ Shaw 1997, p. 22.
  3. 1 2 MAM 2020.
  4. 1 2 Oral 2003, Tape 1, Side A.
  5. 1 2 3 Oral 2003, Tape 1, Side B.
  6. ↑ James 1998, p. 5.
  7. ↑ Austin 1999, p. 2; Laury 2004, p. 29; Lenkowsky 2008, p. 138.
  8. ↑ Harriss 1987, p. 116-118; Austin 1999, p. 2.
  9. ↑ Jurgelski 1992, p. C01, Magazine.
  10. ↑ McMorris & Kile 1986, p. 23.
  11. ↑ Leman 1974, p. 3; Oral 2003, Tape 2, Side A.
  12. ↑ James 1998, p. 137; James 2001, p. 3.
  13. ↑ Oral 2003, Tape 2, Side A.
  14. ↑ James 1977, pp. 16–17.
  15. ↑ James 1978.
  16. 1 2 Lenkowsky 2008, p. 276.
  17. 1 2 3 James 1998, p. 139.
  18. ↑ James 1979, p. 6.
  19. ↑ Klein 1984, p. 80; Austin 1999, p. 80.
  20. ↑ Harris & Lyon 1998, pp. 48–51; James 1998, p. 10-17.
  21. ↑ James 1981.
  22. ↑ James 1981, p. v-viii; Townsend 1981, p. 34.
  23. ↑ Harris & Lyon 1998, p. 100.
  24. ↑ Shaw 1997, p. 94.
  25. 1 2 James 1998, p. 138.
  26. ↑ Burkard 1984, p. 80; Jurgelski 1992, p. C01, Magazine.
  27. ↑ Malarcher 1985, p. 14, 11NJ.
  28. ↑ Leman 1995, p. 21; Harris & Lyon 1998, p. 60.
  29. ↑ Lyon & Harris 1994, p. 64; Harris & Lyon 1998, pp. 65–67, 74–75.
  30. ↑ Leman 1995, p. 21.
  31. ↑ James 1998, p. 138-9; Verma 1999, p. 9; Wolgamott 2004; Creative Activity 2007, p. 4.
  32. ↑ Oral 2003, Tape 2, Side B.
  33. ↑ Lenkowsky 2008, p. 139.
  34. ↑ Leman 1993, pp. 8–9.
  35. ↑ James 1998, p. 139; Berg 1995, p. 1C, News.
  36. ↑ Harris, Lyon & Malarcher 1995.
  37. ↑ Berg 1995, p. 1C, News; O'Dowd 1995, p. 10.
  38. ↑ McCabe 1995, p. 2E, Lifebeat.
  39. ↑ Verma 2000a, p. 8; Oral 2003, Tape 3, Side B.
  40. ↑ Verma 2000b, p. 18.
  41. ↑ Fox 2011.
  42. ↑ James 2010, p. 11.
  43. ↑ Retirement 2019.
  44. ↑ Oral 2003, Tape 4, Side A; James 2010, p. 11.
  45. ↑ Spears 2005, p. 31.
  46. ↑ Lenkowsky 2008, p. 143.
  47. ↑ Koplos 2015, p. 5.
  48. ↑ James 2003, p. 26-31; Wolgamott 2010, p. D7, The 402.
  49. ↑ Wolgamott 2010, p. D7, The 402.
  50. ↑ James 2015, p. 28.
  51. ↑ Ducey 2015, p. 3.
  52. ↑ Wolgamott 2015.
  53. ↑ Obituary 2015.
  54. ↑ James 2023; Schweiss 2024, p. 70-72.

References

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  • "Artist Directory, Michael James". Modern Arts Midtown. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  • Austin, Mary Leman, ed. (1999). The Twentieth Century's Best American Quilts. Golden, CO: Primedia Special Interest Publications.
  • Barnes, Joan (August 20, 2020). "James papers chronicle Studio Quilt movement". Nebraska Today. University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  • Berg, Christian D. (August 8, 1995). "Famous Quiltmaker is Undercover Locally". The Providence Journal. Providence, RI.
  • Burkard, Joe (March–April 1984). "James on His Art". FiberArts.
  • "Creative Activity" (PDF). TCD Digest. University of Nebraska-Lincoln: College of Education and Human Sciences. April–May 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 October 2008. Retrieved 24 June 2013.
  • Ducey, Carolyn (2015). "Foreword". Ambiguity & Enigma: Recent Quilts by Michael James. Lincoln, NE: International Quilt Study Center & Museum. ISBN 978-0-9814582-8-1.
  • Fox, Margalit (July 16, 2011). "Ardis James, Who Established Center on Quilts, Is Dead at 85". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  • Harris, Patricia; Lyon, David; Malarcher, Patricia (1995). Michael James: Studio Quilts. Neuchatel, Switzerland: Editions Victor Attinger, SA. ISBN 2-88380-006-5.
  • Harris, Patricia; Lyon, David (1998). Michael James: Art & Inspirations. Lafayette, CA: C&T Publishing, Inc. ISBN 1-57120-040-1.
  • Harriss, Joseph (May 1987). "The Newest Quilt Fad Seems to be Going like Crazy". Smithsonian. 18 (2).
  • "James, Judith Dionne". Legacy.com. August 16, 2015. Retrieved 4 May 2026.
  • James, Michael (March 1977). "Color in Quilts". Quilter's Newsletter (89).
  • James, Michael (1978). The Quiltmaker's Handbook: A Guide to Design and Construction. Englewood, NJ: Prentice Hall, Inc. ISBN 0-137494-16-5.
  • James, Michael (July–August 1979). "Behind the Scenes: Jurying QUILT NATIONAL '79". Quilter's Newsletter (114).
  • James, Michael (1981). The Second Quiltmaker's Handbook: Creative Approaches to Contemporary Quilt Design. Englewood, NJ: Prentice Hall, Inc. ISBN 0-137977-87-5.
  • James, Michael (1998). "Preface". Michael James: Art & Inspirations. Lafayette, CA: C&T Publishing. ISBN 1-57120-040-1.
  • James, Michael (Spring 2001). "In the Beginning: Musings on the Birth of the Studio Art Quilt Movement". Blanket Statements (64). American Quilt Study Group.
  • James, Michael (November–December 2003). "The Digital Quilt". Quilter's Newsletter Magazine. 30 (3).
  • James, Michael (Fall 2010). "The Art Quilt: A Critical Perspective". Surface Design Journal.
  • James, Michael (2015). "Making Sense: Ambiguous Abstractions and Enigmatic Meanings". Ambiguity & Enigma: Recent Quilts by Michael James. Lincoln, NE: International Quilt Study Center & Museum. ISBN 978-0-9814582-8-1.
  • James, Michael (2023). Dear Judy--A Love Story Rewritten by Alzheimer's. Pine Eden Press. ISBN 979-8987628621.
  • "James to retire after 19 years in textiles, merchandising and fashion design". Nebraska Today. University of Nebraska–Lincoln. December 6, 2019. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  • Jurgelski, Susan (March 20, 1992). "Piecing It Together: Quilter/Workshop Leader Michael James an Artist by Design". Lancaster New Era. Pennsylvania.
  • Klein, Jody (March–April 1984). "Michael James: A Ten-Year Retrospective". FiberArts.
  • Koplos, Janet (2015). "Michael James: Context and Interpretation". Ambiguity & Enigma: Recent Quilts by Michael James. Lincoln, NE: International Quilt Museum. ISBN 978-0-9814582-8-1.
  • Laury, Jean Ray (March 2004). "My Journey through Quilting". Quilter's Newsletter Magazine (360).
  • Leman, Bonnie, ed. (November 1974). "What's New--and News--in Quilting". Quilter's Newsletter (61).
  • Leman, Bonnie, ed. (May 1993). "What's New & News in Quilting". Quilter's Newsletter Magazine (252).
  • Leman, Bonnie, ed. (October 1995). "Interview with Michael James". Quilter's Newsletter Magazine (276).
  • Lenkowsky, Kate (2008). Contemporary Quilt Art: An Introduction and Guide. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253351-24-3.
  • Malarcher, Patricia (June 16, 1985). "Evaluating Museum Quality". The New York Times.
  • McCabe, Carol (October 6, 1995). "Quilt Artist Speaks". The Providence Journal. Providence, RI.
  • McMorris, Penny; Kile, Michael (October 1986). "The Art Quilt". Quilter's Newsletter Magazine (186).
  • O'Dowd, Karen (May 1995). "Quiltmaking Around the World". Quilter's Newsletter Magazine (272).
  • "Oral history interview with Michael James, 2003 Jan. 4-5". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  • Schweiss, Kara (2024). "Dear Judy: On Alzheimer's, Caregiving, and Loss". Omaha Magazine (March/April): 70–72. Retrieved 7 May 2026.
  • Shaw, Robert (1997). The Art Quilt. New York: Hugh Lauter Levin Associates, Inc. ISBN 0-883633-25-6.
  • Spears, Jeannie M. (February 2005). "Digital Images on Fabric". Quilter's Newsletter Magazine.
  • Townsend, Louise O. (April 1981). "Book Review". Quilter's Newsletter (131).
  • Verma, Lois Marilyn (June 1999). "What's New". Quilter's Newsletter Magazine (313).
  • Verma, Lois Marilyn (January–February 2000a). "What's New & News in Quilting Around the World". Quilter's Newsletter Magazine (319).
  • Verma, Lois Marilyn (November 2000b). "What's New". Quilter's Newsletter Magazine (327).
  • Wolgamott, Kent (February 13, 2004). "Art Textiles - Two Perspectives". Lincoln Journal Star. Retrieved 24 June 2013.
  • Wolgamott, Kent (December 12, 2010). "Painter in Cloth". Lincoln Journal Star.
  • Wolgamott, Kent (June 6, 2015). "Michael James quilts explore changes in 'Every Aspect of Daily Life'". Lincoln Journal Star. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
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