My First Solo Show
Yes, that long anticipated day is here. This show has been in the works, in one form or another, for over a year and we finally pulled it off! Here’s my last minute work. I had planned on making postcards and got the fabrics all fused down back in October, but I didn’t do any quilting or embellishing until last week. I made 30 cards which all related somewhat to the quilts in the show.
I have a few of these drawers which I found in the attic of our apartment building almost six years ago and have been schlepping them around ever since. This one is the perfect size for displaying the postcards. Kate, of the gallery, thanked me profusely as she was running out of suitable ways to display wares in the shop.
One of the great things about Germany is that there is still a neighborhood feel in each community. Kate and her partner Marcus have settled into their neighborhood and their gallery/boutique Bourgeois Pig has become a comfortable, hip place to hang out. Every time I am there friends pop in to chat, or Kate runs across the street to borrow a ladder, or the landlord brings chocolate to “strengthen” us. As we were hanging the quilts on Friday night, one of the neighbors who owns the Michelin-starred restaurant across the street came over with these adorable pastries. They were filled with a nutty creme — yummmmm! How’s that for neighborliness?
Marcus is the picture of domesticity on the curvy settee with a quilt in his lap. I love the contrast of the feminine pose and those masculine arms 
As the gallery is a block off the main street, they needed a little something extra to divert people off the beaten path. This has got to be the classiest chalk board I’ve ever seen.
One short block, and you’ve arrived at Bourgeois Pig.
I had high hopes of sharing pictures of people admiring the quilts, the musicians, and the tasty food we artfully displayed. But I didn’t take any pictures all day. I suck! Hopefully someone else out there has some photos they’d be willing to share with me. I have nothing to compare this to, but it seemed like there was a steady flow of people all day and that they were not just my friends, but clients of the gallery and the curious who saw Kate’s advertisements and newspaper stories. I was struck most by men’s reactions to the quilts. I assume that women will react positively, but it seems that the men just stand by their women and smile politely. Not so here. There were many more men who approached me to say how much they liked the art, and it was the women who smiled politely while their men waxed poetic over the details and construction. Who knew? Anyways, I think my art was well received and I look forward to the reactions (and maybe a few sales) over the next two months.
December 3rd, 2006 at 1:31 pm
Congratulations on your first solo show! I knew people would love your art and I so wish I could come and see all those wonderful pieces.
Good luck for the sales. Will it be difficult for you to part with your works? Never sold anything, but I think it must be a funny feeling.
December 3rd, 2006 at 4:03 pm
Congratulations on your show! I wish I could come there and actually see your work. It looks wonderful in the photo. And the gallery seems to be a great place to show in. I hope you make some sales.
December 3rd, 2006 at 4:25 pm
amazing! your postcards are beautiful, and you already know that your quilts are… breathtaking….
those pigs make me laugh – a wonderful idea, and so funny. very thoughtful *g*
December 3rd, 2006 at 4:30 pm
Congratulations!
See you there in a few weeks, I hope.
December 3rd, 2006 at 5:32 pm
Beautiful job Kristin! You worked hard for this moment and the results are wonderful.
December 3rd, 2006 at 5:55 pm
I forgot to mention that the “pastry pigs” are perfect; and alliterative, too! I hope they become a tradition.
December 3rd, 2006 at 6:49 pm
Congratulations on your amazing accomplishment! I truly wish that I could be there in person to see the exhibit, but thank you for sharing via your blog. I’m so glad that you were able to enjoy the opening. (And, I love the pastry pigs!)
Congratulations again on your magnificant collection of beautiful and amazing quilts. You’re the best!
December 3rd, 2006 at 9:17 pm
Congratulations! Wish I could see it in person!
December 3rd, 2006 at 10:12 pm
What a wonderful, light and airy exhibition space! And I am extremely admiring of the neat, satin stitch finish on your cards – mine always look like a dog’s breakfast. I hope you get good feedback from the people who can make the show in person. In the meantime, we’ve really enjoyed our virtual visit.
La Rousse
December 3rd, 2006 at 10:17 pm
your own show!!! amd quiltstadt just looks fantastic on a wall all its own! i do not know the names of your other quilts but the one with the flowers on the bottom is very cool too
December 3rd, 2006 at 11:36 pm
Congratulations on your first of what I hope will be many shows! You have done a beautiful job.
December 4th, 2006 at 9:06 am
Your quilts look stunning hanging in the gallery. Are the postcards for sale? Hope you will offer any that don’t sell, when the show is over.
December 4th, 2006 at 2:16 pm
Stunning show, and the gallery is a lovely light filled place in more ways than one. Congratulations! Jen
December 4th, 2006 at 8:35 pm
Congratulations! It looks wonderful.
The photo of you standing on the sidewalk with the chalkboard is beautiful. You look like a young Meryl Streep. You must keep this photo handy to include with Portfolio, etc. and especially for the magazine layout that will surely be coming along one of these days. Very continental!
December 4th, 2006 at 11:41 pm
Kristen- it all looks fabulous- well done you! Hope you sell a lot
Have you contacted Astrid from Patchwork Ideen or Magic Patch??? it would make a fabulous article!
Good luck!
December 5th, 2006 at 6:37 pm
Congratulations! the pics of the gallery look like it is a very nice space. Well done!
December 5th, 2006 at 10:47 pm
Thanks for sharing the show with us online. I was then inspired to go to your website and look at your other virtual gallery. I love the way you combine larger pieces of fabric with areas of colour made from loosely pieced quilt blocks like the log cabin. It’s becoming quite a trade mark of yours.
December 6th, 2006 at 3:33 am
Kristin,
CONGRATULATIONS! What a truly exciting moment, to see your work hanging on the wall of the gallery. And it is only the beginning. I so enjoyed meeting you and your “quilting Mom” at Art Quilt Tahoe. Hope to see you again next year, and hear more about all that you are doing. In the meantime, isn’t the internet a grand way of staying in touch!
December 6th, 2006 at 2:57 pm
It looks so amazing. Congrats once again. Wonderful neighborhood too.
December 6th, 2006 at 6:20 pm
Congratulations Kristin! It really looks wonderful. It’s a pity that Heidelberg is a little too far away to hop over, else I would have come to the opening. You make very interesting work. Enjoy it all!
December 6th, 2006 at 9:07 pm
Congratulations! Beautiful work in what looks like a lovely place. Wish i could just hop over….
December 6th, 2006 at 10:49 pm
ah! 2nd Dec already came and went and I had absolutely no way of making it with my mother having pneumonia and all sorts of other wonderful things that are going on – I had it marked in my calendar and made sure I could come.. sob sob sob.. I´ll probably sniff around about that for a while.. sob sob sob..
)
I WILL make it there before it closes though!!!! Can´t wait to seem them all (and get reaquainted with some of them as they had not all been finished the last time you brought them
grump – sob – grump…
I am SO happy it all went great though and I bet you had a cramp from standing back in a corner on several occasionals throughout the day and smiling thinking OMG… this is mine… I can´t believe it.. I would have LOVED to see you like that!!! lol..
December 8th, 2006 at 4:03 am
Wooo, once again I’m fashionably late to the party! 84,000 congratulations!
December 8th, 2006 at 3:05 pm
The solo show looks beautiful – wish I could see it in person. Many congratulations!
December 14th, 2006 at 5:58 pm
It’s very impressive all hung up on light walls, well done! Especially given that quilting is not exactly the Great German Pass-Time.
January 27th, 2007 at 6:49 pm
[...] That being said, it was a hard run. I made the 9 km trek up into the city, to literally drop off a package at the gallery where my wife is having her one-woman art show. Hey, if you’re going for a long run, you might as well knock out an errand while you’re at it, right? I was running with a poofy envelope tucked up in the back of my sweatshirt. Running through the city was good — the morning was starting, people were coming out to shovel the sidewalks (usually after I passed), the buildings offered some shelter from the wind, and the snow wasn’t so deep. [...]