Clinton, Utah

June 26 through July 31, 2008

Marilyn Fashbaugh's imagination far outpaces a lot of quilters.  Fashbaugh says her art quilt "Currents" could be about air currents, alien spaceships, water currents or clams at a party.

The artist is the Featured Quilter in the Brigham City Museum-Gallery’s Quilt Festival set for June 26 through July 31. The facility will be open July 4.

Fifteen of Fashbaugh’s art quilts and works by 13 other artists, including pieces by Judith Trager of Longmont, Colorado, will hang in the museum located at 24 North 300 West. Hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 1 to 5 p.m. on Saturday. Admission is free.

Fashbaugh’s first quilting experience was around 1960 when a young mother. She was invited to quilt an applique piece with other women during a church function. Her long stitches were not acceptable to the supervisor, who ripped the threads out in front of everyone. Fashbaugh was mortified. Fifteen years would go by before she would have the confidence to create her first quilt.

In 1975, the artist and her new husband purchased a home in Reno, Nevada, with terra cotta-colored carpeting throughout. When Fashbaugh could not find a spread for the bed that matched the carpeting, she sewed a log cabin quilt like she had seen in McCall’s magazine. The designer made all the blocks by hand and took the finished top to a church quilting activity where a kind lady helped her mark the piece and set it on a frame. Fashbaugh remembers enjoying the experience, specifically selecting the colors and the hand quilting. Many friends and family quilted the bedspread, which was used for 10 years and then given to one of her sons.

With new confidence in her skills, Fashbaugh continued quilting. She eventually opened a quilt store in Reno and hired well-known artists to teach classes, learning from them along with the patrons.

Fashbaugh also became interested in an annual, one-week quilting retreat at Point Bonita State Park in San Francisco. She has participated in the retreat for almost 25 years. Initially classes were offered, but eventually it became a 24-hour refuge for quilters to work on their own projects. It was at one of the retreats that Fashbaugh was attracted to a kimono worn by one of the participants. She decided to fabricate a kimono quilt. The artist had previously integrated Native American garments into her quilts, so fashioning a kimono seemed a natural transition.

Art and community service converged for Fashbaugh in 1988. For three years she was co-chairman of the Nevada State Historical Quilt Project. She traveled to 17 locations and documented over 3,000 quilts. The state folklorist, an accredited historian, a photographer and many volunteers assisted. All the photos, histories and other documents are located at the Historical Society in Reno.

When asked which of her quilts she favors, Fashbaugh answered, "I’m partial to the contemporary, two-sided "Coral Reef," which is a non-swimmer’s fantasy, and a quilt of fans, which I gave to my mother." The latter was featured on the cover of Quilter’s Newsletter in June 1989. Fashbaugh states, "Family quilts are made with love, but my show quilts are made with passion."

The artist, who resides in Clinton, delivers an enormous palette of colors in all her quilts, notably "Another Beautiful Day in Paradise," which was selected for the prestigious Quilt National in 2005. This piece will be on view at the museum. Another theme sewn into a quilt is "By the Light of the Moon," which brings the richness of the outdoors into the museum. Fashbaugh combines a moonlit shrine, swirling leaves and an empty nest in this artwork. In "War Paint," a coyote recounts the story of open lands with buffalo. Messenger crows carry the stories far and wide.

"Jazz" is a whirlwind of energy and color celebrating Fashbaugh’s attendance at jazz festivals with her husband, a saxophone player. Other quilts presented are "Poppy Fields," "Totem," "Fish Ladder," "Arbor Rose," "Iris" and "Fiesta." This work is part of the designer’s American Indian blanket series.

Fashbaugh has also constructed and sold over100 fabric bowls with such motifs as nests, tidal pools, fish and ferns. She saw a paper bowl in a magazine and decided to produce some cloth pieces. The designer was disappointed when she couldn’t find any patterns. When one of her friends told her to quit whining and just make one, Fashbaugh took her suggestion. The artist was pleased with the color schemes of the bowls, but initially they didn’t hold their shape. She employed a "secret ingredient" and was on her way. Fashbaugh realized she had a marketable product when the owner of a local quilt store told her a woman who had purchased one of her bowls came into the store and asked for directions on how to make duplicates. The festival is sprinkled with five of the quilter’s fabric bowls.

*****Article written by Mary Alice Hobbs