Artist mounts ‘Berks in Stitches’ art quilts
Solo art exhibit showcases 87 framed quilts representing Berks County towns
The solo art exhibit “Berks in Stiches” by Hamburg artist Martha Ressler features small art quilts representing the towns of Berks County. The most number of quilts are of Hamburg, her hometown.
Hamburg artist Martha Ressler mounted her solo art exhibition “Berks in Stitches” at Art Plus Gallery in West Reading for the month of December.
“Berks in Stitches” consists of 87 small, framed quilts. Ressler spent a year and a half visiting all of the townships and boroughs in Berks County and then created a small art quilt in response.
“The thread starts in Pittsburgh in 2013. That was when I visited an exhibit by artist friend Ron Donoughe. In ‘90 Neighborhoods’ he sought to capture the unique character of each neighborhood of Pittsburgh in 90 plein air paintings. The idea of visiting places stuck with me,” said Ressler.
A year later, as she settled into her new home in Hamburg, Ressler imagined how she might do something similar for Berks County, in art quilts rather than paint.
“I idly entertained that notion for another five years. Then, in 2019, a series of articles in the Reading Eagle, ‘The United States of Berks’ by Susan Meiers Smith, inspired me to kick the project into gear.”
The weekly series became her guide as Ressler
visited all of Berks County’s boroughs and townships in alphabetical order, starting with Albany and ending with Wyomissing. The most number of quilts are of Hamburg, her hometown. She got help from Grace Trabosh at Hamburg Antique Center where she was able to find vintage papers and advertising items from different towns.
“As I logged reference photos and sketches and started my stitching, my rules took shape. Based on what I saw and felt upon each visit, I would decide what to depict, along with what fabrics, stitching and objects I would use,” she said.
Ressler decided that each one had to include the name in some way as part of the image. She avoided private homes, seeking out landmarks in the public domain.
“As I worked and finished and framed, I came to view these 87 art quilts as little gems. In each one, the drawings, postage stamps, found objects, fabric choices and hand embroidery weave a unique story of old treasures to be enjoyed and new ones to discover,” said Ressler, who thanks her husband, Jay Ressler, for making most of the frames.
View the entire show online at https://art-plus-gallery.square.site/berks-institches. Ressler invites visitors to make comments in a guest book to share their stories.
Ressler studied history and art history at Oberlin College in Ohio and University of Michigan. As a lateblooming artist, she first turned to painting in 2006, but since 2009 has made more than 800 art quilts. She is a member of Cloth in Common, an international challenge group of art quilters, and a Juried Artist Member of Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA).
In addition to local shows and galleries, her work has appeared in four international SAQA shows and Quilt National in 2019 and has earned numerous awards. She uses a raw edge applique method with either elaborate machine free motion quilting or, in the case of these pieces, hand quilting and embroidery.
Art Plus Gallery is located at 604 Penn Ave, West Reading, and is open to the public in December, Thursday, Friday and Saturday from noon to 7 p.m., and Sunday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday are by appointment at https:// www.signupgenius.com/ go/9040449a5a72aaafa7artplus. Masks are required in the gallery, and a maximum of 6 is allowed to visit at one time.