On Friday, Pearl and I headed over to Elizabeth Leach to see the Quilts of Gee’s Bend show and met up with Jamin, Angelina, Lee, Pete, Star, Josh & Sarah there. Having the chance to see these beautiful pieces and appreciate the hand-quilting and binding and color and details in natural light in that luxuriously open gallery space is amazing. When I saw the larger Gee’s Bend show at the DeYoung in San Francisco, it was so popular and so crowded that it was hard to just enjoy looking at each quilt — so if you are in Portland (or can get here this month), don’t miss it!

The Elizabeth Leach Gallery generously gave me permission to take photographs, so all of my images are courtesy of them — the quilt and print snapshots are first, then the artist’s details, and all of my photos are here.

There is also a collection of exquisite aquatone etchings — signed and numbered limited edition prints in simple, appealing frames that capture the lushness of the quilts in a calmer medium. I had never seen anything quite like these and I thought they were mesmerizing…

There are so many pieces (quilts and prints both) that I didn’t photograph, but one last thing I did catch was this statement from the gallery:

What a treat! We all headed over to get ice cream afterwards and it was such a nice end to the busy week.

I am so eager to see the show again — a weekday afternoon is my favorite time to visit a gallery, and I will be right in the neighborhood all next week! And I’m still hoping to make it down to Ashland, too…