Fourth Friday Reception: July 26, 6PM - 9PM
Join us on the evening of June 26thh for light refreshments and a delightful look at Maggie Earley’s contemporary picture quilts draping the gallery walls. Constructed with a variety of textiles and embellishments, Earley’s extraordinary fiber arts will surprise and delight.
About the Artist:
Maggie Earley grew up in Burlington, North Carolina, with deep family roots in the Cape Fear region, and retired to Wilmington when she and her husband sold their manufacturing company in Connecticut. She has been exuberantly working with color and design since first applying crayons to paper as a toddler, working her way through oils, acrylics, watercolors, stained glass, needle arts, and mosaic, and then gradually turned to quilting. After receiving a pile of prize ribbons for color and design (but never for how well her corners met), she began to feel increasingly restricted by the rules of competitive quilting, and evolved further into the less structured world of art quilting. As an art quilter, Earley often works from photographs to create non-traditional pictorial quilt work, wall-hangings, miniatures, pieces stretched over frames, and art garments. She considers her most recent pieces "paintings" done with fabric instead of pigment. “I have trouble following the rules, so now I don't use them,” she says. Earley also creates commissioned T-shirt quilts, wedding quilts, and baby quilts, teaches color theory and design, and gives private flute lessons.
Update on Quilting Outside the Blocks:
This installment of artwork featuring Maggie Earley's art quilts has generated numerous daytime gallery visits to WHQR's MC Erny gallery in downtown Wilmington. Quilting groups, non-quilting art enthusiasts, and other curious parties have been delighted by the creativity and skill demonstrated in the work. Star News has featured Quilting Outside the Blocks in their print publication. The article is available at Starnewsonline.com