Twelve by Twelve exhibit in Portland

I have spent part of each of the past two days at the Portland Expo Center where the Twelve by Twelve project's set of 12 x 20 quilts were on exhibit. Gerrie and I, as the Portland members were the designated representatives of the group and we hung out with the quilts and answered questions and visited with people. The quilts looked wonderful—always such a revelation to see them all together. The whole is definitely more than the sum of the parts. Our quilts were the first thing people saw as they came in the main entrance.

 This is how they looked on Tuesday when we hung them, before the place was filled with people.

Today there were hoards. I took this photo of Gerrie demonstrating how people were looking at Kristin LaFlamme's pixilated portrait with their phones to see the face come together at the smaller size. Pretty cool effect.

You might remember we had our Theme and Colorplay series at the Expo last year and that Gerrie and I got up and out to the Expo at 5:30 in the morning to be interviewed by a somewhat goofy TV guy. We didn't have to do that this year, but there was a very nice feature on one of the local stations highlighting our exhibit. You can see it here.

This is the first time the 20 by 12 quilts (done last year in 2012—get it??) have been seen all together, and possibly the only showing of this phase of our project. We were so lucky to see them hanging as a group. It really thrilled me and made me realize, once again, what an extraordinary collaboration this has been. It seems the members are all very busy now with their own projects and there isn't a lot of interest in another collaborative challenge, but we remain friends and colleagues at a very deep level. There are threads (!) of shared experience that will always connect us. To my Twelve by Twelve sisters—I wish you could all see them hanging together and hear the comments. You were all here in spirit these past two days. I truly wish you had all been here in the flesh. Your work was so enjoyed, so admired, and so inspirational to the people who saw it. Once again, we did well!