By Patricia Belyea
UNION WA Earlier this month, 18 quilters joined Joe Cunningham and me for the last session of The Joe Retreat. Most of the participants were alumnae, coming back for one final week of learning and laughing. The first day Joe assigned a warm-up exercise. The small project included improv piecing with a feeling of flow.
The last three days concentrated on the Retreat theme: The Big Picture. Each student referenced a favorite piece of art and noted three attributes of the artwork. Using one or two of these descriptors, the students proceeded to make a personal project that filled their design walls.
As the Retreat drew to a close, the students looked at their projects as a whole body of work. They had broken through on so many levels that their quilt designs no longer fit into any existing category. So they invented a new quilt movement: MoJoe Quilts! Here’s a photo of the MoJoe Quilt Gang:
All the creative freedom was thanks to the leadership of Joe Cunningham (aka Joe The Quilter) and the endless hospitality of Saint Andrew’s Retreat Center. An era has come to a close and everyone was graduated to their next quilting adventures!
