Thursday 28 August 2014

Kaffe Fassett at the American Museum in Bath

I've been a lifelong fan (well since the 80s) of this man and first saw him in Covent Garden when he gave a lecture on knitting.  


Since then I've followed his career from knitting to tapestry to quilting, completed many of his kits and patterns along the way and own way too many of his books (but they are lovely to look at!). Finally today, I made it to the exhibition in Bath. I've been on holiday for the past two weeks. It's been rather an up and down two weeks, this being my third attempt to get there.  The first time, the M5 was blocked due to a 


rolled coach. It took me 2 hours to travel one junction and when I eventually managed to leave the motorway to go another route, the roads were jammed and the satnav estimated I wouldn't get there until


after the exhibition had closed.  I was planning to go again yesterday but having got home from a couple of days away, discovered our son had accidentally left the freezer door open and EVERYTHING in the 


freezer had defrosted (this was yer full sized 6ft high freezer).  It was pretty devastating so yesterday hubby and I spent the whole day cooking everything that we could rescue.  Must admit though, we've got lots of 


ready meals now.  Anyway today it was third time lucky, finally I made it and oh what a joy, it was well worth the wait.  As you can see, Kaffe is all about colour and as you can see from the top pictures and 


here, the entrance walls were painted a wonderful shade of pink (and I'm not a pink girl!).


Inside the theme was continued with one strong colour on the walls in each area of the exhibition. For me, it 


was like meeting up with old friends.  Some of these knitted items are so familiar to me (I've knitted quite a number of Kaffe's patterns over the years) and to see some of the patterns in real life for the first time was a
delight.  One room was painted in lime green and most of the textiles creations within it were vegetables


and fruit.  I've had this tapestry below on a postcard in my collection for years and again, to see the real


thing was wonderful. The tumbling blocks pattern below is actually knitted - I believe on a circular needle - imagine the weight of that on your needles! 


As you can see, there was colour everywhere


I absolutely LOVE the quilt below.  I'm going to have to have a go at making it, even though I'm not sure my quilting skills are up to it.  Since I started quilting at the beginning of this year, it's been my end game to make a Kaffe Fassett quilt.


I called this picture "the cauliflower years."  :)  I've never seen cauliflowers look so good as the ones created here.


I don't think this is Kaffe but he looks very chipper dressed up in his pink flowers. lol


Below is the green room, all decked out in textiles showing mainly vegetables


...and here is one of the display cases with one of Kaffe's many quilts on view at the end.  


You can see how beautifully the colour schemes were thought through.


The tree outside the exhibition wasn't left out either.  I have no idea how they managed to decorate it so high
up (well ladder I guess).  


Even the lamp posts were yarn bombed.


Of course, I couldn't resist coming away without a couple of souvenirs and they just happened to feature my favourite quilt.


13 comments:

Heather said...

This post has really whetted my appetite - I must make the effort to get to that exhibition. Thankyou for sharing your super photos. I too am a long time fan of Kaffe Fasset and have several of his books.
It might be a challenge but I'm sure you are capable of making that lovely quilt. Go for it!

Sarah Anderson said...

looks like a fab exhibition, and that is a great quilt - look forward to seeing your version
Sons eh though, mine discovered how to make sure the fridge door needs shutting properly when we left them home alone for a couple of weeks - they now know they get warm cheese otherwise!!

Asia King (aka Joanna K) said...

Great pics from the exhibition and a real shame about the freezer. Men, eh? lol :)

Frances said...

Carol, before I begin commenting about that fabulous KF exhibit in Bath, I just wanted to tell you that you really did have a wonderfully calm and practical reaction to your son's ... well you know what I mean.

It's grand that you could make quick use of much in that defrosting freezer, and able to get the results back into the freezer.

Bravo.

On to Bath. Kaffe Fassett really is a brillian colorist, and has contributed so much to the past decades' resurging interest in knitting, quilting, and perhaps even mosaic. And all the while KF has still been doing some painting, too.

Way back in the last century I had the pleasure of chatting with him several times, after some of his earliest presentations back over here in New York. I remember him as a charming man, with a real interest in color and knitting and also with an enthusiasm for what some of the rest of us had accomplished with our own needles and yarn.

How I would love to see that exhibit in Bath! Glad that the museum did Kaffe proud.

Thank you so much for your excellent photos that did give the rest of us stay at homes a sense of what's on display.

xo

Alison said...

This looks wicked Carol! I love Kaffe's designs too, got a knitting book somewhere :)
Good luck with the quilt!
Alison xxx

Catherine Chapple said...

It looks really interesting Carol! How long is it on for? Joe is going to Bath Uni open day on the 13 Sept so we might call in then as it's right next to the Uni.

karen said...

hat a gorgeous exhibition Carol and poor you...all the calamity at home and on the roads. I hope you had a great holiday though!

Gina said...

I've always loved his work and have seen it several times but this exhibition looks absolutely amazing. The colour is just stunning. I had to sympathise with your freezer incident... Joe took several pizzas out of our freezer, which is in our garage, whilst looking for something else and forgot to return them. I found them two days later having sat in the warm garage! Nothing like as bad as losing the entire contents though. Glad you managed to salvage some.

Diana Studer said...

I saw that tapestry with the cut melons at the V&A years ago. I still remember how that cut surface, glistened with juice and life!

sally said...

I love Kaffe Fassett & his work! Had the pleasure of meeting him twice & have his books. Made several jumpers in the style but nit from his patterns. I saw, when I returned from holiday on Sunday, that there's an exhibition of his work in Aberdeen so no prizes for guessing where I'll be heading as soon as possible :-).

Sally

Sid said...

It was worth the wait to get there Carol ! Love his stuff and your favourite quilt is gorgeous - good luck in making it, enjoy !

Ramarchiano@gmail.com said...

Me encanta tu blog!! el post de KF es lindisimo y las fotos tambien.Saludos Rosa

ionabunny said...

Gorgeous colours. Thanks for sharing your photos. Hugz