Coupeville artist stitches her way to Japan

Published 3:21 pm Friday, January 6, 2012

The circles within circles on Marianne Burr’s quilts seem to be the stars of the show, but upon closer examination, thousands of tiny stitches give life to Burr’s hand painted, hand stitched quilts. Rows and rows of colorful stitches give the circles a three-dimensional effect and add color and emotion.

Burr, of Coupeville, is no ordinary quilter as the art she entered into the 11th Quilt Nihon exhibition earned her the most impressive honor she’s ever been awarded: A one-week trip to Japan and the opportunity to teach a workshop there.

Burr has been to Japan twice to receive awards for her entries in the 9th and 10th Quilt Nihon exhibitions. Quilt Nihon is a major exhibition at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. After opening in April, it will travel to other locations in Japan, then to France and other countries.

Only 70 to 80 pieces are selected from at least 15 countries, especially Europe, Burr said, adding that she was very pleased that her work, “At the Circus,” earned one of the top prizes, the Founder’s Award/Seto Award.

“The Japanese have a great history of doing arts and crafts. Whenever I see something made by the Japanese I’m absolutely impressed. I’m thrilled they like what I make,” Burr said.

The first time Burr and her husband, Robert Wilkins, traveled to Japan to attend the awards ceremony, she was excited but nervous because she doesn’t speak Japanese.

“I loved it! I am so thrilled I get to go back. It’s a relaxing place to visit. It’s busy and there’s a lot of people but they’re all nice,” Burr said, adding that the quilt show is “breathtaking” and that “it’s incredible to see such beautifully made quilts in person.”

Burr’s quilts don’t follow the typical quilting guidelines that involve sewing together small pieces of fabric. Instead, Burr paints patterns on silk, a process similar to hand painting silk scarves. Then she hand stitches on top of the painting to create depth, texture and design.

“I think that maybe one of the reasons the Japanese are taken with my work is because they do it all by hand,” Burr said, describing a long-standing tradition in Japan.

She developed her art from a childhood of creating, including coloring, drawing and embroidery. These led to painting on silk.

“And I wondered what it would look like if it was stitched,” Burr said.

At first, she didn’t consider her artwork to be quilting. Then local quilters told her that if she sewed a fabric backing onto her work, it would qualify as a quilt and she could enter it in shows.

Burr said she’s very grateful to the local quilting community for quilting tips because she never considered herself to be a quilter.

“The basic theme of quilters is friendly and helpful and that makes it fun,” Burr said.

The majority of Burr’s quilts have distinctive circle designs, which were originally inspired by the flowers blooming in her yard.

“Every place you look there’s circles. I guess I’m just going back to basic humanity because I like circles so much,” Burr said. Once she started using circles and found out that the designs work well, “why change it?”

Burr has been working on quilts for approximately five years and she finishes three to four each year. “At the Circus,” which measures 49 by 62 inches, took nearly one year to complete.

“These take a very long time and for me that’s good. I like being dedicated to a project,” Burr said. A lengthy project gives her time to make adjustments without rushing.

“You start and you keep on going and amazingly, you finish eventually,” Burr said. “Once you’ve figured out you can do it, all the anxiety goes away.”

Burr spends a lot of time thinking and planning. She has a thick folder stuffed with sketches just for “At the Circus,” each slightly different as Burr entertained ideas of circle placement, color and borders.

“I worked on ‘Circus’ for so long; there were times I was so fed up. There were times it seemed it would never be right. But when I saw what the award was, I about fell off my chair,” Burr said, smiling. “It isn’t the dollar value of it, it’s the honor of it, that they want me to share my art with them.”

The dollar value has nothing to do with Burr’s art in general. She chooses to focus on creating art rather than the business side.

“And it’s working,” Burr said happily. “Because I really like to go to these shows!”

She’s sold a few quilts at shows but Burr doesn’t worry about whether they sell or not; she creates art for the enjoyment of the process.

“I always learn something when I make a new one and I enjoy that,” Burr said.

Burr said that all of her success, from awards at shows to seeing her work on the covers of magazines and in books, is “because I am still willing and I don’t worry about not making it in. If you love the doing of it, it hurts if it’s rejected but it’s not the end of the world.”

Burr will travel to Japan in April to receive her award for the 11th Quilt Nihon and enjoy her prize of a week-long stay in Japan at a later date.

To see more of Burr’s art and to contact her, visit www.marianneburr.com.