I was so saddened to hear of the death of Laurel Burch recently. She has been a favorite of mine for decades. Starting with her jewelry pieces all the way up to her wonderful fabrics and embroidery machine designs. I loved the story of her starting her jewelry business in the Haight Asbury district of San Francisco (think hippies and flower children). I know the hippie era was quite controversial but I personally loved the sentiment (think Make Love not War) and always was a bit of a closet hippie myself LOL. Loved those long, long skirts and beads, the flowers in the hair and Birkenstocks and the organic food, the concern for the earth and the political questioning. Laurel Burch's art always represented to me the spirit of the 60s and 70s. This quote from one of her books is a favorite: "Share with the world from the heart of your heart." I was so excited when she branched out into fabric design and patterns. Karen over at sewprimitivequilter has a link to an article about Laurel Burch's life and death on her 9/20/2007 post.
I know that a big part of her appeal to me, besides the wonderful colors and the mixing of media, is the importance she placed on living things. another quote from one of her books sums that up: "As an artist my life is deeply connected to the purpose and joy of creating for so many kindred spirits. We share similar passions and dreams about the importance of magic in our every day lives and the kinship between all living things." I think I'll machine embroider one of her glorious giraffe designs this weekend. She'll be missed.
8 comments:
That would be a great memory for her/you!
I had no idea she had such serious health problems until I read the article about her a couple days ago. What an amazine woman! I always have adored her designs even though I never purchased the fabrics myself. It is sad that she is gone - but what a treasure we can all celebrate, having her in our lives in some way through her designs.
The artwork on those book covers are just GREAT. She was so articulate, too. As you say, her artwork just seems the very picture of San Francisco in the 70s.
I agree--how truly sad we have lost such an inspirational person in our quilting world. I didn't realize either her health struggles--what a brave woman!
It is sad. I can't imagine not having her stylistic animals rolling off on print any longer. =( I knew she was very ill, but she just kept going, so I guess I hoped she would for a long time.
Hippies came in many types. The type that she was has wound up producing some wonderful things in all areas in our country.
It is sad. I love her art and designs and always recognise them. I just bought her new book and the day I put it on my Blog unfortunately I learned too late she had died. What a wealth of colour and art she has left the whole world. Thanks Laurel.
Thanks for the lovely tribute to an artist that entered a lot of our lives. I'm going to go to Amazon to look for her books.
I'm also a retired teacher. I was a Reading Specialist for 1st & 2nd graders.
Now my sweet husband and I are retired and loving it!
Come visit!
Joni (from Yummers)
She was quite the lady I agree. Her designing skills will be missed.
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