Ian Berry to have another mural to be made of his work

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Kentucky based Tanya Neitzke prepares to reproduce denim work by renowned British artist Ian Berry for Quilt City USA® Murals

Paducah, KY, September 28, 2023—Paducah Quilt Murals Inc (PQMI) is pleased to announce that painting will soon commence on a third mural in the Quilt City USA® Murals series. Tanya Neitzke, one of six juried local artists selected to paint photo-realistic representations of notable quilts, will recreate “Cheyenne has Gone,” a denim on denim textile creation by British artist Ian Berry. Brothers Tom and Jim DeCillis from Paducah are the sponsors of the upcoming mural, which is anticipated to be completed and installed in April 2024 during AQS QuiltWeek.

Quilt City USA Murals, located on the floodwall adjacent to the Carroll Convention Center at 415 Park Street,  currently showcases two contemporary quilts. The premier panel painted by Lead Artist Char Downs, featuring “Corona II, Solar Eclipse” by Carol Bryer Fallert-Gentry, was unveiled on September 13, 2017. The second mural by Paducah artist Stefanie Graves is a painted replica of “…and Our Flag was Still There!” by Melinda Bula of California. The mural was unveiled on Veterans Day, November 11, 2020, at 11 am.

A Quilt Selection Committee headed by American Quilter’s Society (AQS) Show Director Bonnie Browning has established guidelines for existing and upcoming mural images. Approved quilts must reflect historic, educational, humanitarian, or environmental relevance, or have an iconic provenance to their time in history and showcase a broad spectrum of techniques (pieced, appliqued, etc.) and diverse color schemes. After reviewing the available approved options, Berry’s “The Cheyenne has Gone,” which features a former soda fountain bar in London, was the one that resonated with the DeCillis brothers. The DeCillis’ are avid collectors of family and 50s era memorabilia and reproduced a vintage soda fountain bar in Jim’s historic home in Lower Town. They became interested in the project after attending an event hosted by PQMI in April 2023 and learning the history and process of creating and installing the Murals.

Many layers and shades of denim are the color palette of choice for British textile artist Ian Berry in his London studio.

About Ian Berry, Textile Artist
A resident of London, Berry was born in Huddersfield, a woolen textile community in West Yorkshire, England. He studied graphic design and advertising at Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College before launching an illustrious creative career that dubbed him a “Jeanius” by the UK’s Daily Mail and named him one of the 2013 “Top 30 Artists Under 30 in the World” by Art Business News, the magazine of today’s forward-thinking art professionals. He was recently named one of the 100 most influential people in the denim industry by WeAr, a global magazine celebrating interesting work involving denim, sustainability, and innovations in fabric.

Berry uses ordinary denim to create extraordinary art. At first glance, his work appears to be blue-toned photographs or indigo-colored oil paintings. In reality, they are made of many layers and shades of denim jeans. Berry’s work has been seen across the globe, with a number of sell-out solo shows in London and Sweden, museums and galleries in the United States, and American art fairs, including Art Basel in Miami Beach, Florida, which showcases masters of modern and contemporary art.

Berry is no stranger to Paducah. In April 2018, AQS and Paducah Arts Alliance (PAA) teamed up for a creative collaboration as Berry participated in the PAA’s artist in residence program, presenting talks and demonstrations to students and arts organizations, and later creating an impressive multi-room denim art installation for AQS QuiltWeek. While working with students at Paducah Tilghman High School, Berry took their concerns for dull scissors to heart and coordinated an effort with AQS vendors to donate new scissors to the art department.

Preservation, creative reuse, and the changing urban landscape are objectives that Berry strives to portray in his artwork as he recycles denim for his photographic-style eco-art. “I enjoy learning about how art regenerates places that industry has changed. Paducah is known for that. To have a presence of my work there for all to see is very humbling,” said Berry. He appreciates the feeling of Paducah as a real American town. “I made lots of friends and have kept in touch with so many people I met there. It will be amazing to see it all come together. In a turn of events it was fantastic to find out I already knew the artist who will paint it.”

A mural made of Ian Berry’s #iclapfor project in Walthamstow, London by ATMA and Wood Street Walls

About Tanya Neitzke, Muralist
Tanya Neitzke, originally from Watertown, NY, is an artist and the Assistant Professor of Painting and FYE at the West Kentucky Community & Technical College’s Paducah School of Art & Design. She received her M.F.A. degree at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. Her work has been included in various solo, two-person, and group national and international exhibitions.

Neitzke is especially excited to replicate one of Berry’s art pieces with paint. “I first meant Ian Berry and his beautiful in-depth work when he came to Paducah for AQS QuiltWeek in 2018,” said Neitzke. “I am honored to use my love for paint to render Ian’s work and live in the world of Indigo that he lives in.” Neitzke will be using studio space at PSAD to paint the mural.

About Paducah Quilt Murals Inc
Paducah Quilt Murals Inc is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization created for the Quilt City USA® Murals Project. The mission of Quilt City USA Murals is to educate both locals and visitors on the relevance and rich history of quiltmaking! From the early settlers to the Civil War, the Industrial Revolution, the Bicentennial Celebration of 1976 and beyond, the history of America can be seen in the history of quilts. This visionary public art project marries two ancient and modern artforms–quilting and mural painting–and showcases the talent and skill of local artists.

Lead Artist Char Downs, Muralist Tanya Neitzke, and PQMI Chair Gayle Kaler (L-R) sign the artist agreement for the upcoming Quilt City USA Mural.

For more information about the project, visit paducahquiltmurals.org. To set up an interview with the sponsors or muralist, contact Rosemarie Steele 270.331.5588 or Cindy Butterbaugh 270.994.8091.

Contact:
Rosemarie Steele: 270.331.5588 or rosemarie.steele@comcast.net
Cindy Butterbaugh: 270.994.8091or 2promark@comcast.net

Ian Berry, Textile Artist.

Now, we are not one to believe in labels, and many textile artists should really just call them artists on many occasions. But after over a decade of working with denim, the Textile art world over the last few years are starting to take note of Ian's work using denim. It's a textile after all.

He may not stitch, sew and they are no quilts. However many of the skills are the same and with viewing them, many in textile art have been amazed by his skills in manipulating the layers of fabric to become almost photo-realistic pieces.

Over the last number of years Ian has been invited to show in many contexts in the fiber and textile art genres and after initially declining to focus on his gallery shows, he also found himself saying

'I want more people to see the real work'

So, the seeds were sewn and with some persuasion, over the years, he agreed to a number of shows. Many which attract tens of thousands of people. And not one to ever do anything by halves, he put on a show, one with installations and some of his best work (often loaned back by clients)

First up was Quilt en Sud in Biarritz in the south of France with the one of the organisers, Christine Lacroix being the driving influence to his appearance. We cannot thank her enough for her organising (we tested her a little) as well as the rest of the team who were so warm, kind and friendly. For Ian it was great to meet so many people who work with Textiles to see his work, and to get so many amazing comments. It was also good to meet and make friends with other artists, like Sheila Frampton Cooper, Françoise Tellier-Loumagne, Francine Flattard and Claudia Pfeil

Ian received great reviews from both the public and the press from his appearance in the South of France. Here Les Novelles (left) by French Patchwork featured a nice double page spread and QuiltMania stated how Ian has been setting the art world alight as well as comparing his work to Hopper.

It was also a great way to travel with the work with Biarritz and the surrounding area a beautiful place to visit. The event was packed with many talented and committed people and filled with volunteers that did the event proud.

In the September Ian was an invited featured artist at Le Carrefour Européen du Patchwork in Alsace, France. For its 24th event Ian impressed the Twenty Thousand plus crowd with his work all made in denim. It was a great event and one where the booth was consistently full of people, taking pictures and trying to get autographs and selfies with Ian.

The booth was consistently busy. On the right, people watching the films by Ian Berry.

Showing in one part the My Beautiful Launderette installation where people could interact and walk into it. The other part hosted part of Behind Closed Doors the emotionally charged body of work first shown in London at the end of 2016. Most viewers were more interested in the construction of the works and with so many people at the stand the emotional aspect was sometimes lost. That said, the poem on the wall, by Ian's sister, Fiona, drew a large response and many tears.

The event spanned four days and the first three Ian's area had consistently at least three or four dozen people in, sometimes up to a hundred. On the last day, it was a bit quieter with only a dozen people in at one time and it was intriguing how many more comments were given about the content of the work, not just the style and technique. Many commented how they saw themselves in the work.

Ian was housed in an area with fellow artists Mirjam Pet-Jacobs - the award winning Dutch artist who like Ian is interested in how people communicate and interact. This museum standard show was a highlight for Ian to see. Alongside Mirjam's show was the work curated by Nancy Crow with by the Dairy Barn from Ohio. This internationally acclaimed artist is noted to be one of the leading figures of the quilt art movement of the 70's and 80's. SAQA was next to Ian and they had developed this exhibition in collaboration with the Stratford Perth Museum, Stratford, Ontario, Canada and featured many Canadian artists. A handful of which captured Ian's eye. The team there were great to be next to. We wish Lisa Walton all the success in her role as the new president and to carry on this organisations great work.

And last but certainly not least, was Ian's old friend Luke Haynes who have known one another for several years. Luke is a superstar in the quilting world and had reached out to Ian as far back as 2011 and they have been friends since. It was great to see so many of his works all in one place. He had collaborated with some other artists on these pieces. With the impact Luke and Ian had on the event it was hard for people to be not drawn in to their gender.

many school children came around and seemed to be impressed with Ian's work.

It was also great for Ian to meet some people who had followed his work for several years. This included people like journalists Alie Dijk, Astrid Franchet and Katell Renon who have written about Ian several times before. The interesting thing however is how they all saw the work differently to how they had done before. This is great to get so many people to see the work in real life.

Ian didn't get chance to really get out of the booth to see anything else, but did manage to see Andrée Leblanc's work who he was deeply impressed with and Paula Nadelstern's quilts inspired by the bilateral symmetry of kaleidoscopic images. Léa Stansal quirky work brought many smiles while he was sad not to get to see Willy Doreleijers's show, The Tentmakers of Cairo and his friends Val Holmes among others..

For Ian, not used to showing in this context it was strange for his gender to be brought up. It's only since showing with other textile artists has it. Now in hindsight, in this world we now see it is easier for males to stand out, but really we think that the work should stand for itself, regardless of gender or any other factor.

The only positive to this he takes from this, is that he hopes young children, and boys can see what can be achieved.

The Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace wrote very highly about Ian's work. Desctibing his work and the attention he got - as well as being a male in this woman dominated world. For those who know French, this was a very nice phrase to be given..

'Chaque édition a son chouchou... Cette année, c’est Ian Berry qui remporte la palme.'

Quilt en Sud stood out by its friendly army of volunteers while at Carrefour it really felt like an event the whole region got behind with the event taking over many venues over many of the towns and one that the media got behind.

After two successful trips to France, it sets up Ian nicely to show again in the Textile world again during Quilt Week in Paducah, Kentucky next April as the guest artist. One of the highlight events of the year in the industry. You can read about Ian in the latest edition of American Quilter.

Dates

April 18 – 21, 2018 • Wed.–Fri., 9am–6pm, Sat., 9am–4pm
Schroeder Expo Center • 415 Park Avenue, Paducah, KY 42001

But before then two stops in the USA, with New York Denim Days coming up this weekend and Miami Basel Week in December. Watch out for more information.

And will you see Ian quilt or sew in future? Maybe so.