"Coming Full Circle"

Marga de Bruijn sold her first quilt here in Carrboro, quite accidentally. It was hanging in The Arts Center in 2001 to absorb sound and help with acoustics and wasn't even advertised for sale. But someone saw it and loved it, and she received a call inquiring about the price. Many quilts later, she feels she is "Coming Full Circle" with her show at Muse Gallery (showing through September 30), now across the street from The Arts Center.

Most of her quilts on display feature mathematical or geometric designs. She is comfortable with straight lines and a disciplined form. But what makes these works pop is the bold color palette that infuses energy into the organization of each piece.

Ms. de Bruijn had a long career as an occupational therapist, teaching sewing and crafting-type work along with other skills to her clients. She had engaged in crafting since her childhood in The Netherlands and started quilting later in life but soon devoted all of her crafting time to it. We talked about how it can be unusual to see a functional home object displayed as art. She said that quilters joke, "They [quilts] have made it from the bed to the vertical surface."

Her father, a veteran of World War II, used to take his children to the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial at Margraten where unidentified soldiers who died in World War II are buried. The arrangement of the grave markers left an impression on her. She noticed that when you drive by the cemetery, the lines (spaces between the grave stones) appear to move. That experience inspired her piece, Margraten.

She described a recent "breakthrough" in developing her skills to make curves in her pieces, as in Hawaiian Vibes, employing a different technique than what she uses for the more linear designs. Here, she showed me that the fabric comprising the circle is folded under and stitched to the background, resulting in a design with organic flow.

Indian Summer has a particularly personal meaning. When she was growing up, Ms. de Bruijn had a subscription to a needlework magazine and she found those magazines again when she cleaned out her mother's house after her death. She could not take all of the magazines home so "I tore out a few pages and one was this pattern." Her mother had made her first visit to Ms. de Bruijn's new home in North Carolina in September because she wanted to experience Indian summer, which is not a phenomenon in The Netherlands and which she had learned about during her professional training to be a school teacher.

For Ms. de Bruijn, quilting is "soulful" work. "Whatever is happening in my life" becomes part of the quilt. She is also connected to quilting communities, which has been a wonderful experience. Meeting with other quilters provides a "nourishing" environment for these artists to share techniques and tips.

Marga de Bruijn invites anyone who wants to talk about her work to contact her through Muse Gallery. She would be happy to meet with you.