California, Quilted: Wild in the Oaklands
July 14, 2024 - January 13, 2025
The California Nature Art Museum is pleased to announce its upcoming 2024 summer exhibition, California, Quilted: Wild in the Oak Woodland, on view from July 14, 2024 – January 13, 2025, featuring new and recent works by artist Julia Laraway.
From butterflies to bullfrogs to bobcats, Oak Woodland habitats support thousands of animal species all over California. Inhabitants might find shelter in the open grasslands between trees, scattered shrubs, fallen logs, streams, and tree canopies. The wonders of this important habitat – its creatures, colors, and lines of the land – all inspire Julia Laraway’s collection of fabric collages and quilts featuring flora and fauna of the coastal oak woodland.
Laraway found her way into quilt-making many years ago by the side of her mother, and has always loved the sound of the sewing machine, the smell of a hot iron on fabric, and the bright threads that give each piece its texture and form. Her hope and the hope of the Museum is that this celebration of local species will inspire interest and passion for a habitat that has already lost up to one-third of its space in California due to agriculture and urban development.