LOOSE THREADS

April Felipe, Danette Pratt, Frankie Coppola, Asher Pollock

On View: April 9 – July 6, 2025

Opening Reception: May 23, 4pm-6pm (free and open to the public)

O’Bleness Gallery @ The Dairy Barn Arts Center

Admission: free

Gallery Hours: 12pm-5pm Wednesday – Sunday

Quilt National ’25

The Best in Contemporary Quilts

On View: May 23 – September 1, 2025

Opening Reception: May 23 4pm-6:30pm (free and open to the public)

Sauber Gallery @ The Dairy Barn Arts Center

For over four decades, Quilt National has showcased the
best in contemporary quiltmaking, pushing the boundaries of tradition while celebrating creativity, technical mastery, and artistic expression. This year, jurors Ellen Blalock, LUKE Haynes, and Martha Sielman selected 84 quilts that represent a bold and diverse array of styles and themes.

Featuring 27 first-time exhibitors alongside returning artists, Quilt National ‘25 highlights fresh perspectives and new voices in the quilting world. From exploring social themes to experimenting with materials and textures, these works reflect the ever-evolving nature of this vibrant art form.

Admission: $12 per person, free for Dairy Barn members

Gallery Hours: 12pm-5pm Wednesday – Sunday

Origins

TASO + ChileQuilting

On View: May 23 – July 13, 2025

Opening Reception: May 23 4pm-6:00pm (free and open to the public)

Chaddock + Morrow Gallery @ The Dairy Barn Arts Center

Since 2019, TASO (Textile Artists of Southeastern Ohio) and ChileQuilting have worked together to foster artistic inspiration and promote quilting as a medium of cross-cultural communication. Through our collaborations, we have pursued two primary goals: to learn from and share quilting experiences between our two groups, and to expand our international projects in ways that encourage creativity and cultural exchange .

Our second collaborative project, Origins, consists of 15 textile pieces that reflect personal and cultural interpretations of the theme. These works explore heritage, identity, and creative expression, offering insight into the diverse traditions and artistic visions of our members. Origins speaks to the beginnings that shape us—whether ancestral, artistic, or personal. Some quilts delve into family histories and cultural roots, while others examine the origins of artistic inspiration itself, drawing from nature, memory, or traditional craft.

Origins is an exhibition that embodies international creative exploration and cooperation. ChileQuilting and TASO demonstrate a unique collaboration that celebrates cultural and artistic creativity through the art of quilting. By bringing together artists from different backgrounds, this project highlights the unifying power of quilting as a form of artistic dialogue and mutual inspiration. Through fabric and thread, these quilts tell stories of where we come from and how our origins continue to shape our creative journeys.

Admission: $12 per person, free for Dairy Barn members

Gallery Hours: 12pm-5pm Wednesday – Sunday

Funny and Fragile

Holly Cole

On View: July 9 – September 14, 2025

Opening Reception: July 18 5pm-7pm (free and open to the public)

O’Bleness Gallery @ The Dairy Barn Arts Center

As a former costume designer my work focuses on story and character and is most inspired by issues of social justice and endangered species. As a lifelong animal junky, I am most fascinated by human-animal connections and the fragility of nature. In all of my work,  I seek direct emotional connection with the viewer and develop fiber collage sculptures and hand drawn, painted, collaged and quilted whole cloth quilts to that end. I believe that quilting and fiber collage deeply enriches the meaning and emotional connection of my drawings. Funny and Fragile focuses on different aspects of endangered and threatened species. My Vanishing series includes the babies and clowns that are at risk and the heroes who are championing and caring for them. My Veterans series up-cycles war and work surplus fabrics to express both the grit and vulnerability of endangered species. My new Fragility series features the use of delicate and sheer fabrics to create a palpable sense of these animals sometimes slowly, and sometimes quickly, disappearing.

Holly Cole is a full-time textile studio artist in Triangle, Virginia who considers herself addicted to making art. After a long career as a costume designer and/or artisan for Broadway,regional, and educational theaters (including heading the costume programs at Ohio University 1987-2012) in 2016 she retired to a new life of working as an art quilter and surface designer.  She holds a BA from Northwestern and an MFA from Carnegie-Mellon Universities in Theater Design. Additional Fiber training includes studies at Arrowmont, the J.C. Campbell Folk School,the Crowe Barn, the Quilt Surface Design Symposium, Quilting By The Lake, Pro Chemical and Dye, and Kerr Grabowski’s studio.

Admission: free

Gallery Hours: 12pm-5pm Wednesday – Sunday