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Driving
out of New York City, Liza Prior Lucy was entering the
Lincoln Tunnel when she braked to a screeching halt.
After 15
minutes in standstill traffic, her impatience
flared: "The only thing I could see were the glaring red
taillights of the truck in front of me!", but she found her passenger's reaction far more
memorable. Completely relaxed, Kaffe Fassett was gazing
at a tattered old poster. He recalls, "Its multilayers
of peeling paint mesmerized me. They formed an
intricate pattern that looked like a single
encrusted texture that was beautiful."
This incident, the first of many lessons in observation that Kaffe would
give Liza, occurred in 1985 when they were barely
acquainted. "He always has his eyes open to the world
around him," she declares. The learning has been
reciprocal because Kaffe describes Liza as a great
teacher who has taught him how to teach. Now that they
work together, Kaffe's expertise in design is combined
with Liza's outstanding quilting and teaching skills. By
recognizing their distinct talents and backgrounds, one
can more fully appreciate the brilliance of their
collaborative work. |
Though "Bird Boxes" is a simple design, it has a
contemporary feel. A close look at the solids from
the Kaffe Fassett Collection reveals they aren't
true solids. As shot cottons they shimmer because
the warp is one color and the weft is another.
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Liza Prior Lucy
Raised in rural Honesdale, Pennsylvania, Liza remembers being brought up
in a home filled with art and frequented by artists.
This is why Liza persisted in incorporating her love of
the arts into other endeavors.
"Small Diagonal Tablecloth" is a pattern in Patchwork
and Quilting Book Number 2 (Rowan Yarns, 2000). Liza
Prior Lucy says of her design, "This simple block is so
versatile you can set it in a million ways." Here, she
set it on the diagonal." Photos courtesy of Westminster
Fibers, Inc.
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Instead of
finishing her studies to be a clinical
psychologist, she opened her own knitting and
needlepoint boutique in Washington, D.C. Liza's warmth and enthusiasm helped
make her business a rapid success. First Lady Nancy
Reagan commissioned Liza's shop to make a needlepoint
seat for a child's Chippendale chair as a gift to Prince
William upon his birth. Actress Jane Seymour and journalists Sally Quinn and Jacqueline Adams
were loyal customers. But when Liza's husband George
died suddenly, her peaceful world was jolted. She
gradually lost interest in the day-to-day concerns of
running the shop and decided to permanently close its
doors.
Seeking to start her life anew, Liza became a traveling sales
representative for several manufacturers of yarn and
wool. Three years later, she first encountered the work
of Kaffe Fassett while browsing through a bookstore. His
book "Glorious Knitting" fascinated her so much that she
purchased all six copies for gifts. The next day Rowan
Yarns offered Liza the position as their United States
sales rep. Coincidentally, Kaffe was the primary
knitting designer for this English company. |
Meanwhile, Liza grew closer to and eventually married her late husband's
best friend, Drew Lucy. The couple bought a house
outside New Hope, Pennsylvania, a quaint historic
village that used to be an artists' colony but is now a
bustling tourist town. There, Drew and Liza have been
raising their daughters Alexandra and Elizabeth, ages 9
and 13. Like their mom, these girls know what it is to
be raised in a home filled with art and frequented by
artists. One of their regular guests is Kaffe Fassett
who, with Liza's help, turns their dining room into a
design studio for several
weeks a year.
Kaffe Fassett
When Liza and Kaffe started making quilts together, Kaffe's art had
already earned acclaim in Europe. In 1989, his
retrospective at The Victoria & Albert Museum in London
not only made him the first living textile artist ever
to have a solo show there but also drew record crowds.
Raised in California, Kaffe met many celebrities after his parents
transformed a ramshackle house, formerly owned by Rita
Hayworth and Orson Welles, into the restaurant Napenthe.
Kaffe began his eastward journey when he was awarded a
full scholarship at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts
School. Explaining why he dropped out after a
year, he says, "I knew I could teach myself drawing and
how to be observant. For the most part I'm self-taught
but had a lot of |
"Striped Triangle Quilt"
features stripes from the Kaffe Fassett
Collection. "Playing with stripes is a lot
of fun if you don't get too fiddly with matching
them up," Kaffe notes. |
good advisors."
In 1964, he traveled to England and immediately felt at
home with its culture and humor. "In America, we
save our applause for those who made it, but the English
from the start were genuinely interested in my work."
In 1993, Liza drew Kaffe into the quilting world by stitching several
blocks with fabrics he designed so he could see how
beautifully they lent themselves to the traditional
American art form. These samples convinced him to
combine his design skills with hers in quilting.
Working as a team has enabled Kaffe to design quilts, fabric, stage sets,
and costumes for the Royal Shakespeare Company, while
staying engaged in making rag rugs, knitting,
tapestries, and mosaics.
Today, Kaffe's fabrics and quilts are world renowned. While working as a
volunteer for OXFAM, a non-profit organization dedicated
to offering famine relief in underdeveloped countries,
Kaffe has helped once-impoverished Indian villagers
thrive as they weave his fabric designs on their looms.
His line of fabric made on shot cotton is known as the
Kaffe Fassett Collection.
"Dark Over and Under Quilt" was a pattern in Kaffe's
book Glorious Knits that he adapted in order to feature
his striped designs on shot cotton.
Rowan Yarns produces these and other fabrics from the
Kaffe Fassett Collection. |
Their quilts
The collaboration between Kaffe and Liza clearly points to the benefits
of teamwork. Liza feels, "we've learned to speak the same
color language, and I've got a pretty refined sense of
Kaffe's style, but I let him take the lead in terms of
choosing the colors. My job is to focus on the practical
aspects of quilt construction." Describing a work
session, Liza says, "He designs, I cut, he rearranges.
When we both feel the quilt looks pleasing, we take
notes and a photograph."
After Kaffe returns to England, Liza has five to 10 quilts to sew over
the next few months. Digital cameras and e-mail have
made it easier for Kaffe to offer his input while Liza
makes adjustments to the original design.
"I'm obsessive about my work and the quilts I love," says Kaffe. "I take
my cue from the Orient and other places that are
passionate about pattern." High contrast is an element
that Kaffe feels makes a quilt "too easy to figure out."
Instead, he tends to limit his palette to one "kick
color" and the hues and variations of two or three
colors. Quilts that have minimal contrast cause
the viewer to focus less on the color and more on the
intricate and elaborate patterns.
As wild as Kaffe's quilts can sometimes be, it is interesting to note he
usually uses traditional blocks. The success of his work
is in how he uses simple forms such as stripes and puts
them together in exciting ways. "I'm into the play of
pattern and, of course, color."
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"I
wanted to show Kaffe that we needed to make beautiful
quilts together," laughs Liza, "so I made 'Yellow
Pennants' with one of his sweater designs." This quilt
succeeded in convincing Kaffe, and their working
relationship was to begin soon after. |
Their classes
A close look at most of his designs reveals that the piecing really isn't
complicated. "This is intentional," he points out,
"because I want others to see that it's absolutely easy
to do." Designs a beginner can accomplish coupled
with Liza's exceptional teaching skills ensures their
students' success. "Liza is very precise in explaining
techniques and shortcuts in clear ways," he notes.
Kaffe encourages his students to work quickly and instinctively so they
are less influenced by the logical theories of the color
wheel. "Kaffe thinks about color harmonies in terms of
color vibrations," notes Liza.
"It's almost like he hears colors. That's why we play music in our
classes.
While students hum along, they tend to work faster. I'm
the one who coddles students who persist in holding onto
old working habits."
Although Kaffe definitely is a serious artist, he regards his creative
endeavors as "playful as making a mud pie." Kaffe says,
"designing a quilt is as spontaneous as going to the
market and deciding that eggplants and peppers look
fabulous today, so let's make ratatouille!" With Kaffe
as the master chef selecting the perfect proportions of
the finest ingredients, it's bound to be a superb dish.
And with Liza chopping and stirring, you can bet she'll
sneak in a few of her favorite spices while Kaffe
pretends not to notice.
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This article was written by
Jack Braunstein and was reprinted
with permission from QuiltWorks Today magazine.
For inquires and subscriptions they can be reached
at:
QuiltWorks Today
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