Instinctual Quilt: An Exhibition from artist Kaley Cross

Exhibition Opening Reception: Friday, January 27th, 6:00 p.m. / FREE
Exhibition Dates & Hours: 10:00 am to 2:00 pm on the following Saturdays: January 28th, February 4th, February 11th, February 18th, February 25th, March 4th, and March 11th. / FREE

Related Classes: 
February 4th, 10:00 am – 1:00 pm: “Playing with Scraps” with Kay Capps Cross / $10 per person
February 18th, 10:00 am – 12:00 pm: “Denim Mends” with Kaley Cross / $10 per person

Mainspring is pleased to announce the organization’s first visual art exhibition, “Instinctual Quilt”, featuring mixed media work from artist Kaley Cross. The show opens with a reception on Friday, January 27th at 6:00 p.m. at Mainspring in Caledonia; light refreshments will be served. 

The exhibition will be open on Saturdays only from 10:00 am – 2:00 pm from January 28th through March 11th. In conjunction with this exhibition, there will also be two textile classes offered: a quilting class for all levels called “Playing with Scraps” with Kay Capps Cross on February 4th and a class on how to mend denim called “Denim Mends” with Kaley Cross on February 18th. More info and registration below.

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION: With the work in “Instinctual Quilt”, Cross plays with a mix of elements in a way that is unexpected, fresh, and delightful. In preparation for this exhibition, she studied the interior space at Mainspring, and her newest works incorporate components of that space: the unique stained glass windows, the way the light moves through the space, and the curved wooden pews. The work will be placed throughout Mainspring’s space in conversation with these elements of inspiration.

While much of the work may be classified as collage, thread is the glue in most instances. The elements are placed carefully. Yet these are not quilts. Thus begins a conversation between artistic mediums; between collage and quilting, embroidery and painting. Her painted sections are rich and intriguing, and hold to their own as abstract work.  

About the artist: 
Kaley Cross is a Spring Grove native. Her mother is renowned quilt artist, Kay Capps Cross. Cross studied art at the School of Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). To support her creative endeavors, she taught gymnastics (an art in itself) in Missoula, MT, and Los Angeles, CA. Cross moved home at the end of 2020 and is teaching art for the wide-eyed students of Spring Grove Public School.

Kaley says, “I grew up with a collage of rainbow threads collected to the bottom of my socks and fell asleep to the hum of my mother’s sewing machine. I watched her creative process: the chaos and math, and the choices that made sense to only her. Her practice was an extension of her love. I can only begin to word its effect on me.”

“I considered myself a painter while studying at SAIC. A painted surface is meant to reflect light. The taut canvas bounces anything thrown at it, and its stiff nature wants only to remain flat. While these characteristics are compelling, fiber holds in our warmth and absorbs the smells and light of the room. My work stretches between this difference in material and concept in an effort to describe what can’t be spoken.”

“With my impact on earth in mind, many of these materials are secondhand or scavenged.”

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts & cultural heritage fund.