An exhibition of more than 50 quilts by members of The Studio Art Quilt Association is on view at the Lyme Art Association.

And these are not the kind of quilts you’d use as a bedcovering.

Each 10-by-7-inch quilt hung throughout the LAA main floor galleries is an individual work of art in a wide range of designs, techniques and materials. What these art quilts have in common with more traditional quilts is their detailed craftsmanship.

Founded in California in 1989 by 50 artists, the association has more than 3,000 members worldwide. Its mission is to promote the art quilt through education, exhibitions, professional development, documentation and publications. The SAA exhibit is part of a traveling trunk show to celebrate SAQA’s 25th anniversary and includes small art quilts by 407 members in eight trunks that are traveling the globe. 

What exactly is an art quilt?

SAQA defines an art quilt as “a creative visual work that is layered and stitched or that references this form of stitched layered structure.”

“It’s a way of creating a piece of art for the wall, like a painting, but instead of paint and canvas, it’s other types of fabric (than canvas) and thread,” explains Martha Sielman, SAQA executive director, who lives in Storrs. “Because our definition is short and sweet, it allows for people to push those boundaries.”

Among the most unusual boundary-pushing materials Sielman has observed in art quilts have been thin slices of wood, leaves and other natural plant materials, aluminum sheeting, marbles — and even sugar packets.

Like paintings, art quilts employ a variety of styles, from representational to abstract to those that make political statements, she says.

In terms of technique, Sielman says the vast majority of artists work with needle and thread and either do piecing — like you would piece together the parts of clothing — or appliqué, which is sewing shapes, cut out of fabric, placed on top of each other.

“Appliquéing makes it easier to do curving lines, because fabric is woven in a grid and doesn’t like to do curves and so appliqué (gives you) greater flexibility,” Sielman notes. “Some people paint the fabric and then quilt it,” “There are people who do a lot of embroidery — even photograph transfers.”

Historically, quilts were functional, but people have been experimenting with them as an art form since the mid-1920s, says Sielman, who has written several books on art quilts.

“Art quilts really took off after 1971, following an exhibition of quilts primarily made by the Amish at the Whitney Museum of Art in New York City,” she says. “It was the first really big recognition that the designs being made, besides being functional, were also works of art. If you take any object and place it in a museum, it changes how people see it, (as does) taking the quilt from the horizontal of the bed to the vertical of the wall.”

Sielman says that a lot of artists saw the Whitney exhibit and thought they’d like to work in this new medium that didn’t require toxic chemicals, and other people came to it who had been creating utilitarian objects and were interested in expressing themselves more creatively.

“We’re seeing this across the board in what are called the various decorative arts,” Sielman points out. “People started saying these pieces have a functional purpose, but also have a beauty and craftsmanship that needs to be recognized.”

Sielman also observes that just as there is a slow food movement and other “slow” movements, there’s a slow quilting trend. At the same time, there is a growing number of people who own industrial sewing machines that are much faster than a regular machine.

“There’s the push-pull of greater mechanization and a group of people saying, ‘No, no, I want to do more by hand,” she says. “Instead of trying to create as many quilts as you possibly can, the idea is to slow down and do as much as you can by hand. Handwork is very soothing and relaxing. They’ve done studies that show it lowers your blood pressure significantly when you use your hands in a fairly repetitive process.”

Although the works in this show are not for sale, they will be at the end of three years, prior to the next trunk show, Sielman notes. And at any given time, SAQA has between 11 and 12 traveling exhibitions of larger pieces that are for sale. The nonprofit organization also holds an annual benefit online auction of 12-inch square pieces donated by the artists. This year’s auction starts Sept. 18 with all proceeds to support the cost of the numerous SAQA exhibitions traveling around the world.

IF YOU GO

What: Studio Art Quilt Association exhibition

Where: Lyme Art Association, 90 Lyme St., Old Lyme

When: On view through July 22

Related program: A presentation will be held on Thursday, July 16 at 7 p.m., featuring Martha Sielman and SAQA regional representatives Catherine Smith and Barbara Adams. Refreshments will be served. Admission to the presentation is free for LAA and SAQA members, $5 for non-members.

Info: Call (860) 434-7802; www.lymeartassociation.org or www.saqa.com