Artwork needn't be large to pack giant punch. Take, for instance, small contemporary art quilts, which have found their place among the oil paintings and marble statues in fine-art galleries and museums. A lot can go into these diminutive fabric forms — from materials to message. It's quilting taken to a no-holds-barred level. There are no patterns to follow, as there is in much of traditional quilting, and no rules. In an art quilt, you get to play outside the lines. Even the size is up for grabs, but approximately 9-by-12 inches is common.

藝術作品不一定要大才能產生巨大的衝擊。以當代迷你藝術拼布為例，它們已經和油畫及大理石雕像等一起躋身藝術畫廊和博物館的殿堂。從選材到要傳遞的訊息，很多元素可以加入這些小巧可愛的織布創作形式中。有別於大部分傳統拼布，藝術拼布不用遵循什麼形式，也沒什麼規則，你可以打破傳統框架，越界游於藝。就連大小規格也可自由發揮，但最常見的是9×12英吋。

“The definition of (quilting) now is ‘two or three layers connected together,’” says Dianne Denholm, founder and executive director of TACtile Textile Art Center in Denver. “It kind of implies that there's a layering going on in the contemporary version — that's the only requirement.”

「今天拼布的定義已經變成『兩三層布縫合在一起』。」位於丹佛的觸覺織品藝術中心創辦人兼執行長黛安娜．德諾姆說：「這意味著現代拼布藝術要帶有層次感，這恐怕是唯一的要求。」

And so we get artists such as Geri deGruy of Castle Rock, Colo., who sometimes chucks quilting's traditional square format in favor of a rounder shape. She connects circles to each other in free-flowing arrangements. Each circle is individually quilted. In another of her pieces, three dozen sets of human eyes stare out from a background of rainbow colors. These small quilts, and dozens of others by Colorado artists, are on show at the TACtile exhibit “Controlled Explosions”. A slideshow of the works may be viewed online at Tactilearts.org.

因此，我們催生了像科羅拉多州堡岩鎮葛莉．德古利這類藝術家，她有時甚至拋棄傳統拼布正正方方的格局，寧取偏圓的形狀，她把圓形拼布彼此縫接，形成自由流動的布局。每個圓圈各有一個拼布風格。在她其他藝術拼布作品中，36組人眼從彩虹顏色的背景往外凝視。這些小拼布及科羅拉多州藝術家所創作的數十件作品，都在觸覺拼布展「控制爆炸」中展出，作品的幻燈片可上網Tactilearts.org瀏覽。

DeGruy, a psychotherapist who turns to quilting for therapy, gravitates toward the art-quilt medium because of its versatility. She can express a lot in a small space. “To make a visual exclamation of some sort a very large quilt would take a very long time,” she says. With smaller quilts, “you're not using yards and yards of fabric, and you still can make a statement.”

德古利原是精神治療師，為了治療轉而求助於拼布，又因其多樣性而把重心放在藝術拼布這個媒介上，她可以在一個很小的空間表達很多意境。她說：「一個大型拼布需要投入很多時間才能製造出某種視覺驚嘆號。」但如果是小拼布，「不必使用太多布，就可以發表一項藝術宣言。」

Dorothy Raymond of Thornton, Colo., is another of the featured artists in the “Controlled Explosions” exhibit. Inspired in part by nature, she creates sweeping vistas in small quilt spaces, such as “Sand Dunes National Monument I” at 16-by-20 inches (pictured, AP). Or she'll zoom in, as in “Aspens I” (15-by-17 inches), which shows a stand of fall-colored aspen trees.

科羅拉多州桑頓的桃樂西．雷蒙，是另一位參加這次「控制爆炸」展中很有個人特色的藝術家，她的創作靈感部分來自大自然。她在一方小小的拼布上，創造了遼闊的景觀，像「沙丘國家風景區」，16×20英吋（見圖／美聯社）。或者她會把視野拉近，如「白楊木I 」（15x17英吋），拼布上可見秋天色彩繽紛的白楊木。

Raymond, a corporate attorney for many years who continues to practice law, started out as a traditional quilter and turned to art quilting to challenge herself. She quickly grew to love the medium. “When you're making one, I have to tell you, it's a lot like playing. The colors and textures - it's very gratifying.”

多年來一直擔任公司法律顧問的雷蒙，雖然繼續執業，但她開始從傳統拼布出發，再轉向藝術拼布以挑戰自我。她很快愛上這個創作媒介：「當你在做一塊拼布時，我告訴你，那真的很像在玩遊戲，顏色加紋理……令人心滿意足。」

Both deGruy and Raymond are attracted by the freedom of art quilting. “It's not like traditional quilting,” says Raymond. “You can't be uptight. You can't try to be precise.” Anything that can be sewn onto fabric is fair game in the art quilt world. Denholm mentions handmade lace, paint, glass beads - there's even a quilt in the TACtile show with a border edged in zippers. Another small quilt has nuts and bolts sewn onto it. “Anything you can pass a needle through or secure with clear thread onto a quilt” will do, says Raymond. “I've seen people incorporate leaves. Some people compost fabric to get the distressed look.”

德古利和雷蒙兩人都被拼布藝術的自由精神吸引。「這有別於傳統拼布。」雷蒙說：「你不能太拘謹死板，也不能太一絲不苟。」任何可以縫上布的東西，在拼布藝術世界都是公平的遊戲。德諾姆提到手工蕾絲花邊、油彩、玻璃珠子……觸覺織布展中甚至還有一塊拼布邊緣是拉鍊，另一個小拼布則縫上五金零件。「凡是可以在一塊拼布上穿針引線的」都行，雷蒙說：「我還見過有人納入葉片，有人染整織物以製造痛苦的臉孔。」

David Walker, who lives in Cincinnati, has traveled the globe teaching quilting for 14 years, and recently came off a six-year quilting hiatus brought on by his extensive teaching schedule. He returned to small art quilting. During his break, Walker designed websites for fellow quilters. Those Web designs, and many of his small art quilts, generally sized at 9-by-12 inches, may be seen at his website, Davidwalker.us.

家住辛辛那提的沃克曾到世界各地教拼布14年，最近剛結束因教學行程太滿而中止了6年的傳統拼布，重回小而美的藝術拼布創作。休息期間，沃克為其他拼布藝術家設計了一個網站，那些網站的設計和他許多小藝術拼布（一般規格為9 × 12英吋），可上他的網站Davidwalker.us瀏覽。

Walker likes the immediacy and intimacy of small art quilting. He draws inspiration from fabric patterns and colors. “The quilts are just a blaze of color,” he says. “It comes from spiritual places, too, what drives me on. ” He likens what he does to “what a little kid would do with a crayon.” He suggests framing finished pieces in shadow boxes to help lift them into the fine-arts category.

沃克喜歡小藝術拼布直接親密的特性，他的靈感來自織物的圖案和顏色。他說：「拼布只是一團繽紛的色彩，正因它來自心靈深處，而驅使我堅持下去。」他比喻拼布有如「小孩拿蠟筆作畫。」他建議把成品用長方形盒子裝裱起來，有助於把拼布提升到藝術水平。

Raymond suggests newcomers to the medium take to it openly and playfully. “Pretend that you're playing and pretty soon you will be playing,” Raymond says. And deGruy says to pay attention to mistakes. “What I have found over the years I've been making art is the mistakes often are the biggest blessing,” she says. “You have to do something different that you didn't expect. It almost always turns out better.”

雷蒙建議想玩藝術拼布的新手，以開放的心胸和好玩的態度開始。雷蒙說：「假裝你正在玩遊戲，很快就上手了。」德古利則說，要注意自己所犯的錯誤：「我從事藝術工作多年，最大的發現是錯誤往往是最大的恩賜。你必須做些意想不到別出心裁的東西，最後幾乎總會愈來愈好。」



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