Quilts Are Journals at 100 percent Silk

100% Silk Shop & Gallery will be exhibiting a collecion of Judith Martin's quilts entitled Quilts are Journals from February 7 - March 7 , 2026.  The exhibition includes quilts that Martin made from the 1980s alongside more recent works.  Across these many decades the artist notes her unwavering ability to find healing throguh her quilting process.  

The results are varied hand-dyed and hand-stitched quilts, often large-scale with interest in complex and minimalist patterns. Together these works celebrate an artist who has spent decades with the traditions of quilting, bringing deep curiosity and experimentation.  And more, explores the heightened state of attention that working with textile techniques often brings, making her writing an extraordinary companion to the quilts themselves.    

Throughout the endless archives of Judy's Journals, Judith records the regular stuff of life like appointments, family visits, and celebrating holidays while also reflecting on the imperatives of creating as if they are one and the same, at random, as expected, all rich.  She often shares photos of her quilting in the passenger seat of the car, driving the coutnry roads of Northern Ontario. 

She references other artists like Lucy Lippard and Anne Truitt to reflect on material knoweldge and the devotion of practice, sharing images of theri work and quoting their writing.  Judith's desire to make connections and create work seems boundless.  

Judith Martin was born in 1951 in Fort Frances, Ontario but relocated to Manitoulin Island with her husband and four children in 1993.  She continues to reside there.

Coming from a family of artists and scientists she obtained her teaching diploma from Lakehead University in 1969 and spent years teaching classical piano and grade 4 cohorts in Northern Ontario communities.  She made her first quilt in 1972 using one of the most complex quilting patterns, crown of thorns, and has been dedicatedly making quilts ever since.  

Curators:  Lee Dekel and Inez Genereux, from 100% Silk Shop & Gallery, 1558 Dupont Street, Toronto

Exhibition text:  Anni Spadafora

Mercy