Prism Play

Regional Exhibition

A prism bends light – taking in white light, refracting it, and revealing a mind-boggling spectrum of color. Prism Play:A Full Spectrum of Art Quilts, vibrates with color. It allows gallery visitors to view a vibrant spectrum of color almost as though they were standing inside a prism. Working with the Joen Wolfrom color tool, participating artists submitted monochromatic work that, together, represents the full spectrum from cool yellow through green to blue, and on to violet, red, and orange, ending in warm yellow. The exhibition includes 62 art quilts representing the work of 46 SAQA Northern California/Northern Nevada artists.

The concept for Prism Play was developed by curator Cara Gulati. Artist, author, and color expert Joen Wolfrom juried Prism Play. Learn more about Joen here. A printed exhibition catalog is available through Amazon.

In a monochromatic color scheme, the colors in the design all come from the same color family. Nature contains scores of examples of monochromatic color schemes. The subtle changes of desert sand can be beautifully monochromatic. A cold, bleak winter day can display hues from one family alone. The monochromatic scheme can be sophisticated and elegant. The most important ingredient…is value – the contrast of light and dark hues. This contrast can be subtle, softly contrasted, or strongly apparent… The monochromatic color scheme is the most difficult plan to work in.– Joen Wolfrom, ColorPlay

Sixty-two pieces were selected for Prism Play by juror Joen Wolfrom and she labored over the choices. In her words

…I am a bit heart-broken at not being able to include several quilts in Prism Play that were quite amazing. Standing alone,  they were beautiful works of art and would be award-winning quilts in another show. –Joen Wolfrom, curator

In this online showcase, MONOCHROME, we offer a glimpse at the amazing work that is not touring with Prism Play. Each is a testament to the commitment and problem-solving skills of its maker. See the showcase here.

Monochrome Artist Trading Cards

Help fund our regional exhibitions with your scraps

We plan to offer Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) for sale at the venues where Prism Play is shown. You don’t need to be participating in Prism Play to help our region! Just make monochrome 2 ½”X 3 ½” trading cards in any of the 12 colors of the color wheel. No need to match your ATCs precisely to the Wolfrom color tool. We will need Yellow, Yellow-orange, Orange, Red-orange, Red, Red-violet, Violet, Blue-violet, Blue, Blue-green, Green, and Yellow Green.

As we get the inventory, we will sell:

Sets of 12 – (a whole spectrum)

Sets of 6 – (e.g. all warms or all cools)

Sets of 3 – (e.g. primaries, secondaries, or three of a kind e.g. all blue)

What we can offer will depend on what you can send us. And an added benefit is that this will help us all clean up our studios! You can get started right away.  

Here is a link for a template – 6 to a page –  that can easily be printed on card stock for the backs of your ATC’s so that all the cards have information about SAQA and Prism Play. Write in your name and website.