September 3, 2026
Join us on Thursday, September 3rd at 7 PM for the Opening Reception and Artist Talk for “Block Party,” an exhibition by quilt-making extraordinaire and instructor at our School, Marilyn Smulders!
“Block Party is an expression of my love of quilting. I love everything about it: drafting the designs; choosing the colours; sewing, sewing, sewing; and then the actual quilting – the slow, meditative way of stitching the three layers (backing, batting and pieced top) together. I dig the old patterns, how they’ve been around for centuries and yet can still look new and fresh. I admire the innovation of quilters, who can always find a shortcut or a special ruler that makes this slow art zip along. And I appreciate the fellowship of quilters, and wish to acknowledge the friends who welcomed me into their group after my husband and I moved to Mahone Bay.
Over the ages, quilting has served as a creative outlet for women while allowing them to make textiles to keep their families warm. My work falls within the modern traditionalist ethos; I like to re-imagine traditional quilt blocks (such as the Irish chain or log cabin) while embracing bold colour and playing with scale. Most of my work is completely hand quilted, a time-consuming practice which allows me to incorporate text in my quilts.”
Marilyn Smulders has always sewed, making clothes and Halloween costumes for her kids as they grew up, and quilts as special gifts for friends’ babies. But it wasn’t until she was studying at NSCAD University that she began to regard quilting as a serious form of artistic expression. By embracing this old-fashioned way of making, she could set herself apart. Since graduation from NSCAD University in 2019, she has continued to quilt, finding inspiration in the quiltmaking traditions of the Amish, Gee’s Bend Quiltmakers of Alabama, and rural Nova Scotian women. Her quilts have been displayed in exhibitions at the Anna Leonowens Gallery at NSCAD University, the Nova Scotia Museum, the Sunroom Gallery at Halifax Central Library, and the Lunenburg School of the Arts.
With a background in journalism and post secondary communications, she served as the executive director of the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia from 2018 to 2023. In retirement, she continues to support and promote the work of Nova Scotia writers through her work on the boards of the Nova Scotia Book Awards and the Atlantic Book Awards. Recently, her writing and love of quilting have come together in stories on Suttles & Seawinds’ founder Vicki Lynn Bardon in Canadian Quilter magazine and on African-Nova Scotian narrative and picture quilts in Studio magazine.
