A new exhibit at the Uniondale Public Library has transformed its gallery into a colorful showcase of handcrafted quilts, each one created by Uniondale High School alumna Patti Schust.
The free exhibit will feature 12 quilted pieces, which fill walls and display cases in the Uniondale Avenue building, through September.
For more than 15 years, the gallery has featured monthly exhibits — with the exception of the summer months — that have highlighting artists from across Long Island and beyond.
“We are constantly booking artists, all media, all formats,” Ilgar Guo, the library’s adult programming coordinator said. “It’s very active, and every show is different.”
Schust, 69, who graduated from Uniondale High in 1974, has been quilting for over 50 years. Now a resident of Merrick, she said that sewing and quilting are experiencing a resurgence, especially among members of younger generations, who are drawn to handmade fashion.
The surge in popularity is driven in part by public figures like singer Katy Perry, whose bold styles have sparked interest in do-it-yourself fashion. Others follow trends of self-expression as seen in magazines like Vogue, or try to replicate pieces from popular clothing stores by searching YouTube tutorials.
“Sewing and quilting was something that was very popular years ago — the 1960s,” Schust said, “and even when I was in junior high school, we used to make our own clothing. It was another art form.”
The library exhibit includes everything from kaleidoscope-patterned wall hangings to “reverse decoupage” — a technique in which decorative paper or fabric is attached to the back of a piece of glass, so the design shows through the front.
Several of the pieces are tailored to Halloween and Thanksgiving, featuring pumpkins, small brooms and black cats, and fabric with bats and pumpkins surrounded by orange and black color schemes.
“This is perfect for the holiday season,” Guo said while admiring pumpkin-shaped plates and brown and orange leaves in a glass display case.
Schust’s largest kaleidoscope quilt took three weeks of four- to five-hour days to complete. The more intricate tie quilts — which require dismantling from their original form, and cleaning and piecing together dozens of neckties — can take up to two months.
The exhibit marks a homecoming for Schust, whose creative endeavors began in an art class at Northern Parkway Elementary School in Uniondale. Her art teacher encouraged her early on to experiment with oil painting, which sparking a journey through the visual arts. Schust later earned a fine arts degree from Adelphi University and a master’s in library and information science from LIU Post and studied Fine Arts Studio Art at Adelphi University. She spent most of her career as a librarian and school administrator in Queens. She was also an Adjunct Professor at Nyack College and Vice President at Long Island Conservatory of Music.
“I’m sure she’s long gone by now,” she said of her elementary school teacher, “but I wish I could go back and hug her and tell her what she did for me.
“But I always come back to sewing and the quilting — that’s the preponderance of what my artwork is,” she added. “I do many different things, but I make artwork out of fabric. That’s why I call myself a fabric artist.”
Schust designed her exhibit with the library in mind, and arrived to install it with a plan — but the space, she said, had other ideas. Working with 5-foot-wide display cases, she adapted her layout, trying to match her fabrics and the items in the display cases.
One anchor piece, a framed “Lighthouse” quilt is mounted above a shell-and-driftwood display, and others hang freely, creating visual depth.
“You don’t really know how it’s going to look until you’re in the room,” she said. “The space tells you what it wants.”
During the installation, in August Schust noticed young library visitors taking an interest. A children’s art class had just ended in the community room nearby, and several kids asked her questions about quilting.
“Some of them said they had been doing ‘a little bit of sewing at the library,’ but they would really love to do quilting and learn how to do it,” Schust said.
“That’s another way to get people interested — they see it,” she added. “We have to encourage our children and people to experience the arts, music and reading.”
The library currently has 10 sewing machines, and offers occasional sewing classes. Guo said she was interested in inviting Schust to teach one on quilting.
“Every artist is unique,” Guo said. “It’s never going to be the same — each exhibit has its own style, and I’ve learned so much from them.”
Quilting has always been Schust’s constant. “There were times in my life when sewing got me through stress,” she recalled. “Now, being retired, I can sew every day, whenever I want and how long I want, without worrying about waking up for work the next day. It makes me happy.”
