Small Wonders at Latimer Quilt and Textile Center, Tillamook

Small Wonders: Doll Quilts by Andrea Balosky is now hanging at the Latimer Quilt and Textile Center in Tillamook, Oregon. The show officially opens on Monday, February 7th, but anyone who visits over the weekend will be able to see more than 80 quilts on display.

Between 1999 and 2003, visionary artist Andrea Balosky of Camp Sherman, Oregon made more than 100 doll size quilts. The official body of work was meant to contain 108 quilts, a number meaningful in Buddhism, but there are more like 116 total, and about 85 will be on display through the month of February.

The quilts were purchased by doll collector and international adoption advocate Merrily Ripley to help fund the artist's journey to Darjeeling, India, in the Himalayas, where she now lives and studies Buddhism. Ripley and Balosky bonded during an adoption mission when the two were stranded in Ethiopia during 9/11. The show includes an ethnically diverse selection of dolls, as well as cradle beds spanning the generations - all from Ripley's incredble collection.

Two of the dolls in the show are dolls the artist played with as a child in Hawaii. These dolls were given to the artist by her father when she was maybe four years old.

For those who can't make it to the show, a catalog is available. Full of inspiration and spilling over with colorful pictures of quilts, this 120-page softcover catalog is available at Latimer and online. To purchase the catalog online, click here.