Contemporary installation

Chances are, these aren�??t your great-grandma�??s quilts. �?� Not unless Granny used paint and burning techniques as well as stitchery. �?� Or depicted images of fish skeletons, blood vessels or a tiny dancer playing with an umbrella. �?� Or worked into her art such themes as Colorado wildfires, hyper-consumerism and the plight of endangered animals.

�??In the quilting world, when you say something is �??contemporary,�?? people know it�??s not quite the traditional textile art we�??re used to,�?� curator Nezka Pfeifer said, explaining what you can expect if you visit the Everhart Museum in Scranton to see �??Sightlines.�?�

The traveling exhibit, on display through Dec. 31 courtesy of the Studio Art Quilt Associates, includes work by 14 artists from around the world.

And, for many creatures, it�??s a world in danger.

That�??s the clear message in �??No Room at the Table,�?� a quilt that shows a bear, a zebra, a manatee and other animals gazing forlornly at a human who seems to be devouring the earth, on a platter, with a fork.

�?? �??No Room at the Table�?? is meant to elicit awareness,�?� artist Annie Helmericks-Louder of Warrensburg, Mo., wrote in a statement. �??We are witnessing the disappearance of ice lands and green mansions. In the course of our consumption, more and more species �?? essential, living links �?? are being severed from the chain of land�??s diversity �?�. By our disregard, apathy, need or greed, humans are dropping the other hands of life. And, in doing so, we are stepping out of the sacred circle.�?�

The message is less clear in �??Disrupted,�?� a quilt by Kathy Nida of El Cajon, Calif., which shows a woman�??s body surrounded by symbols. Why does she have a yin-yang on one arm and a fish swimming up the other? Is there a cougar watching her from the tall grass? What about the hands that seem to be offering her a beverage?

�??If you were to ask me to explain this piece, to detail the meanings hidden within, I would not be able to,�?� Nida admits frankly in her artist�??s statement. She does say she has lived through a disruption of some sort, is experiencing �??real-life chaos,�?� and hints it might be connected to the �??something like 60,000 miles of blood vessels in the adult human body.�?�

Among the international offerings are a piece by Sue Dennis of Queensland, Australia, whose �??A Dry Land�?� pays tribute to early Australian explorers, many of whom �??did not survive the harsh, hot, dry land with its dried -up riverbeds.�?�

Fulvia Luciano derived inspiration from the bridge over Lake Maracaibo in her native Venezuela for her piece �??Tension,�?� Linda Colsh of Belgium depicted a person finding, dancing with and then discarding a paper umbrella, and Britta Ankenbauer from Germany decried the materialism that led to the world economic crisis in her piece �??Immer Nie Genug,�?� or �??Ever Never Enough.�?�

Working through the universal theme of the pain of loss, Jayne Willoughby Scott from Alberta, Canada, expressed her grief over �??the death of several family members and dear friends�?� in a piece called �??Thoughts,�?� which she describes as her �??rumination about the human spirit.�?�

Examine the words upon words jumbled and juxtaposed in her quilt, and you�??ll make out �??dear mother,�?� �??dear father,�?� �??brother,�?� �??cousin�?� and �??necessary.�?�