The oldest piece in the exhibit is a 1978 Star Wars quilt, made by his aunt for 8-year-old Joey.
It serves as a mid-career retrospective for the 50-year-old artist, even though Veltkamp didn’t really “find his artistic voice”, as he puts it, until his early 40s. Veltkamp said that while his work may have sad undertones, he wanted to create an atmosphere of hope with this show, which was largely staged during the COVID-19 pandemic. “SPIRIT!” – a large and exuberant solo exhibition of quilts, drawings and installations at the Bellevue Arts Museum – celebrates the cheerful imagery, layered allusions and mystical demands of this self-proclaimed queer folk artist loved by the local art community.Ī recent walk with Veltkamp, her husband, Ben Gannon, who is also an artist, and the curator of BAM Lane Eagles was like being part of a sewing club, sharing the company as they assemble stories.
In Joey Veltkamp’s hands, quilts also offer delightful, quirky, sometimes melancholy references to the Pacific Northwest, pop culture and his identity as a gay man. Quilts envelop us in feelings of home, tradition and handcrafted intimacy.
