Final Venue:
October 25-November 16, 2014: “Kazematten”, Bollingstraat 1, Ypres (Ieper), Belgium.
Sponsor:  Kantatelier “De Kersecorf”
Hours: 10:00 to 21:00 (closed Mondays), entry fee is 3.00 EUR.

Past Showings:
April 25-26, 2013: Deventer, The Netherlands at the 35th Anniversary of LOKK
September 6, 2013: Rendsburg, Germany
November 10, 2012: Bochum, Germany, Jugendstil in Spitze (AM Bergbaumuseum 37 from 10:00 to 18:00)
August 5-11, 2012:  Forty-two pieces were shown at the 2012 IOLI Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota.
July 5-8, 2012:  Exhibition at the OIDFA convention in Caen, France.
September, October 6-9, 2011: Idrija, Slovenia and Purgstall, Austria
April 5-7, 2011:  New Greenham Arts Centre, exhibition coincides with the annual meeting of the Lace Guild, click here for the UK exhibition flier.
September 11-November 15, 2010: Sansepolcro and the XIV International Lace Biennial
May, 2010:  Shown in Trun, Switzerland
November, 2009:  Shown in Zonhoven, Belgium, venue unknown.
August 21-31, 2009: Bourbonne-les-bains, France
August 22-23, 2009:  Exhibition shown at the annual “Lace Weekend” in Wavre, Belgium.
July 26-August 1, 2009:  Exhibition opened at the 2009 IOLI convention in Los Angeles, California.

The poppy design interpreted in Point de Gaze by Catherine Barley.

You don’t have to be a big museum or an internationally known organization to mount a wonderful show. “California Poppies” is a traveling exhibition of the work of forty-five pieces by thirty of today’s finest lacemakers from 12 countries, each interpreting the same pattern. The idea began with a conversation between Ulrike Voelcker and Susie Johnson at the 2008 IOLI Convention in Rockford, Illinois.  A group of teachers at the convention further developed the concept, and decided to ask lacemakers to interpret the same design in different lace techniques.  Yvonne Scheele-Kerkhof suggested the Californian poppy since the IOLI convention the following year was to take place in Los Angeles, California. Ulrike Voelcker drew the Art Nouveau final design.

To facilitate comparison solely on lace technique, the participants were not allowed to change the design and all works are the same size (28 cm x 38 cm final frame size).  The artists were asked not to contact each other, and to also include a paragraph describing their creative processes.  A wide variety of techniques have been executed, 45 pieces as of the current edition of this post.  Click on Poppy_list for a searchable EXCEL file, or Poppy_list for a non-searchable PDF file.  A number of the pieces are to be seen at http://tinyurl.com/bwnjflm.

Catherine Barley and Susie Johnson have kindly provided LaceNews with scans of the poppies worked by the instructors for the 2011 UK classes.

Left: Withof poppy interpreted by Susie Johnson. Works are shown prior to framing.
Right: Valenciennes poppy interpreted by Ulrike Voelcker.

Chantilly poppy designed by Ulrike Voelcker and worked by Marion Rich.

Thanks to Catherine Barley, Pompi Parry, and Susie Johnson for the history and photos on this excellent effort. And to Jo Ann Eurell for valuable information in her IOLI review of the California exhibition.  This post will be updated as the exhibition moves to new venues.

A side note, “Californian Poppies” is the UK term for the flower, in the US we call them
“California Poppies”.

Eschscholzia californica