1990
Kyoto, Japan
75.5 x 58 inches
IQM 2016.065.0001

Emiko Toda Loeb has spent the last several decades mastering and perfecting a double-sided Log Cabin technique. In this early piece, "Ode to Joy," Loeb explores the dynamic potential of her altered Log Cabin blocks, with one side of the quilt displaying relatively static quadrilateral shapes and the other dancing with frenetic, zig-zagging lines.

Loeb began making quilts in the 1980s after moving to the United States from Kyoto, Japan. Although she had trained as a classical pianist, when she discovered quiltmaking, she realized it was her true expressive calling. She now splits her time between New York City and Kyoto, but also teaches classes all over the world and is recognized internationally for her double-sided quilts. Loeb’s quilts combine a quintessentially American format with home-grown Japanese materials and aesthetics, but they transcend these national elements, forming a body of work distinctly her own.

Loeb's work appears in the International Quilt Museum's 2019 exhibition Dualities: Emiko Toda Loeb. 

Here's an image of the other side of the quilt: