Reproduction Fabrics

After I told my mom about the Depression era quilt show at the Folk Art Museum, she showed me some quilt squares she made using reproduction fabrics from this period.

My sister’s quilts

While visiting my family for Thanksgiving, my sister showed me the most recent quilt she is working on. I love the colors she’s chosen to work with.

The pattern for Kerry

While I was there she also broke out a quilt that she made for a class project in middle school. For this quilt she used a Sunbonnet Sue motif and depression era reproduction prints.

Quilts of the 1930s

I visited the Lincoln Square branch of the American Folk Art Museum on 11.18.08 . The current show is about quilts that were made in the 1930s. It was a relatively small show (about 20 quilts) but the pieces they had were amazing.

The show made me think about how timely this project is. A theme that was reiterated throughout the show, was that in times of financial turmoil, people return to folk traditions. With the current state of the economy, I feel that I’m headed in the right direction.

I spent a couple hours at the show, sketching, observing and reading. It occured to me, that this form of art is not one to rush. The history, texture, and narrative of quilts are worth pondering over a long period of time. I made a decision to create my quilt with this in mind. The tech that will be embedded in my quilt will need to move slowly in order for the viewer to absorb the multiple story lines. I will start referring to my quilt as a new media, Slow Art piece.

Finally, I decided on the style of my quilt. The technique is called crazy quilt.
The squares are built out of scraps of material that are pieced together. This technique creates a great aesthetic that I believe will be perfect for my quilt. I think it could visually communicate the piecing together of traditional stories as they are retold over time and geographical distance.

John Allen

http://www.john-allen-london.co.uk/knitting.htm

While searching for Richard Campbell (still haven’t found him, sadly) I stumbled on John Allen, a fiber artist who also uses nontraditional matierials for knitting. Check it out.

Great Etsy article about quilts

There is a great post on www.etsy.com that talks about the meaning and history of quilts in the US. While it is not a comprehensive analysis, it is a fun read and it supports some of my ideas about my thesis.

http://www.etsy.com/storque/section/thisHandmadeLife/article/the-story-of-quilts/763/#comment-29308