My personal association with a quilt takes me back to my own childhood. My grandmother loved sewing and one of the things I remember is being tucked into bed under a handmade quilt. My grandmother was the one who taught me how to thread a needle, to knit, crochet and how to make a bed (the proper way!). My most treasured memories of home can be traced back to that same grandmothers house. Feelings of warmth, comfort, safety and care. All of these feelings can be associated with a the physical and emotional qualities of a quilt. I like the idea of using characteristics of a patchwork quilt in my artwork, because it brings with it symbols of home, which is central to my research. This can be communicated by putting reference to a quilt be in the background, in how I arrange a group of drawings/paintings or drawing/painting a quilt as part of my artwork.
A little bit of history:
“One early documented quilt in South Africa was made in circa 1835 by Sarah Pike, the daughter of William Pike, one of the 1820 Settlers who came from Great Britain to the Eastern Cape. The quilt descended through family lines to current owner, Margie Smith (Smith 2011). Given that most of the 1820 Settlers were not well-off, it is remarkable that Sarah Pike was able to garner the fabrics and have the time to make this piece that mirrors, in fabric choice and design, quilts being made in Great Britain at that time.” (http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1021-14972020000100017)
“Quilting traditions are particularly prominent in the United States. It was essential for most families to use and preserve textiles efficiently. Saving or salvaging small scraps of fabric was a part of life for all households. Small pieces of fabric were joined to make larger pieces, in units called “blocks.” Creativity could be expressed in the block designs, or simple “utility quilts,” with minimal decorative value, could be produced. Crib quilts for infants were needed in the cold of winter, but even early examples of baby quilts indicate the efforts that women made to welcome a new baby. Quilting was often a communal activity, involving all the women and girls in a family or in a larger community. There are also many historical examples of men participating in these quilting traditions. Quilts were frequently made to commemorate major life events, such as marriages. There are many traditions regarding the number of quilts a young woman (and her family) was expected to have made prior to her wedding for the establishment of her new home.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quilt)
After looking at a bit of quilt history, it is clear that it has a strong association with the home and traditions surrounding the home. I’ve seen homeless people with an old quilt of sleeping bag (which is based on a similar concept). A quilt, blanket or sleeping bag is an item that most households might have for practical as well as aesthetic reasons but mostly for it’s qualities of warmth, comfort and care. I therefore have decided to make characteristics of a quilt/blanket part of my practical work and linked to my theory.
Experimenting with fabric scraps to make a background for future line drawing/painting:
During our most recent making-day, I made a background of scrap pieces of fabric and added some acrylic paint. The idea was that it could serve as a background for a painting in the near future. I was happy with the result besides the brightness of the colours. I felt that they were too overpowering. I wanted to try something similar but with more neutral colours. I thought these could make wonderful backgrounds for either a line-sketch in oil paint or an oil painting. For now I was interested in creating something that hinted at the idea of a quilt but at the same time be subtle enough to allow the artwork to stand out. The quilt characteristic would be symbolic of my research as well as my personal ideal perceptions of home (feelings of warmth, comfort, safety and care).
I used canvas-like fabrics together with some sheer fabric and plastic mesh. I dyed some of the fabric wit Redbush tea and some with coffee in advance. I then put them onto a canvas, securing them with a wood-glue & water mixture, overlapping the fabric. I aim to cover some of the areas with a neutral acrylic paint where I feel it will help the composition or help create the best surface for my oil paint or drawing.
The results can be seen in the photo’s below. The more colourful one in the middle being the piece I created during our making day and the two neutral coloured one’s were made more recently:
A future experiment:
I am very excited about an idea that I would like to take further during our next unit. I thought it was worth mentioning here as it is tied to the ‘quilt -concept’. I have a very large 2,5×2,5m quilt that I can prepare with a ground like acrylic gesso. There is a specific painting that I would like to do on the quilt after which I will cut it all up into ‘puzzle’/fragmented pieces. An interesting idea for an art exhibition would be to then display these pieces/fragments individually suspended from the ceiling. When standing at a certain angle, you will be able to see the painting as a whole. Individually they might appear more abstract with some recognisable elements. I feel that this has the potential to hold interesting concepts surrounding home, a broken home (the deconstructed quilt) and the idea that as time passes and we get perspective, we see the whole picture and the reason things happened they way they did (standing further away from the fragments of the quilt gives you the quilt as a whole).
I have already started the planning process for the artwork/s.
Here is the existing quilt I would like to use:
