"How many times in the course of my life reality had disappointed me because at the moment when I perceived it, my imagination, which was my only means of enjoying beauty, could not be applied to it by virtue of the inevitable law which only allows us to imagine that which is absent." ~Marcel Proust, Remembrance of Things Past, Last book, Last chapter.
I have become a quilter. I have made 4 quilts now, but this post is about the first. My grandmother purchased a hand pieced quilt top at an estate sale years ago. My mother gave the quilt top to me this summer when I moved in to my new home, and eventually I felt inspired to complete it. My friend Kat knows all about quilting, and reassured me that quilts could be 2-sided, and shared essential info like the fact that quilts are safety pinned together before sewing.
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| A found quilt top, from an unknown maker. Hand pieced. |
At SAIC in 2003 I took a class called, "Sampling." with Diana Guerrero-Macia. It was about the connection between quilts, DJ's, and the act of creating art with a variety of materials assembled and sampled together to create one whole. I was drawing and sewing paper together at the time, making art about love- but, I was moved when she introduced us to the Quilts of Gee's Bend, and fell quite in love with them and their aesthetic. In 2007 I did set design for a play called 'Tapestries,' that sampled many African American works of art and literature I suggested that Gee's Bend was an essential element to include in the production, and we sewed a 50x25' quilt top to use as a backdrop for several scenes. I did the sets for 7 plays, and this was my favorite show by far. The quilt began with the center square of Annie Mae Young's work clothes quilt, and grew outward from there.
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| A detail of the found quilt top, after I hand quilted it to my side. |
When presented with the occasion to create a back for the beautiful quilt top my mother gave me, Gee's Bend was the clear point of reference for me to begin with. I found a quilt by Arlonzia Pettway that inspired me, and I began. I have many fabrics from my mother, grandmother, and late neighbor Jean. As I hunted through my plastic tubs of fabric, I felt chills at times at the sight of a fabric from my childhood. So many memories of dresses, halloween costumes, bedding, and homemade jam jar covers!
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| This is the back that I machine pieced. The sheep was given to me by my friend Matthew back in the early 2000's. |
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| Kat explained that the red center of the log cabin pattern represents the 'heart and hearth of the home.' |
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| Growth, a detail. |
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| My signature, and details about the creation of my quilt. |
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| The hand stitches remind me of the 'wabi-sabi' aesthetic that I love so much in my pottery and drawing. |
I feel now that quilting combines so well many of the things I love about art making in general. Function, creating a large, meditative space to look at, adding to the meaning of the work with the materials... I also love the meditative state that this and the recent weaving of my bench create- along with the ability to combine art making with reading, or marathon tv. It matches my passion for yoga and meditation in theory, and with necessity- the hours of quilting seated on my couch make my yoga practice essential. The care and warmth inherent in a quilt continue to express my interest in art as a medium through which one can both express and question love.
In researching quilts more on Pinterest and other sources, I have found an aesthetic that continues to embrace the improvisational quality of Gee's bend, along with the Japanese philosophy's I strive for in my other work. It is a slow process making quilts, but that investment in time, detail, and attention adds even more to their inherent beauty.
I think of the 40+ hours I spent listening to Proust over the last year, the way this last quote has lingered in my mind. Is a memory more lasting and beautiful that the present moment? Is it only in a memory that we can fully appreciate the intricacy and beauty of our lives? The repeated motions of hand quilting, the hours spent between myself and that 6x8' cloth feel inextricably linked. To see that quilt is to remember September 2013. Hand and Memory.
As I sewed, I wondered, who is this person, likely a woman, that has inspired me so? Unable to picture, or know her- I feel a bond. She likely spent 100 hours hand cutting and piecing her side. I too, spent 100 hours piecing and hand quilting our two sides together. Now, her work keeps me warm as I sleep, & wraps me in warmth when I am cold. As a single person, at times the thought of one day loving a stranger is both daunting and coarse. Yet, I remember that upon leaving my mother's womb, everyone has started out as a stranger to me. Like the waves of the ocean, my dearest friends have moved in and out of life. Some that I have loved deeply have now become just as strange to me as the creator of this quilt. Currently, I do not know them. However, life is better since this woman's work left her sphere and entered mine. Life is better thanks to all those that I have loved, whether they are currently with me or not. They live in that beautiful space called memory- where the taste of a madeleine cookie, or a quote from William Blake, or the smell of a small mirto berry from Sardinia can conjure them up and allow me to imagine that which is absent.
Stranger, if you passing meet me and desire to speak to me, why should you not speak to me? And why should I not speak to you? ~Walt Whitman
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| 81x68" |
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