A selection of my quilts from 1985 to the present, varying in scale, processes and subject matter.
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The Gift of Tongues, 1991
98" x 54"
Stencilled, photo silk-screened, marbleized, and commercially available cottons and silks. Machined pieced, hand appliquéd. Hand quilted by Grace Miller. Photo credit: Karen Bell.
Collection of The Museum of Arts and Design, New York, NY. Quote from Bruce Chatwin's The Songlines (Viking: NY, NY 1987).
This quilt is the second in a series of meditations on the biblical story of the Tower of Babel. The randomly pieced, silk-screened text ("...language--the gift of tongues...has a rebellious and wayward vitality compared to which the foundations of the Pyramid are as dust...") forms the backdrop for a cascade of symbols. The repeated image of a dynamited, collapsing skyscraper and the seismic cityscape provide sly visual counterparts to the text. The composition reflects subtle influences of Japanese aesthetics and costume design, sources I find increasingly important. Although sometimes interpreted as grim or apocalyptic, the image informing this quilt is a fragile yet nourishing egg: the city cracking open to reveal its diverse human heart.