COLOR IMPROVISATIONS 2: Resource Guide and Activities

Transcription

1 COLOR IMPROVISATIONS 2: AN INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION OF CONTEMPORARY QUILTS Textile Museum of Canada, May 30 September 23, 2018 Resource Guide and Activities Nancy Crow, RIFF#4: CALM

2 COLOR IMPROVISATIONS 2: An International Exhibition of Contemporary Quilts Curated by: Nancy Crow Color Improvisations 2 is an exhibition of contemporary quilts curated by Nancy Crow, one of North America s most celebrated and influential quiltmakers and teachers. The exhibition includes 25 spectacular large-format quilts by 25 artists from Canada, Germany, Scotland, Switzerland and the United States including a piece by Nancy Crow. All the quilts in the exhibition were made in 2014 and 2015 and all of the artists have studied quiltmaking with Nancy Crow. The quilts in the exhibition are improvisational pieced quilts. Rather than using or creating a pattern, the artists create abstract compositions with fabric as they work. Following the model set by Nancy Crow, the artists use rich, solid colours and intricate machine quilting to create their bold quilts. Quilts like the ones in Color Improvisations 2 are known as art quilts, a movement wherein quilters create quilts that are meant to be displayed and viewed as art objects rather than used in a domestic space. The original exhibition made up of 50 quilts premiered at the Tuch + Technik Textile Museum in Neumünster, Germany in It has subsequently been shown in Spain, Switzerland and France. The Textile Museum of Canada is the exhibition s first North American venue. The TMC is hosting half of the quilts from the original exhibition; the other 25 will be shown at the Susquehanna Art Museum in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in This exhibition is presented by Color Improvisations 2, NA.

3 "Quilts are banners of self-realization and individual creativity, and the best quilts are significant works of visual art objects of great beauty and expressive power." - Robert Shaw, American Quilts: The Democratic Art Michele Samter, SOPHISTICATED LADY

4 CURRICULUM LINKS Visual Arts: Students will focus on the design elements of line, colour, space and shape, and the design principles of contrast, repetition, balance, unity and harmony as they analyze the composition of the quilts. Mathematics: Students will explore the artists use of knowledge and skills in measurement, geometry, spatial sense and patterning in the creation of quilts. Activities will encourage the use of problem solving skills and emphasize the development of skills related to recognizing and creating patterns. Fashion and Housing (Social Sciences and Humanities): Students will learn about the materials and construction techniques, tools and skills used to make these quilts, and will consider how these approaches can be applied to clothing design. Students will also analyze the makers application of the elements and principles of design. Social Studies: Students will learn about the history of quilt making in North America and how changes in social history, availability of materials, and attitudes towards textile practices within the fine art community have impacted this history. Annette Tatchen, FIREWORKS-FEUERWERK

5 QUESTIONS YOUR STUDENTS MIGHT ASK What is a quilt? Quilts are often described as textile sandwiches, because most are made of three layers: a top, which is intended to be viewed; a backing, which is usually plain; and a middle layer, added for dimension or warmth. These layers are attached together with lines or patterns of stitching this is the actual quilting. This can be done by hand or machine. Some quiltmakers stitch the pieces of the top together and then hire another person to do the quilting that stitches the three layers together; other quiltmakers do the quilting themselves. There are three different types of quilt tops: whole cloth (a single piece of plain, dyed or printed cloth); appliqué (smaller pieces of fabric are sewn to a background cloth); and pieced quilts (individual pieces of fabric are sewn together to create one large top). The quilts in Color Improvisations 2 are pieced quilts. While some pieced quilts follow a pattern or design, the ones in this exhibition do not: they are improvised. The artist prepares a palette of fabric in different colors and then uses a sharp tool to cut out pieces, using gestures that mimic drawing. The artist then pins these pieces onto the vertical design wall, creating and adjusting a lay-out as they go. How do the quilts in Color Improvisations 2 fit into the history of quilting in North America? The quilts that make up Color Improvisations 2 follow the basic form of traditional quilts a top, middle, and backing that have been quilted together. Their bold compositions are original and modern, but they can be situated within the long history of quilting traditions in North America. Since the late 18th and early 19th century, North American women have made quilts as part of domestic life. It was particularly

6 common among wealthy women as the fabric was expensive and the process is very time consuming. Pieced quilts were generally planned very carefully, a single composition made from precisely measured and cut pieces assembled into repeating blocks. Because of the precious materials and amount of labour invested in making these quilts, they were more decorative than practical, made as special gifts meant to be used as decoration or carefully used on a bed. An example of this type of quilt are Crazy Quilts, which became popular in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Crazy quilts are made by piecing together irregular shapes of different types of material to create complicated, asymmetrical quilt tops. Other pieced quilts were made from scraps of used fabric, recycled into abstract or patterned quilt tops. These were typically practical, rather than decorative, quilts that were made to be used. Gee s Bend quilts are a significant example of this type of quilt. They were made by inhabitants of Gee s Bend, Alabama, a remote, rural African-American community. The history of quilting in Gee s Bend likely Sandra Palmer Ciolino, PRECARIA #6: FLUX

7 began with the enslaved women on Joseph Gee s cotton plantation in the early 1800s and continued through the 20th century. Women in Gee s Bend made quilts as bedcovers using pieces of recycled work clothes and dresses, feed sacks, and fabric remnants. The majority of these quilts are categorized as abstract improvised quilts and, though they were made for a practical purpose, they have been celebrated in the American art world as some of the finest abstract art in any medium. Since the 1930s, quilting has expanded outside the domestic sphere and into the domain of fine art as academically trained artists chose quilting as their artistic medium. The quilts that are made by artists are generally meant to be exhibited on the walls of galleries and museums, much like a painting, and are not intended to be used as bed coverings. Some well-known contemporary quilt artists include Faith Ringgold, Kaffe Fassett, Michael James, Jo Budd and, of course, Nancy Crow. The artists in Color Improvisations 2 created these quilts specifically for this exhibition based on the parameters set out by curator Nancy Crow: work big, use solid colours, and improvise the design as you work. Barbara T. Kaempfer, SALOBRE SUD

8 Who is Nancy Crow? Nancy Crow is the curator of Color Improvisations 2. She is from Baltimore, Ohio and she is a well-known artist, quiltmaker, and educator. As an artist, Nancy is highly respected for her design abilities and her sense of colour and is considered a pioneer in moving quilts from a traditional handcraft to an art medium, from the bed to the wall. She has been making pieced quilts for nearly 40 years and, now in her mid-70s, she typically works in her studio from 8 am to 9 pm every day. Nancy has said that she works from "[her] own bank of imagery, ideas, visions that nearly drown me sometimes with excitement." As well as creating an incredible number of quilts, Nancy runs a teaching facility on her farm in Ohio. Students come from all over the world to study with Nancy in her studio and she also travels around the United States and internationally to give workshops. All of the quilters featured in Color Improvisations 2 have studied with her. Jean Robertson, Professor of Art History at Indiana University- Perdue University, has written: "As an activist, teacher, and curator, Nancy Crow was a catalyst and prime mover of the [contemporary] quilt movement. Today, she stands at the forefront of innovative quiltmaking, and she is one of the premier colorists in contemporary American art, no matter what medium one surveys." Nancy s work is represented in the collections of the Renwick Gallery at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC; the Museum of Art and Design and the American Folk Art Museum in New York City; the Indianapolis Museum of Art; and the International Quilt Study Center & Museum at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.

9 What inspires the artists in Color Improvisations 2? The artists in Color Improvisations 2 get their inspiration from the objects, sounds, places and people they encounter in the world around them. Nancy Crow cites other artists such as painters Mary Cassatt and Edouard Vuillard, Indigenous Australian painter Emily Kame Kngwarreye and Australian sculptor Rosalie Gascoigne, as well as natural and manufactured things she sees in the world such as trees, fences, tractor radiators, chairs, construction, etc. Canadian quilter Barb Mortell stated that her inspiration for Salt and Pepper No. 2, I ll Fly Away came from the hymn I ll Fly Away as recorded by American bluegrass-country singer Alison Krauss. Many of the artists are inspired by exploring the elements and principles of design through line, shape, value, color, pattern, and texture. The artists translate these thoughts, questionings and inspirations into abstract colour compositions much in the same way abstract painters and musicians work. What materials are the quilts made from? Top: Most of the quilt tops are made from cotton. Many of the artists hand-dye their own, while others use commercially dyed fabric. Kit Vincent (Ottawa, Ontario) uses hand-dyed silk as well as cotton, and Michele Samter (Meilen, Switzerland) uses hand-dyed silk, linen and cotton. None of the artists in this exhibition use fabric that has printed designs on it, preferring to create designs by cutting and piecing solid colours together as well as through the quilting stitches.

10 Middle: All of the artists use cotton or cotton-polyester batting as the middle layer of their quilts with the exception of Sandra Palmer Ciolino (Cincinnati, Ohio) who used wool batting. Backing: Cotton. Thread: The artists primarily use cotton thread to stitch their quilts. Anneliese Zimmermann-Vogl PURPLE DANCE

11 QUESTIONS AND ACTIVITIES FOR STUDENTS 1. What tools and materials can you find in the classroom or home for making a quilt? (Look at Victorian era crazy quilts for inspiration). 2. What are the reasons a person might decide to make a quilt? 3. Identify and interview someone in your community who has made a quilt, sharing the experience with the class. 4. Why do you think motivates the artists in Color Improvisations 2 to work in the quilt medium rather than painting, sculpture, etc? 5. Four square quilt design: -Students will create patterns on a grid using paper triangles. -Each student will need a grid on a piece of paper. It should be 8" x 8", divided in 4 (each section will be 4" x 4"). Students will also need triangles made from two different colours of construction paper. Start with 4" x 4" squares and cut them diagonally to create the triangles. Each student should have 4 of one colour, and 4 of another for a total of 8 triangle per student. -Students will arrange the triangles on the grid to create different patterns. When students are happy with their design, they can glue the triangles to the paper and then share their designs. -This activity can be expanded to use a larger grid and more colours if desired. 6. Research one of the artists that Nancy cites as inspiration. Create a design for a quilt using only geometric shapes inspired by the work of the artist you research. 7. Write a poem inspired by the title and design of one of the quilts in this exhibition. See Appendix A.

12 RESOURCES To find out more about the exhibition, visit the Textile Museum of Canada s website at textilemuseum.ca. You can also explore the museum s permanent collection, which includes examples of quilts and quilted objects from all over the world, at collections. textilemuseum.ca. Learn about the curator and artist Nancy Crow visiting her personal website at nancycrow.com. The Color Improvisations 2 (colorimprovisations2.org) website provides information about the exhibition, the quilts and the artists involved. To learn more about Canadian quilt artists and their stories, visit their personal websites: Barb Mortell: barbmortell.ca Kit Vincent: kitvincent.com Quilt historian and the organizer of Color Improvisations 2 Robert Shaw has written many books on traditions and innovations in North American quilting, all of which are available through the Toronto Public Library system. See American Quilts: The Democratic Art and The Art Quilt in particular. See the collection and exhibitions of the International Quilt Study Center & Museum at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln at quiltstudy.org. Resources related to Gee s Bend Quilts: Information and images related to Gee s Bend Quilts at soulsgrowndeep.org/gees-bend-quiltmakers and a radio interview on Talk of the Nation at npr.org/templates/story/story. php?storyid=

13 APPENDIX A List of quilts: Madness (2015) Brigitte Ammann Albstadt, Germany Flight Plan (2015) Elizabeth Brandt Holland, Michigan, USA Precaria #6: Flux (2015) Sandra Palmer Ciolino Cincinnati, Ohio, USA Brain Storming (2015) Ramona Conconi Melide, Switzerland Riff #4: Calm (2015) Nancy Crow Baltimore, Ohio, USA Linienspiel 13 (2015) Regula Emmenegger Ostermundigen, Switzerland Markings: Riff on Tradition (2015) Robin Bunshaft Fan Newton, Massachusetts, USA Red Rhapsody (2015) Jutta Böhmler-Hahn Tuebingen, Germany

14 Repetition #3: Expectant (2015) Louise Harris Sedro-Wooley, Washington, USA Lupine (2015) Lilian Heer Lotswil, Switzerland Salobre Sud (2015) Barbara T. Kaempfer Mettmenstetten, Switzerland Tiles #4: Waves (2015) Elke Klein Beckingen, Germany Pearl (2015) Lesley Knox Edinburgh, Scotland, UK Strange Attractor #14 (2015) Niraja Lorenz Eugene, Oregon, USA Salt and Pepper No. 2 (2015) Barb Mortell Denman Island, British Columbia, Canada Highlands of Guatemala (2015) Anne Parker Portland, Oregon, USA Image N/A

15 Vibrant Color Bars (2015) Ruth Bosshart-Rohrbach Oberhelfendswil, Switzerland Sophisticated Lady (2015) Michèle Samter Meilen, Switzerland Holz 12 (Wood 12) (2015) Sabine Bärtsch-Schnyder Heiligkruez, Switzerland Interactions #10 (2014) Gerri Spilka Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA Fireworks/Feuerwerk (2015) Annette Tatchen Lehrte, Germany Moby Dick 3 (2015) Kit Vincent Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Purple Dance (2015) Anneliese Zimmermann-Vogl Alten-Busck, Germany Across 2 (2015) Erica Waaser Munich, Germany Shapes and Lines 19/20/21 (2015) Heide Stoll-Weber Frankfurt, Germany