I have no pictures to show you today. I returned home from Illinois on Sept. 29th and we were suppose to drive to Yellowstone the next day on the 30th. Due to a road closure in the park, due to fire, we postponed our trip until Thursday. We spent two nights in the park and one night outside. I have lots of pictures to share with you. But today I would like to talk about something else on my mind.
Yesterday I returned to the museum to work. The Gee's Bend quilts had arrived (or at least most of them) and I got to look at them for the first time. It is very interesting to see them in person. There are a few that I'm not that impressed with, but most of them are wonderful. And when I say that, I mean with the color/fabric combination and the compositions.
What surprised me was the lack of good craftsmanship in the quilts. If you look closely, you could see knots and thread ends. The quilting was uneven and often far apart. Edges were wobbly. Corners not squared. The fabric puckered and wrinkled in places. As most quilters that try to enter shows know, this would never be acceptable.
Of course these ladies come from a small community and originally were just making quilts for warmth and didn't have any "rules". Do these flaws make up some of their appeal, conveying a folk-art feel? Does it really matter because these pieces are being shown in museums as artwork? Can you even compare them to art quilts that are being shown in the major quilt shows? Are they like the outsider art of the quilt world?
But I think if they were really being made for use (in the beginning), then they certainly would not hold up very long. Maybe that didn't matter to them either. Maybe they would just make another when the first fell apart. And you really can see the wear and tear of some of them with holes and seams coming apart. But when you step back and not look at those things, they are very appealing. I also like the fact that they are using found fabrics from old clothes and such.
There are also some prints (etchings?) that are being shown with the quilts and were inspired by the quilts. I really like those a lot because they have similar composition and color but they are flat and the craftsmanship of the prints are very good because they were done by a print publisher.
Just some interesting thoughts to think about.
1 comment:
Hi Lisa,
I saw this same show in Ashland earlier this summer and I have seen other showings of the Gee's Bend quilts. I saw what you saw and I still, like you, think they are quite wonderful, with some exceptions. It does raise a lot of questions in one's mind about the importance (or not) of craftsmanship. I tend to think traditional quilt shows are way too hung up on the details of craftsmanship, but I admire skilled craftsmen when the skill is part of the look of the work. I think I have come to accept the idea that sometimes it matters and sometimes it doesn't, but that doesn't work for a lot of people. It seems always to be an ongoing argument among art quilters. Good questions, but no consistent answers!
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