Quilt Creation
Are quilts considered art or craft?
This was the quilt piece that I created with four varying fabric patterns and two colors of thread. I wanted to embrace the aspect of quilts being a medium of art that interweaves culture, its historical significance, and labor into one opus. The stripes I cut out overlap each other in a lattice-like manner and added elements such as flowers, birds, and butterflies as the focal point of the piece to grab attention.
THE LEGACY OF GEE'S BEND
The Quilts of Gee's Bend was an African American community of women who quilted and contributed heavily to the transcendence of textile artwork in museums and exhibitions. I was inspired by their usage of parallel rectangular shapes as a reoccurring theme throughout their quilts and I wanted to implement those structures in my artwork. Oftentimes, the quilts don't have a coherent color theme and instead, the contrast of various colors establishes its conspicuous characteristics such as a bright red hue. The cyan on the edge of my piece is well-illuminated due to the drab pink hues of the rest of the quilt block, rendering the piece eye-catching.
CURATING MUSEUMS: ART EXCLUSIVITY
Quilts did not meet the standards or criteria of being a piece of art simply because making quilts from scraps originated from African American slaves' acts of survival and creativity. It was their way to gather, show care, and establish a functioning community as part of their double consciousness under their white masters. It was an act of resistance and their survival tool to attain liberty from the South to the North. They learned to code-switch to avoid being caught and utilized quilts as a map for the Underground Railroad. On the left is a quilt artwork piece named Beloved made in 2017 by Sanford Biggers. Much of his work was in reference to a theory where quilts would be hung in front of safehouses and churches for the slaves on the Underground Railroad.
Despite the rich historical significance, quilts were not viewed equally and impartially as other artworks. The fact that the quilts of Gee's Bend were considered inappropriate to be curated in a museum reflects the racist Anti-Blackness sentiments still prevalent in our society and the ignorance of white, conservative, Euro-centric curators. Museums are supposed to be a space to display artworks of expression, symbols of beauty, and preservation of culture and history. However, this cannot be done unless we reimagine how we utilize history to shift our perspectives and the representation that was denied of Black people. For museums to eradicate art exclusivity, curators have to move past their racial views and acknowledge the codes hidden in these quilts and paintings to truly delve into the beauty of it.