We read from Radka Donnell's book, A Quilt Poetics today and tonight during art quilting class. I am much nourished by her philosophy and have read this book twice since it came out in 1990.A Quilt Poetics – Radka Donnell
Quilting is a primal women’s art form related to the intimacy of the bed and to the home.
Cloth is the body’s intimate covering. The bed is the charged site of birth, death and sex. The quilt is tactile and sensual and is itself a charged site.
Now, quilts risk being depersonalized and divorced from their domestic roots. They are so popular they have become trivialized and are just hobby art. We must reclaim the quilt and restore to quilts their original emotional power.
For generations of American women quilts were:
Artistic creation
Therapeutic release
Expression of nurturing
Device for bonding (gifts)
Ritual and sacred markers of major life-cycle events
Reproduction (women’s work) is the magic Mystery.
Accomplishing a ‘carry over’ of emotion into a quilt is a major task, as is creating the space in one’s life to accomplish the work of a quilt.
4 comments:
That's a beautiful piece. I must look out for that book, the glimpse you've provided has got me interesed. Thanks for sharing
"We must reclaim the quilt and restore to quilts their original emotional power." This is so true!
wow what a delightful blog, I've really enjoyed looking through your posts. It seems we like a lot of the same things. Nice to discover you.
This is just lovely - the emotive quality of it is wonderful - evoking a sense of being cared for, nurtured. I too shall be seeking out this book, the bits you have quoted have really perked my interest, thank you :)
I shall be returning to your blog often, your work is very interesting.
Post a Comment