a work in progress

Easily inspired.

I got this quilt top out last week to finish up with batt and backing but changed my mind.

All I really love is the central pinwheel square.

So I removed all the red and stitched it back together much simpler.

In my work I use the same methods again and again,
but each whirl around the spiral gets me closer to my truth
as I do, undo, re-do
(Louise Bourgeois' mantra)

yes, there is a loss of what I knew before
but it's important also to lose what I think I know now

because in order to create something new it is necessary to enter into the unknown

be alert
don't try too hard
go slow  (Agnes Martin's mantra)

I've come back to dots.

I try to make cloths that excite my eye and touch my emotions

it seems to take courage

We are always afraid of falling.  L.B.

the archetype of the cross

the cross is a universal symbol from the most remote times

the weaving on right is by Susan Johnson  Pot Calls Kettle Black

 it is a cosmic symbol, a point of communication between heaven and earth

a symbol of archetypal man/woman capable of infinite and harmonious expansion on both the horizontal and vertical planes

  the vertical line is celestial, spiritual, intellectual, positive, active, male

 the horizontal line is earthly, rational, intuitive, negative, passive, female

the combination of these two lines - androgyne

the cross represents dualism in nature

this cross - purchased through 10,000 villages,  - made in Africa

It is union of opposites      

the four elements of the world are united at the 5th point, the centre.

reference: J.C. Cooper

Intuitively, on the wall

"I was emotionally burnt-out when I started this series in 1985 and was not sure I could go through another new struggle to make a quilt.  Instinctively, I felt I had to start simply."  Nancy Crow

YELLOW CROSSES 1 by Nancy Crow, 1985  82" x 82" hand quilted by Sarah Hershberger and Mrs. John E. Mast

"I decided each quilt in the series would start with a simple structure of yellow crosses.  
I cut out long narrow rectangles and pinned them up on the wall.  Just putting up those simple crosses to indicate the final size of each quilt was therapeutic.  I let them stay there, solitary, for several days so I could react to their shapes against the white spaces of the wall behind."

Colour Blocks 1 under construction.   The center cross is made up of nine patch blocks.

Colour Blocks III under construction.  1988-1989.

"The crosses symbolize the burdens that people must bear during their lifetimes.
Burdens of sorrow, fear, guilt."

Colour Blocks 1 by Nancy Crow 1988  62" x 62"hand quilted by Elizabeth Miller

"My quilts are developed intuitively.

All my quilts after 1978 have been made intuitively.

To size, on the wall, with much fabric wasted in the process.

I must work this way making visual judgements as I move along.

I hate working from a drawing.

It is too constricting."

All text and images in this post are by Nancy Crow and are from her 1989 book, Quilts and Influences.  

merimekko black and white fabric pinned beside the start of Lady of Guadalupe III 1987

This post is about the importance of a pin wall to Nancy Crow's process.  

Denyse Schmidt

what a bunch of squares

I still remember being bowled over by the above quilt in a 1999 Martha Stewart magazine. 

drunk love two tone

I was on the ferry, coming home to Manitoulin.  This work, rooted deeply within the quilt tradition but fresher and simpler,  connected with my own aesthetic.   

drunk love in a log cabin

run and fall

Denyse Schmidt remains one of the most inspirational leaders of the modern quilt movement.

mental blocks

Key to her process is the use of a design wall.  This image of Denyse working is from here. 

roots

hope as the anchor of the soul #3 mount Lebanon series

four crosses, santa fe series

The quilts in this post are all from Denyse Schmidt's own website.

painted lady Denver series

hope as the anchor of the soul #1

Above image of the artist teaching with a pin wall is from here. I so agree about pin walls.  Being able to look at your work and respond to it is the most important thing when making improvisational quilts. 

"If you don't have a whole wall to dedicate to your quilting, wrap a large foam-core panel with flannel instead."  Denyse Schmidt