Making Art and Making Quilts
If you visit an art museum, you will achieve a sense of the kind of art work that was worthy to be saved. If you visit a museum with a quilt collection, you will see quilts that were chosen to be retained in a permanent collection.
Quilting has always been a “copy art.” For that reason, we have a zillion “Log Cabin” quilts. Many other standard, published, quilt block names include a string of additional, acquired names, from print publications.
In the 1990s, decided “camps” of quilters were established: those whose quilts were exact replicas of those published in books and patterns; and those who copied the great masters, in the world of fine art. Yet other quilters who attempt to utilize only their original designs. Occasionally, drawing the line between who is an art quilter and who is a traditional quilter is difficult. Some quilters are versatile and engage in both types of quilting.
For the masses, who are not designers, and do not want to learn the skills to be one, “copying” means that they can create attractive quilts whose designs have been generated by a professional. Without worrying about color or fabric choices, a quilter is able to concentrate on achieving proficiency in craftsmanship. In Japan, students of needlework and quilting follow a “master,” as anyone could tell you who has ever attended classes in Japanese embroidery at Calloway Gardens in Georgia.
We all want to make pleasing quilts so, again and again, like water running downstream, we turn to quilters and artists of the past for inspiration. One of the most compelling quilts I have seen, in recent years, was a blue and white, award winning quilt made by Linda Franz, when it was on display at the Vermont Quilt Festival. Is the design totally original? No! It is based on a quilt made by England’s famous novelist and quilter, Jane Austen.
Likewise, the Civil War quilt made by Jane Stickle in Vermont, has achieved fame as a result of the work of a professional in the quilt world: Brenda Papadakis, with her Dear Jane book. We have seen and been amazed by the original quilt that is held in the Bennington Museum in VT. Hundreds of quilters have rushed to replicate the tiny blocks.
Is there a stigma to revisiting and making patterns that have historical meaning, for one reason or another? I think not. There is not more value in being an “art quilter,” than in choosing to be a “traditional quilter.” The future is now and relies on innovation, but our roots are in the past. I believe we can successfully honor all quilts, and choose for ourselves the types of quilts we wish to make and the methods we like the best.
Patricia Cummings, Quilter’s Muse Publications and Virtual Museum
