Quilts and Things
Until December 13, 2009, the Nelson Art Gallery in the UC Davis campus is hosting the African American Quilts exhibit. The space is filled with vibrantly dyed quilts hanging on the wall with materials that even include repurposed jeans. I was, however, immediately drawn to one particularly colorful quilt called Slave’s Popcorn Quilt.
Scraps of fabric were twisted into little flowers which in turn were sewn together to create a visually stimulating quilt. The pattern can only be seen from far away: lavender-colored flowers bordered multi-colored ones achieving visual unity through variety. Up close, the intricate folds needed to create the flowers generate the quilt’s texture and another pattern emerges from the quilt’s negative space. Small imperfect diamonds in between the little roses adds another level of interest while also casting shadows onto the wall behind it.
Slave’s Popcorn Quilt is probably the most interesting one of the exhibit because of its departure from how a quilt usually looks like. I was curious to know if this quilt could really keep a person warm at night, but alas, the student working at the Nelson looked disproving when I attempted to wrap the quilt around myself.
The Nelson Gallery is located in the Art building of the UCD campus and is open M-F 11:00AM - 5:00PM & Sundays from 2:00PM - 5:00PM.
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