Majestic has many meanings including 'of impressive beauty and dignity". That definition is exemplified by the Masai of Kenya whom I observed on visits there. I chose to portray a majestic Kenyan woman I named Aziza, which means stately, grand and beautiful in Swahili.
I studied many images of African women and found a tile mosaic in the Flickr account of Judit Bozsnar (a Hungarian artist) which she calls Black Princess - Homage a Jacques Leconte. I assume he is a French artist, although I could not find any info regarding him or his work. I did find his series of works of beautiful African women in colorful graphic attire on several sites. I tried to contact Judit for her permisssion to replicate her image in fabric and post a picture of her mosaic, but have not received a reply. I give credit to Judit and Jacques for the inspiration for my version of Aziza. When I saw Judit's mosaic and Jacques' works I knew I would portray her using bright graphic Kaffe Fassett and Brandon Mabley fabrics. And here she is!!!
Brown and orange were chosen to represent the dry African landscape with the lime green and purple for accent and black for contrast. The piece is fused and machine quilted and bound. Black beads were used for embellishment. I loved this theme!! I find the photo the most difficult part of this challenge. I still have not learned how to take an "square" photo.
Nedra, lovely lovely lovely! Definitely, there is real majesty in this woman you depict. I love it that you used Fassett and Mabley fabrics in her clothes. As soon as I saw your quilt, I thought about the impressive Amanda Gorman at Pres. Biden's inauguration. Her clothing, her gestures, not to mention her reading were so elegant, as is this lovely creation of yours!
ReplyDeleteFabulous! So elegant, and your use of the Kaffe & Brandon fabrics are perfect.
ReplyDeleteWow Nedra! This is exquisite. What a beautiful job you did at depicting the beauty of the African woman. I love your choice of fabrics, the woman's pose, and the addition of the fabric with the beads at the bottom and to the right of your design.
ReplyDeleteLove your Aziza. Very majestic! The colors are perfect.
ReplyDeleteNedra, as others have mentioned, your work is stunning ! Without having read your narrative, I was able to intuitively pick up the sense of elegance, and majesty. Your choice of fabrics, and embellishments are perfect !
ReplyDeleteAnd I really had to "chuckle" when I read your comment about the Photo being the most difficult part of the challenge.... I'm in the same boat ! I think I actually spend more time taking the photo, and then agonizing and trying to remember how to get the photo posted (pasted ???) onto the MM Blog !
Outstanding ! Loved your Quilt !
Kathy, I always try to get the photo cropped and ready to go as far ahead of the reveal date as possible so I don't stress out, but then inevitably can't find it when it's time to post and freak out anyway!!
Delete