Ancestors: Relatively Speaking
11" x 14"
linen, cotton, stencil, silk screen, beads
Scotland, Sweden, Denmark, Ireland, England, Belgium, Germany, France, Mali, Norway and Wales. These are the countries of my ancestors, according to Ancestry dot com. Red, white, blue, yellow, green, gold & black are the common flag colors for these countries and most of the flag designs are striped.
I'm always fascinated with where the creative process / ideas start and where they end up.
The original starting point for this quilt was a background of solid fabrics in the flag colors with abstracted figures representing my ancestors. I cut a stencil for the figures and then fused together horizontal 'flag' fabrics. I stenciled the the figures on to the fabric, but to my disappointment, it looked dirty, especially on the yellow fabric. Next I tried stenciling on pale grey linen, starting at the bottom with black fabric paint and proceeding up towards the top with lighter shades of grey. That was better, but a bit depressing! It needed color and because my favorite is purple I decided to stencil a few single figures in purple on top of the black & grey figures. Better, but it still needed more color. At that point, a narrative started in my head that my love of purple, black & white, bright colors, dots, checks and stripes must be part of my DNA, handed down from my ancestors, so I cut 5 figure shapes out of some of my favorite fabrics. Playing with their placement was fun and it seemed like they belonged. As a nod to my great grandfather, I screen printed the purple figure from a 1906 letter written by him in Swedish.
Nedra, Your quilt is really wonderful. The grey silhouettes really give the feeling of all your family members. Did you know you had some many countries you were from? Its interesting getting those reports. Love the brighter ones in the front. Great colors.
ReplyDeleteOur names are similar, but this is Andrea's work!! Wish I could take credt!!
DeleteSorry Andrea about writing the wrong name
DeleteThanks so much Tricia! No, I had no idea my ancestors came from so many countries, I thought I was mostly Swedish, but Scotland is the highest percentage ( if correct! ).
DeleteNo problem with writing the wrong name, Nedra is right, our names are similar!
DeleteAndrea, this is a wonderful way to depict ancestry!! So simple but so powerful!! And yes you had to use color!! Also love how you portrayed the ancestors that preceeded you with the shaded figures that get darker as you approach modern day. Bravo!
ReplyDeleteThanks Nedra...it was a fun theme to work with, although initially I didn't think so!
DeleteI just realized I had never commented on this quilt! So sorry! It is incredibly dramatic and emotionally moving to me! As well as interesting, to learn about where all your ancestors have been from. GREAT JOB!!!
ReplyDeleteNo need to apologize Alice! Thank you for your kind words.
ReplyDelete