Design in Quilting

Design is something that embodies our lives everyday. When making a design, a designer or artist usually uses inspiration from their own lives and incorporates it into their design. In this piece by Avis Robinson Collins entitled Piano Keys, 2009, Robinson suggests to the viewer that this quilt is about a piano. Without any description of the piece, it is obvious that the subject is in a fact a piano, by its title, and by the shapes used in the piece.

The vertical lines in the piece are similar to the shape of piano keys on a piano. The vertical lines may also suggest the horizontal lines on sheet music. There are a variety of lines on the quilt; each different lengths, and colors. Without seeing the title of this quilt, I thought it was an abstract composition of a wheat field. But when I read the title, the colors and the shapes used made perfect sense.

This piece has a great sense of rhythm to it as well. The alternation of long vertical strips and short vertical strips create an interesting composition. There is a rhythm of the colors in the piece as well. There is a great comparison of light and dark colors, which creates a great sense of emotion as well. There is a sense of staccato within the piece, which is nicely juxtaposed with the idea that this piece relates back to music. There are changes in the pattern, but they make sense because of the alternation of sizes in the pattern. There is growth in the pattern, which is a sense of progressive rhythm. Even though the pattern is not organized in size order, the varied sizes and colors created an emotional and almost musical pattern.

By creating a juxtaposition of music, and art, Robinson creates an interesting and modern take on quilting. The piece de-contextualizes the piano and creates an emotional connection rather than a literal one.


Image: Piano Keys, Avis Robinson Collins, 2009, Nelson Gallery, U.C. Davis

Quilting with Texture

Currently in the Nelson Art Gallery at U.C. Davis, is the African American Quilt show. This show features the quilts from the collections of Avis C. Robinson and Sandra McPherson.

Quilting is thought to go back to the time of the crusades, and is a very traditional art form within America as well. Quilts were a way to recycle fabrics, and ways to stay warm with many layers of fabric in one piece of cloth. This particular quilt to the left is a great example of layering of fabric.

This particular quilt is Untitled, and the artist is unknown. This quilt greatly represents the layering technique, as well as including different textures. This quilt is based on a grid pattern, with each grid containing a radial pattern. Each of the radial designs features different textures of fabrics, as well as different colors. As a whole, the quilt has a great rhythm to it. There is an alternation of the dark, star-like forms with the light colors surrounding them. Because of the variety of the shapes of the dark forms, there is a sense of balance between the light and dark shapes. In some of the squares the black forms dominate, in the others, the light forms dominate, which create a great sense of rhythm. The variety of the shapes used within the piece are interesting as well. Each square of the grid contains a different pattern, which creates a great sense of variety. But, even though each square of the grid is different, the piece is unified with the dark star-like forms.

This quilt is a great example of how people use their inspiration, which could be their old clothing, and turn into something that represents their living conditions, as well as something for purpose, like keeping warm.

Image: Untitled, artist unknown, UC Davis Nelson Gallery

Scale and Proportion

When thinking about scale and proportion, my mind directly goes towards Les Valeurs Personnelles by Rene Magritte. This painting is part of the SF MOMA permanent collection, which I have just frequently visited.

In Les Valeurs Personelles, Magritte changes the scale on the items to create visual interest. In the room Magritte paints a glass, a shaving brush, and soap bar, a comb and a match, much bigger than the other items in the room. He paints a mirror in the room to create a sense of space within a space. Also the use of sky as wallpaper brings the outdoors indoors. Magritte also over emphasizes the scale of the certain pieces by making them significantly larger than they are in reality creating a sense emphasis within the painting. Also Magritte uses the items to create an interesting composition by spacing them and placing them at different part in the room. He creates a sense of positive and negative space in the painting, which makes it interesting.

What is most interesting about the piece are the items selected for the painting. The items hold no particular significance, but the viewer is left to question the items selected. They are everyday object selected and over emphasized which creates a contrasting force with the other objects in the room. The over emphasized scale of the items in the painting create an interesting focal point for the painting as well. People are left to question if the room is miniature, while the objects are normal sized or if the room is normal sized and the items are not to scale. The scale presents a presence of fantasy or a dream sequence. The situation in the painting is not realistic which creates a sense of mystery in the painting. The painting is a great example of the surrealist movement because of the scale change and the de-contextualization of the objects in the room.

Photo: Les Valeurs Personnelles, 1952, Rene Magritte, art.com

Unity with Variety

In my art classes in the past, my teachers have always stressed the expression: "Unity with Variety"! At first I would question this, not having a clue what they meant. As the years went on I understood this expression that they always mentioned. Unity in art means that the sum of the parts ultimately becomes the whole.

A great example of 'unity with variety' is Van Gogh's Starry Night. This piece is constructed of lines. If you look closely, lines are the only mark that is used. It is because of the variety of the lines that make the shapes seen in the piece. The variety of long lines, curved lines, thick lines and thin lines that create the movement we see in the painting. The use of color throughout the painting gives variety to the lines as well.

By using the same mark throughout the whole painting, there is a great sense of unity throughout the piece. The line is repeated, but it is repeated differently creating a great sense of variety with the piece.

Because of the different layers of the marks, there is a great sense of depth in the piece and the thickness of the paint creates the dark mood of the piece as well.
When thinking of unity, the marks do not always have to be the same for a piece to be unified. The variety of the marks makes the piece interesting and unique to itself.

Image: Vinvent Van Gogh, Starry Night, 1889, http://www.vangoghgallery.com

Tom Friedman

While in class, we watched a movie about Tom Friedman, and he is definitely an artist who seeks inspiration outside of himself. When looking into his portfolio, I came across many pieces that were based on simple mediums and subjects. Friedman's pieces are very universal, meaning they are aesthetically pleasing because of the simple use of mediums and how he makes them complex.

One piece, Hot Balls, 2006, uses small bouncy balls to create a pyramid shape, which is then capped off with a larger bouncy ball. There is a great juxtaposition between the scales of the bouncy balls. Typically our eye perceives the larger object on the bottom, but in this case, the largest is on the top and the smallest is on the bottom.

Another great thing about this piece is the sense of unity it has. Even though the bouncy balls are different sizes, they are the same shape. The repetition of the bouncy balls creates a great sense of unity, even when the colors are different from each other. The red color of the largest bouncy ball acts as a great focal point not only from its color but how the smaller bouncy balls elevate it.

This piece demonstrates the fundamentals of art, but it is taken to a different level. By using everyday objects, Friedman is creating a work of art that is universal to everyone because the viewer can recognize the object he is working with.


Image: Tom Friedman, Hot Balls, 2006, culturevulture.net

Andy Goldsworthy

Andy Goldsworthy happens to be one of my favorite artists. In all of his pieces he seems to find inspiration outside of himself. Goldsworthy finds his inspiration through nature. I find this fascinating because many artists are classically trained and work only in paint, photography, etc. Goldsworthy works with nature, but minipulates it in such a way that it is seen as art. Goldsworthy works with the elements of art; color, line, shape, space, value, form and texture to create a design with found objects in nature.

All of his pieces are carefully planned out, they are not random. Goldsworthy often leaves his art where he creates it to see what time, weather and nature will do to it. He will go back and photograph the difference in his pieces to then create a comparison between the beginning and the end, or perhaps to create a dynamic between the piece.

Instead of working with a specific thing in mind, Goldsworthy works with what he can find. Rather having a predetermined projected outcome, he works with the 'flow' of things, not having a preconceived idea.

Goldsworthy plays with the art form of earthworks, and brings it to such a sophisticated level. He uses line and color to create a connection with the viewer to make the organic medium look inorganic, or ultimately fake.

Goldsworthy is a great example of an artist who thinks outside of the box, and creates beautiful pieces of art with inspiration from nature.

(Image from artnet.com, Red leaves on cracked earth, Andy Goldsworthy, 2006)

Class Activity

In class on Monday, we were asked to create a piece of art using objects that were given to us, as well as objects we brought.

I found this exercise to be very interesting. Not knowing before hand what to expect, it was fun seeing what other people brought to contribute to the piece. Our creative process, was move away from the rest of the class and do something 'unique' and different from what everyone else was doing. Then we started to brainstorm about what we could do with our objects. We thought about what we wanted to do, we then started to create and put stuff together and then we decided what to leave on and what to take out.

This exercise really played into the idea that design is a conversation. People must discuss what is going to happen with the design, as well as talk about how the design is going to communicate with others. The design in the end has to communicate an idea to its audience. The audience should be able to tell what the design is about, or what message it is trying to portray. If it does not fulfill these two things, perhaps the design is overdone? Or perhaps the design does not have a clear message because of the lack of communication of the designers?

Even though the project was supposed to be abstract, we came up with a great idea that a girl was going to a party (hence the letter) and her process of getting ready, and how crazy the party was. But even though we had a concept, the design was abstract enough to let the viewer have a "conversation" with the piece and decide for themselves.