I know a bit about quilting and have seen the likes of Bruce's kaleidscope quilts. I actually own two books about this technique and can't wait until I get to make one.
In my opinion, Bruce's quilts, though marvelous in their own right, are very much out of place when compared to historical quilting. Basically what the museum did was take tape recordings from the '50s and blue-ray, and skipping all the steps in between that made the innovation possible. It's comparing the hand-cart or the horse-drawn boat to a sports car and a cruise ship, without showing the historically interesting steps in between that molded the quilt into the shape and made it possible to evolve into a new kind of art that was shown at the very end!
If you look at the process of quilting and how it evolved, I think it's clear on how different it became. It started out as making warm blankets by using scraps of cloth that were left over. These days we spend hundreds of euro's on new and untouched fabric, specifically designed and brightly coloured for the sole purpose of making a quilt. Where they used to make do with what they had, we now buy fabrics designed in colour depth, tranquility or motion to design our quilts. And quilts have evolved from being an object to use to being a work of art (as well). In quilts like Bruce makes, there is no place for scraps and recycling, so there's another point its in disharmony with the exhibit.
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momijizukamori
no subject
Date: 2010-07-26 09:55 am (UTC)I know a bit about quilting and have seen the likes of Bruce's kaleidscope quilts. I actually own two books about this technique and can't wait until I get to make one.
In my opinion, Bruce's quilts, though marvelous in their own right, are very much out of place when compared to historical quilting. Basically what the museum did was take tape recordings from the '50s and blue-ray, and skipping all the steps in between that made the innovation possible. It's comparing the hand-cart or the horse-drawn boat to a sports car and a cruise ship, without showing the historically interesting steps in between that molded the quilt into the shape and made it possible to evolve into a new kind of art that was shown at the very end!
If you look at the process of quilting and how it evolved, I think it's clear on how different it became. It started out as making warm blankets by using scraps of cloth that were left over. These days we spend hundreds of euro's on new and untouched fabric, specifically designed and brightly coloured for the sole purpose of making a quilt. Where they used to make do with what they had, we now buy fabrics designed in colour depth, tranquility or motion to design our quilts. And quilts have evolved from being an object to use to being a work of art (as well).
In quilts like Bruce makes, there is no place for scraps and recycling, so there's another point its in disharmony with the exhibit.
Just my two cents I thought I'd share. =)