This is called "Silver Madonna 1" by Laurie Tigner of Rapid City, SD. She describes this piece, "Traditional icons were often covered in worked silver for protection. I painted then applied silver spandex and quilted to achieve this effect. Fabric was stretchy in four directions, but worked beautifully." Laurie Tigner also has photos of some of her other work on her website; it is really remarkable.
I have often wondered why I don't see more quilts inspired by religion. It seems strange to me because so much of the art from previous centuries depicted religious themes. Today's world is supposed to be more tolerant of differences in religion, but is it at the expense of keeping our beliefs more guarded and private perhaps from fear of being considered offensive of those who believe differently?
Just food for thought. Regardless of your religious beliefs, I hope we can agree that this quilt is amazing.
Thanks for reading today,
Jen
This is fabulous! I am in awe. I don't no why more 'religious' quilts aren't done but I suspect it is because we don't see pictorial quilts as much. I have made two. One of the Madonna and one of a biblical story I love. Both are wall hangings.
ReplyDeleteI don't consider myself religious but I think this quilt is incredible. I've started to look forward to your Sunday quilt show. I'd love to see more pictorial quilts inspired by religion or culture or ideas :)
ReplyDeleteI'm with Janine, I'm not religious at all, but that quilt is stunning.
ReplyDeleteIt is gorgeous. There could be many reasons for fewer religiously themed quilts. In some faiths, it's disrespectful or even forbidden to depict religious stories or figures; icons are a no-no in several Christian branches as well as Islam, for instance. There could be the fear of not doign the subject matter justice, too. I would worry that my skill level is not high enough to tackle the Madonna and Child… We live in an increasingly secular world, too, so I think you have a point about wanting to be more private and guarded with how we present our faiths to each other and therefore, don't ,for fear of either offending or being judged. OR it could even be that there are more religious quilts out there but due to individual exposures to different faiths and our understandings of them, the symbolism, colour meanings, or particular stories and significances are missed by outsiders to that particular faith. Orange has significance in Buddhism; a fish is symbolic to Christians. I suppose it's the same as any other art -what people are motivated to create is often outside of our bailiwick. :-)
ReplyDeleteInteressting question - I guess it's not easy to stand down and say "I believe in XYZ" and probably get more strange looks because for the "believe" than the "XYZ"
ReplyDeleteI can think of thousands of stitched wall hangings, table cloths altar cloths etc - so maybe that "niche" is already taken care of ...
Also quilts were essentially made to be used - and I don't know if I would want to have a picnic sitting on Madonna and Child..
And yes Citric probably has a point with the colours and shapes, I mean there are a lot of "cross"-patterned blocks out there. Or just take the triangle for the holy trinity you can find them in countless quilts.
Hmm I guess your topic will keep me thinking for a while
Maybe we need to think also about the numbers, they always have a meaning so a nine patch could means something different than a 4 patch and 4 four patches have still another meaning - I guess we will never know
Ok I will stop now before I think of more to babble about, because I feel like I'm not making too much sense, but I think it's worth thinking about what made certain patterns rise and fall - and all the symbolism ohh very dangerous grounds I don't think you could stop there once you start ..