It’s time again to talk about my very own projects.
I made a show called The American Context in which I took postures from famous american paintings and made them into quilts using my friends as models.
Our first example is Grant Wood’s “American Gothic”
90 inches square.
This piece is made on a loan star pattern made from discarded and used clothing.
Here is a detail:
The Figures are full sized in this piece. The reason I chose to make them full sized is to give another allusion to quilts and quilting. These quilts are bed sized and the fabric comes from clothes that are designed to be worn, so both are made to the human scale, and so the figures are in keeping with the design principal of the show.
The second I am showing is this one called “Madam X” after the John singer Sargent piece
The background is the log cabin pattern made from discarded clothes. The woman in the quilt is my lovely friend who is a circus performer and so rather than the table in the painting I used her hoop for support since it is her and not Madame Z depicted in the piece.
This next one is equally as recognizable to art historians and people familiar with important pieces of american art its Christina’s World by Andrew Wyeth
A detail for you:
This show is the collision of craft and art in my mind. I wanted to give the viewer an entry point into the works that is through the posture rather than the medium. I wanted the subject and the posture to be easy to digest in the show allowing the viewer to think more about the process of making rather than what I am trying to explain through the subject matter. One intention is to bring non-craft people into the fold, to show the gallery and fine art world that quilting and stitching can be high art.
There are more pieces over at LUKEHaynes.com if you are curious about the rest of the show.
[There are 3 more pieces that I have just completed that I havent even taken pictures of yet…Which I will debut in Seattle at the beginning of September. come say hi]
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LUKE Haynes is a trained Architect using his skills mostly for good. His work can be seen at his site and the associated blog. He is a full time Quilter and sometimes blogger, whose work is showing across the country and soon the world. You can find him here at Quilty Pleasures on the first Sunday of each month.
