The Richard L. Nelson art gallery at UC Davis is currently holding an exhibit on African American quilts. The obvious purpose for a quilt is to keep one warm, but this exhibit portrays that quilting has another purpose: artistic expression. Sharecropper’s Masterpiece quilted by Mensie Pettway is an example of how a quilt not only kept a family warm but enabled a woman to express herself through the art of quilting.
Sharecropper’s Masterpiece is a made from scraps of cotton batting, cotton corduroy, and hand dyed muslin. Organized in a variation of a checkerboard grid, this quilt uses continuity in order to create unity with a busy pattern of assorted colors and textures. The rhythm of this pattern is based on a repetition of color with alternating direction of line in the different modules of the checkerboard. The viewer’s eye is carried easily though the quilt because of the uniform pattern of varied repetition, creating a smooth visual sensation.
Because this quilt is nonobjective, meaning the art is not representation of a figure or object, it is “capable of producing an undulating rhythm” (Design Basics, 114). The quilt has a staccato pattern which means that it makes sudden changes with vibrant contrast. The quilt changes from vertical lines to horizontal lines in every other module, but sticks with same color palette in order to keep unity. Sharecropper’s Masterpiece also has an alternating rhythm in which the design changes consistently in order to create a customary sequence. The pattern becomes predictable, but still keeps interest because of varying direction.
Sharecropper’s Masterpiece, like many other quilts in the world uses pattern and rhythm to create visual interest, as well as uses scraps of materials to produce a cohesive design. Quilts are not only for the function of heat, but for artistic expression and visual stimulation.
Sharecropper’s Masterpiece is a made from scraps of cotton batting, cotton corduroy, and hand dyed muslin. Organized in a variation of a checkerboard grid, this quilt uses continuity in order to create unity with a busy pattern of assorted colors and textures. The rhythm of this pattern is based on a repetition of color with alternating direction of line in the different modules of the checkerboard. The viewer’s eye is carried easily though the quilt because of the uniform pattern of varied repetition, creating a smooth visual sensation.
Because this quilt is nonobjective, meaning the art is not representation of a figure or object, it is “capable of producing an undulating rhythm” (Design Basics, 114). The quilt has a staccato pattern which means that it makes sudden changes with vibrant contrast. The quilt changes from vertical lines to horizontal lines in every other module, but sticks with same color palette in order to keep unity. Sharecropper’s Masterpiece also has an alternating rhythm in which the design changes consistently in order to create a customary sequence. The pattern becomes predictable, but still keeps interest because of varying direction.
Sharecropper’s Masterpiece, like many other quilts in the world uses pattern and rhythm to create visual interest, as well as uses scraps of materials to produce a cohesive design. Quilts are not only for the function of heat, but for artistic expression and visual stimulation.
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