Forwarding (I-XI), 2016, electrostatic printed paper, printed Tyvek, each 44 in x 33 in x 1/4 in

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

I harbor an ongoing fascination with a set of 306 abstract shapes drawn, cut, and sewn into a Crazy Quilt sometime between 1885 and 1895 by New Jersey quilt-maker Rachel Blair Greene. In Correspondence from the Piecework project I re-created or “re-performed” my own version of her quilt but was unsatisfied with the result. A couple of years later I set out to create a new project which would isolate the shapes and make it possible to see them clearly and in relation to one another. They have such surprising character that I imagine them to have been created democratically, each considered as an equal.

I didn’t realize when I started that I would produce an ongoing series of projects that revisit these shapes in a variety of ways. The first of these is Forwarding: I-XI which tries to present all the shapes while making the most of only two materials, USPS Tyvek mailers and laser printed paper.

Making a crazy quilt often results in leftover and awkward in-between shapes that are adopted by default but don’t feel intentionally drawn. In the case of this quilt no shape feels more or less worthy of attention than any other. I was shocked, and still am, to find no favorites among them.

A random number generator was used to break the shapes into eleven groups and run the materials and structure through as many permutations as possible. The elements of the lattice-work vary in color and in the way they overlap.  The shapes and are patterned, colored or white; the whites are warm or cool, paper or Tyvek. The fields within the grid can be any of these. The complete series consists of ten variations leading to an eleventh piece in which each field is assigned a style from one of the previous ten pieces.

For more on the Forwarding projects visit Forwarding Related Materials.

All Image Credits: Tom Powel Imaging

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