The art of quilting.

Although quilts are often associated with adorning the walls of family’s homes or lying neatly folded at the foot of people’s beds, the fabricating of quilts actually has a deeper history that is often overlooked. In the Nelson Gallery on U.C. Davis’ campus, the African American Quilts (the Sandra McPherson Collection and the Avis C. Robinson Collection) exhibit is currently on display. Here, viewers can stroll through the room and view the variety of quilts that all hold their own unique stories behind their creations. Back during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, African American women worked double shifts – plowing in the fields during the day, and making quilts for their families at night. Needlework, such as quilting, was the main way for African American women to express themselves aesthetically at the time. This history alone emphasizes the significance that lies within the stitches of quilting masterpieces, such as those on display in the Nelson Gallery, or even the quilts that do currently adorn living room walls and people’s beds.

Since new fabric was not readily accessible during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, African American women would use old pieces of clothing, bedding and flour sacks to make their quilts. One of the quilts featured in the Nelson Gallery portrayed this concept of using scraps for quilting. In the piece titled, “Annie’s Blue Jeans” [photo below], the quilt consisted of scraps of old blue jeans, tapestry fabric, cotton fabric, and hand-dyed cotton corduroy.

(Personal photo)

Although “Annie’s Blue Jeans” was actually made in 2007, the use of scraps allowed it to take on the appearance of the quilting style from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Also, the quilt’s sharp, straightforward and blunt rhythm is seen through the pattern of squares within more squares, and the quilt’s blue hued theme added to its overall cold appearance. Similar to the rhythm and pattern of a bulls-eye target, this quilt’s layout draws the viewer from the outside edges, straight into the center.

Unlike the design of “Annie’s Blue Jeans,” the pattern and rhythm found in another particular quilt from the gallery was quite different. In Rosa Ella Kincaid’s quilt [photo below], which lacked a title, there was not a pattern and rhythm that were as straightforward and obvious as the pattern and rhythm found in “Annie’s Blue Jeans.”

(Personal photo)

The rhythm in Kincaid’s quilt was less clear, but there were still obvious patterns in the repetition of figures on the quilt. By relying on gestalt principles, viewers can make out the repeating figures that resemble women in bonnets, cottages and grass fields. Also, the use of pink and beige color tones gave the quilt a warm appeal. Kincaid was born in 1886, meaning that this quilt was made during the twentieth century. Again, in contrast to “Annie’s Blue Jeans,” Kincaid’s quilt was not designed in the same organized fashion.