This is a portrait of Karen, a photographer, colleague at work, friend, AND a quilter. I volunteered to help her photograph a number of her quilts in the studio. When we were done, I said I wanted to do a portrait of the artist in front of one of her works. Wait until you hear about this quilt! Several years ago there was an exhibit of quilts at the Whitney museum by several generations of quilters in the tiny town of Gee's Bend, Alabama. The quilter's art was hailed as "some of the most miraculous work of art America has produced." The show subsequently traveled to numerous other museums and the women have found gallery representation for their art. I saw the exhibit at the Whitney, and one of the most impressive quilts was one made of old, worn, coveralls that were turned into a quilt when the men could no longer wear the clothing! It is a stunning quilt, blue on blue. Anyhow, when I asked Karen about this quilt, she said she made it from her son's old college shirts that he no longer wears! What a wonderful thing this is. A work of art, and something very special besides!
Ken, thanks again for helping me ! And I love this photo - actually my son wore those 6 plaid shirts about 6 or 7 years thru middle and high school and even 1 year of college. Yes he did grow but the style then was to wear oversized shirts over tee shirts. I loved making this quilt, brought back memories of him wearing those shirts and made me feel close to him even though he was several states away. I call it "6 Plaid Shirts Meet the Scrap Bag". (The scrap bag is the leftover fabric from other quilts and in my case, clothes, for you non quilters)Anyway, I am honored to be included in your blog so thank you !-Karen
ReplyDeleteClearly a work of love AND art. Nicely done, Karen, and Ken.
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