CREATIVITY IN OUR QUILTMAKING TODAY

© Robyn Cary

Ozquilt Network Newsletter Issue #28 June 1998

What does this mean to you, your family and your friends? I have often wondered about the way in which we define the quilts we are making. We have no problem in talking about the creativity of 'contemporary' quilts - be they 'innovative' quilts, or 'art' quilts. The dictionary defines contemporary as "belonging to the same period" or "up-to-date". For me a contemporary quilt makes a statement about current issues. It is representative of culture, life and society expressed in a new way. So where does this place quilts made today from traditional designs?

In describing a Log Cabin quilt I made several years ago, I commented that, "the centres of the blocks were red in the tradition of Log Cabin traditional." Looking at that quilt today, it is definitely a traditional Log Cabin quilt. Set in the Barn Raising design, the fabrics were definitely chosen as being light and dark. However, some of the fabrics had large printed patterns on them, and sections of some of the dark fabrics had distinctly light areas. Also, I changed colourways, while keeping within the same value for the outer strips of each block. I know that I was being creative, the quilt was unique and my comments recognised this, but at that time I believed I had made a 'contemporary' quilt. Now I recognise that I have used a traditional design creatively. But why do I now see the quilt in this light?

We are quiltmakers. Other members of our families and communities are woodworkers, metalworkers, musicians, painters, actors to name a few. They are also creative. What is it about their art or craft that makes their interpretation creative?

In The New Zealand Quilter, January 1996, Shirley Dixon describes experiences that answered this very question for her. She outlined her husband's retirement project to learn more about classical music, and described how different recordings of the same Scarletti piano sonata sounded so different that it was hard to believe that they were the same piece of music; how her daughter saw two versions of Henry IV, both of which commented on the situation of contemporary war, one which was produced during World War II and the other during the Falklands War; and the variations of the 'block of the month' blocks produced by her local quilt group.

I found the acting in the 1996 release of the film Sense and Sensibility was vibrant and exciting, while still portraying the lifestyle of the early 20th century, but the earlier release (seen on video) followed the story in a slow, lack lustre interpretation of events (for 1990 viewers).

Quilt blocks made by members of a friendship group, from the same instructions and with the same background fabrics are always very different - in value, intensity and empathy. How exciting it is for the owner of the quilt to explore a suitable arrangement of these blocks to obtain a pleasing quilt.

In each of these examples there has been creative interpretation of original art or craft, whether it has been related to music, drama or fabric. The conductor and soloist makes decisions which define the musical performance - they are creative. The director and actors provide the pathway for the interpretation of the written words - they are creative. And when quiltmakers choose to be directed by the designs which appear in traditional quilts, they are being creative because they choose the hues, values and patterns of the fabrics for interpreting the design.

The challenge when producing traditional quilts today from contemporary fabrics, is to obtain a unique result and thus satisfy one's creativity.

© Robyn Cary 1998