THE ART QUILT - IN REPLY TO ALVENA HALL

Seeking a definition of itself - what are we intending to communicate?

© Sarah Tucker

Ozquilt Network Newsletter Issue #38 December 2000

Dear Alvena,

It was with much interest that I read your letter in the June issue of Ozquilt Network¹. Hence I am writing to you care of the newsletter in the hope of encouraging more debate on this subject, which is of particular relevance to me as a postgraduate student in the School of Art History and Theory, University of NSW researching a thesis on aspects of contemporary Australian quiltmaking. As such, this letter is not intended as a critique of your article, but rather an attempt to further the debate on the topic of the 'art quilt'.

First and foremost, I feel that it is the use of the very term, art quilt that raises problems. By choosing this classification for a work, what are we intending to communicate? Put simply I would understand it to mean quilts that are made for the purpose of display on a wall; a move from the horizontal to the vertical plane, from the domestic and utilitarian to the decorative and, from the multi-sensorial to the purely visual and thus possible in a separate category to mainstream quilting.

As you point out, the term 'art' in itself has a number of different meanings; however, in current usage,² 'art' can be placed alongside 'performance', 'installation', you name it, so why not a quilt? My own issue with this is that the word, 'quilt', comes with multiple associations³ of its own. These include its implied connection with the bed, as well as a traditional heritage and a place within personal and collective memory.

This is further complicated because, despite the defined need for a number of layers of fabric held together by stitching, this in itself does not always define a work as a quilt and the final say often remains in the hands of the maker.⁴ The very processes of quiltmaking, those of fragmentation, re-assemblage, repetition, tessellation, and compression ally it with the processes of collage and the work of other artists such as Rosalie Gascoigne⁵ whose work I believe can be termed 'quilt' by another means.

Non-textiles such as paper, paint and found objects are already used by quiltmakers, so at what stage does a quilt become 'textile art', say. What else is quiltmaking but a mental construct or way of seeing the world and expressing that perception? If I was to join together blocks of wood and the call the result, Quilt for a Hard Person, I may not be eligible to enter it in a quilt show but could display it in an art gallery and many have already done so.⁶ By whatever definition you use, art transcends the materials from which it is made, whereas a fixed definition if what makes up a quilt, does not.

Furthermore, by using these definitions, what and who determines an 'art' quilt from a 'non-art quilt'?⁷ Which, taking the now exalted status of the Amish quilts, also resides in the opinion of the viewers be they art historians, collectors or an interested bystander.

I understand that in criticising the terminology of 'art quilt', I am at risk of "shooting the messenger" and I can claim to have no clear answer,⁸ despite many hours pondering the subject! One of my own intentions in researching and writing about quilts is to raise their profile as a means of expression that should be given the respect due to it. Quiltmaking brings with it a significant history but it is not a static practice and I believe it is only through active debate and the use of fluid definitions that challenge and confront expectations (be it in the privacy of the home or the public space of the gallery) that quilts and quiltmaking will receive the recognition in the art world/elsewhere that they deserve. I look forward to hearing your thoughts, best wishes.

© Sarah Tucker 2000

1. Letter from Alvena Hall, Ozquilt Network, Issue #36 June 2000 p5

2. In her essay, 'The Aesthetics of Silence', Susan Sontag suggests that definitions are determined by the needs of the time and so we are constantly shifting; writing in 1967, with 'art' defined by Modernism, she identifies it as "the most active metaphor for the spiritual"; unfortunately, with Postmodernism, we shift from singularity to multiplicity and there is no easy answer! Nonetheless, shifts in what currently defines a work of art are of advantage when discussing quilts as art. Moreover, in 'The Re-enchantment of Art', Suzi Gablik argues for art, "as compassionate action" and quiltmaking at any level would sit comfortably with this role, "a kind of art which speaks to the power or connectiveness and establishes bonds, art that calls us into relationship: (p114).

3. In 'Beyond Aesthetics', Mary Lane describes the quilt as "a culturally loaded object" (surface Design Journal, Spring 1996, p12), I agree. More recently, Annette Brown identifies 'quilts as signifiers of contemporary domestic space' (Australian and NZ Journal of Art, 2000 131-148); I would like to suggest that it is a mistake to ignore these subliminal messages, whether deemed positive or negative.

4. The point is suggested by Dianne Finnegan in her book, 'The Quilters Kaleidoscope' (Simon & Schuster, p ix)

5. The processes of fragmentation, etc. are those nominated by Vic Macdonald in her essay in the catalogue to Rosalie Gascoigne's exhibition, "Material As Landscape". However, I believe that they are also an effective and succinct description of the processes of quiltmaking as well as the processes of memory and the result, hence the connections I am making!

6. See 'Quilt as Construct, a Way of Seeing the World' by Margo Mensing (SDJ, Spring 1996 p8) for the idea that a quilt can reach "beyond form and fabric".

7. An example of how a shift in perception can occur being Amish quilts, originally made for domestic use they now fetch high prices as works of art and are heralded by some as examples of abstract art (Robert Hughes "Amish, the Art of the Quilt". Phaidon 1994 p14) 8. One that springs to mind is to use the term "wall quilt", thus define by intention of use/display, however I can't help feeling that this would be a cop-out and perhaps all together too boring!