Pieced Together

Pieced Together is a body of artwork that focuses on pattern, quilting, and the meaning items can have to an individual. Historically, visual patterns have been important to family histories as people relate imagery with family meanings. Patterns and symbols can convey feelings, represent ideals, or represent memories. Groups of people quilt together to re-contextualize symbols of importance, visually describing physical paths, showing life-changing moments, or creating new visual stories. A piece of fabric holds significance in the lives of many: a piece of clothing gifted, a family heirloom, or the most comfortable hand-me-down outfit. This project shows particular interest in the stories that reveal the importance of an item and how people relate their own self-images to visual patterns in both the quilted patterns and the patterns of the fabrics used. This could be a realistic flower motif, for example, because a subject is attracted to nature’s comfort and sees herself as a practical person seeking factual answers. This project also uses the act of quilting as a means of building a community and as the driving concept for this body of work. Discussions with individuals result in a selection of one pattern per person. These patterns are used both in a painting of a person and in a section of a quilt, roughened through printing methods as if worn through use. The resulting quilt also represents a community of individuals. It is believed that art can have the same sense of quick and meaningful interaction as a conversation or built relationship