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Art Quilts: Playing with a Full Deck
In thinking about collective design challenges for quilt artists, Sue Pierce came up with the idea of illustrating a deck of playing cards. She invited fifty-three other quilt artists to participate in the project, and each began creating an interpretative art quilt based on a card from the deck. The resulting collection, inspiring in the scope of its imagination, talent, and skill, premiered at the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American Art and has been touring the United States under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) ever since. This book, the catalog for the exhibition, offers splendid full-color reproductions of the quilts, a brief background of each artist, and an exploration of the techniques used in creating the quilts.
150 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 22, 2021
This is a truly wonderful book. It is a book to read carefully and learn from, a book providing 54 visual treats, a book to amaze and inspire you about the art and craft of quilting and about the quilters who take the form to new heights.
The story of the Full Deck project is this. Sue Pierce, an early exponent of art quilting, found she liked to explore a theme in many different ways, so her quilts became grouped in series. In 1992 she thought about expanding this concept to develop an exhibition with a theme interpreted by many quilt artists. Playing cards, with their rich history, decorative symbols, and personal memories, turned out to be an ideal theme. The size (28 x 18 inches with rounded corners) was chosen to be the right scale, and to be practical for the number of quilts to be exhibited. The only other requirements were that the card’s number and suit should be clear, and the quilt be a “textile sandwich”. Art quilters from around America were invited to participate and most were able to choose their preferred card. The exhibition opened at the prestigious Smithsonian Institute before touring the country.
Verna Suit, a weaver and writer, joined Sue to produce the book. Detailed chapters were written on the goals, history and techniques of art quilts and their makers, and also an interesting history of playing cards. Then comes the heart of the book, a full-page, full-colour reproduction of each quilt faced with a fascinating full-page story of the quilter and their design process. The order of presentation is alphabetically by the quilter, so the reader doesn’t know what to expect next. I found it fun to have a deck of cards handy, hide the identification as I turned each page, work out which card it was (some were easy, some not), then compare with the real card.
This book is a great introduction to understanding and appreciating art quilts, and I think would also be enjoyed by those more experienced. The range and beauty of the styles, designs, symbols and techniques demonstrated in the quilts are outstanding, and the written content is exceptional. I like this:
Art quilts are to bed quilts as tapestries are to rugs
The story of the Full Deck project is this. Sue Pierce, an early exponent of art quilting, found she liked to explore a theme in many different ways, so her quilts became grouped in series. In 1992 she thought about expanding this concept to develop an exhibition with a theme interpreted by many quilt artists. Playing cards, with their rich history, decorative symbols, and personal memories, turned out to be an ideal theme. The size (28 x 18 inches with rounded corners) was chosen to be the right scale, and to be practical for the number of quilts to be exhibited. The only other requirements were that the card’s number and suit should be clear, and the quilt be a “textile sandwich”. Art quilters from around America were invited to participate and most were able to choose their preferred card. The exhibition opened at the prestigious Smithsonian Institute before touring the country.
Verna Suit, a weaver and writer, joined Sue to produce the book. Detailed chapters were written on the goals, history and techniques of art quilts and their makers, and also an interesting history of playing cards. Then comes the heart of the book, a full-page, full-colour reproduction of each quilt faced with a fascinating full-page story of the quilter and their design process. The order of presentation is alphabetically by the quilter, so the reader doesn’t know what to expect next. I found it fun to have a deck of cards handy, hide the identification as I turned each page, work out which card it was (some were easy, some not), then compare with the real card.
This book is a great introduction to understanding and appreciating art quilts, and I think would also be enjoyed by those more experienced. The range and beauty of the styles, designs, symbols and techniques demonstrated in the quilts are outstanding, and the written content is exceptional. I like this:
Art quilts are to bed quilts as tapestries are to rugs
January 21, 2012
Very inspirational! What a great idea for a project and exhibit! I wish it would tour again.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews