Royal Queens / Textiles at the WG on Cottage
Artist Statement-
Featured artist Alpha Bruton is a
painter and installation artist, Bruton synthesizes aspects of theater,
sculpture, and other two-dimensional forms. Her work has been exhibited in
numerous venues in the United States and Internationally. Her current work in
folk textile/quilt projects reflect the following study. Pine Burrs, Crazy Quilt, Jacob’s Ladder, Nine Patch, quilters of
previous generations saved scraps of fabrics from dresses, aprons, or shirts
out of necessity to use in their quilts, creating the unintended, yet still
special, tradition of quilts holding special memories and connections to people
in our families. The artist gathered scrapes from family members and fellow
artists who responded to a call for scrapes. She also suggested a paragraph or
two describing the importance of the contributing fabric. Serving to communicate
and reinforce cultural narratives.
Pine Burr Quilt Pattern, variation has a three-dimensional look, this
quilt pattern is unique to African Americans, Alabama and the woman slaves of
Gee’s Bend plantation of Alabama. The
collection starts in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, hand stitched quilts designed by these women, provided markers
for leading blacks from the south to the north.
Nine Patch Block- Nine-patch quilts children often
learned to sew by making those simple blocks, by the 20th century, there are
only a handful of basic Nine-Patch blocks with hundreds of cousins. And, as
with families, cousins often bear little resemblance to each other.
Jacob’s ladder a variation it is dated back to the 1830’s
when women were most active in the formative years of the abolitionist
movement. This pattern eventually became known as the Underground Railroad
block, but was not published as such until after 1870’s. Quilts in this pattern
were often hung outside to indicate a safe house for runaway slaves.
