The Quilted Garden by Jane A.
Sassaman On a recent cool, rainy day The Quilted Garden proved to be the perfect book for me to curl up with in front of the fireplace. And yes, we do have fireplaces in Florida and occasionally have the appropriate weather to use them. I was immediately captivated by Jane Sassaman’s description of her love affair with art, beginning as a child. The description of Jane’s growth as an artist and as a quilter encompasses the Ornamental or Decorative Art Movement and the influence of feminist art. Included are fascinating photos of her very early work and, later, of her first quilt. Also included are works by her contemporaries; such as Nancy Crow. Additionally, she shares her creative process and encourages the reader to create a space in which to work. The book includes a large number of color photos of her quilts, ranging from 1980 to 1999. As the years progress, you can see how she moves from a very controlled, geometric process to adding curved, then squiggly lines. It took about 10 years for her to evolve to quilts with the dynamic movement that we associate with her work today. Adding floral shapes came even later. She is an encouraging roll model for those of us who are impatient with our own creative process. It is an act of generosity for her to share her process, private thoughts and philosophy with us. The chapter on silhouette quilts is very interesting. With this process, you get two for one in executing your design. The results, as she demonstrates, can result in very different quilts. An example of this dichotomy is the “Tree of Life” and its silhouette, “Resurrection.” The description of “seeing” by observing nature is invaluable, as is her encouragement to keep a sketch book. I tried her two exercises that are designed to sharpen your powers of observation and found them to be quite useful. There are additional exercises for simplifying what you see, conscious arrangement, stylizing and for adding depth and interest. Jane shares her process from the act of “seeing” to executing the design. Her chapter describing the two basic types of quilts that she makes gives a detailed description of her unique use of collage. She takes the reader step-by-step through the process and also encourages the quilter to play. Jane’s quilts are exuberant to say the least. I was fortunate to see several of her quilts recently in a gallery in St. Petersburg, Florida, one of which is pictured in the book. Seeing the actual quilt was really a treat. - Reviewed by Diana Norris Beadwrangler note: Although I am not a quilter, I thoroughly enjoyed the narrative conversation by Jane that carries you through her book. My favorite section was “Design Disclaimer” and her views of beauty versus ugly art work, warts of the world is both funny and yet so true. You do not always have to work a particular craft to enjoy a book by a creative author. |
