essay on quilting

Distributed Creativity: Speculations on Quilting, Computers, and Art By Catherine Jones Back in the early eighties I held a series of short-term secretarial jobs. On slow days I'd sit at the memory typewriter -- desktop computers were still uncommon then -- and try by ingenious use of the search-and-replace function to program the machine to make pictures of patchwork quilts. (A dark patch would print out as a cluster of capital X's, a light patch as a cluster of commas, etc.) Other times I'd put the idle machine to work by typing papers for an art class I was taking at the local community college. Most of these papers dealt with welded metal sculpture, much of it designed and fabricated by men in the heroic abstract expressionist tradition. I thought about quilts but didn't write papers on them; I knew some quilts qualified as art, but I wasn't sure which ones. Those days at the memory typewriter bring to mind some elements that fascinate me about quilts: their association with traditionally feminine skills, their unresolved place in the world of fine art, and their generally geometric structure, which lends itself to computer-aided design. Patchwork quilts embody a paradox. They arose from a feminine tradition of patient needlework, making do with little, and honoring ancestors by recycling their old clothes. Yet these products of women's diligence and frugality look opulent, bold, and even masculine (insofar as geometry gets typed as a masculine field of study). Old quilts in traditional patterns go well on white gallery walls, and the art world has found an honorable niche for them. Despite their modern appearance they are true folk art, with all the sense of community and artistic anonymity (or at least modesty and collaboration) that the term folk implies. Contemporary patchwork is another affair altogether; its place in art history is still being defined. What.
Essay resources include essays, virtual versions of physical exhibitions, and other presentations developed or adapted for online presentation on the Quilt Index. These materials have been developed by Quilt Index staff and invited contributors. Some resources provide a virtual presentation of exhibitions that occurred in physical form, thus providing a lasting and accessible record of them. Four initial Exhibition Essays were developed as test projects. Additional resources were developed as part of an IMLS funded national leadership project. More About Resources | Search All Essay, Gallery and Lesson Plan Resources Sort by:   A Journalist’s Guide to Getting the Most from the Quilt IndexCox, MegHere at the Quilt Index, tradition meets technology head-on, allowing you to use your computer to see and study more than 52,000 quilts from four centuries. This archive is unique: nowhere else will a journalist or other researcher have access to this many quilts. America's Earliest QuiltsBrackman, BarbaraThe women of the American colonies and the early United States stitched their quilts in a variety of styles. This essay looks at style from the mid-eighteenth century to 1815 or so. American Quilts Empowered Immigrant Women Salser, SusanQuiltmaking could be an empowering form of self-expression for immigrants to the United States at the turn of the 20th Century, as in this case study of Hungarian-born Chicago quilter, Mary Mihalovits Gasperik, written by her grand-daughter, researcher Susan Salser.American Quilts of Patriotism and Political CommentarySikarskie, Amanda GraceThe quilts represented in this essay survey three centuries of American political life, spanning from quilts celebrating the birth of the Republic to quilts reacting to the events of September 11, 2001. The meanings and visual rhetoric of these quilts were shaped by wars, presidents and policies, new.
Have you ever quilted anything to express your feelings about your family members? Quilts are used for warmth and love, but most of all, for keeping families together. All quilts serve a purpose; while some purposes could be as simple as just keeping someone warm. These ideas are expressed in three works of literature called Everyday Use  by Alice Walker, Quilting  by Lucille Clifton and Patchwork Quilt  by Michelle Lanchester. Quilts can bring out the best and the worst in some families. For example, in the story Everyday Use,  one of the daughters, Dee, manipulates her mother to try to get the quilt that her mother and grandmother made. She doesn't really care for the quilt but wants the quilt because she likes to follow trends. The mother, although she was physically strong, was emotionally weak and she gave into Dee by letting her neglect her family traditions. Dee showed disrespect to her family heritage by converting to an Islamic religion. Her mother realized Dee's greed and that she was superficial when Dee requested the quilts only because rediscovering one's heritage was a recent trend. Because of the mother's realization of how fake Dee is, she gives the quilt to Maggie. Another reason for the mother's decision to give Maggie the quilt was because Maggie would actually use the quilt, instead of hanging it. By frequently using the quilt she is actually remembering and embracing her family's heritage, thus putting it to everyday use. Another work, Quilting  by Lucille Clifton also follows the theme of quilting, bringing families together. The author ends the poem with the question, do the worlds continue spinning away from each other forever?  as a way of saying that our future hasn't been determined yet. Quilts, which in this story represent love of one's family expresses the differences b This Essay is Approved by Our Editor Essays Related to Short.
by Susan Behuniak-Long.I didn't know that when I first looked at an Amish quilt and felt my heart pounding that my soul was starving, that an inner voice was trying to make sense of my life.... I thought I was going to learn more about Amish quilts, but the quilts were only guides, leading me to what I really needed to learn, to answer a question I hadn't yet formed: Is there another way to lead a good life? Sue Bender, Plain and Simple: A Woman's Journey to the Amish In an age in which the inexhaustible power of scientifc technology makes all things possible, it remains to be seen where we will draw the line, where we will be able to say, here are possibilities that wisdom suggests we avoid. I am convinced that any philosophy of technology worth its salt must eventualy ask, How can we limit modern technology to match our best sense of who we are and the kind of world we would like to build? Langdon Winner, The Whale and the Reactor: A Search for Limits in an Age of High [echnology The ubiquitous nature of technology indicates a society driven by the pursuit of speed, efficiency, and production. Technological innovations are developed, sold, and embraced in the name of progress. The acclaim, how.ever, is not universal. Scholars are producing a body of literature that questions whether technology can truly buy us time, release us from boredom, and unleash our creativity. ~ These critics are not technophobes; rather, they are raising the question of whether technology, in eliminating the traditional way of doing things, fails to fully replicate all the social functions of the previous method. A substitution of technique may result in a loss of social patterns and community values. Are we aware of the point when this occurs? Do we know where to stop the advancement of technology? Given the social import of these questions, it may seem odd to seek.
Search Results Free Essays Unrated Essays Better Essays Stronger Essays Powerful Essays Term Papers Research Papers Search by keyword:   Sort By:   Your search returned over 400 essays for Quilting 1  2  3  4  5    Next >> These results are sorted by most relevant first (ranked search). You may also sort these by color rating or essay length. Title Length Color Rating   Use of Lucifer in Quilting - Use of Lucifer in Quilting    Lucifer is the epitome and personification of all that is evil according to the traditional American perspective. His name has been linked with the name Satan so that either name refers to the Devil in most of the western Christian tradition. American culture, with its Puritan roots and Fundamentalist influences, has cast Lucifer in the role of the eternal enemy of all that we hold to be good and worthwhile. Preachers and others who teach Christian morality have described his power as being great enough to tempt all of us, at the same time, into sin.   [tags: Quilting] 1616 words(4.6 pages) Powerful Essays [preview] A Stitch in Time - Quilting has different meanings for different people, but all quilts have a unique appearance and tradition. “What makes art is its life – pulsing and shining with the energy and intentions of its creator. The art of quilting glows with a respect for all generations that have come before – putting thread, needle, and cloth together with vision and love” (Wilson 7). Starting out in antiquity as a necessity and a work of art, quilting has changed over time, but it is still practiced in a myriad of cultures around the world.   [tags: Arts, Quilting] 1371 words(3.9 pages) Unrated Essays [preview] Quilting - The Feminist Dynamic of Lucille Clifton - The Feminist Dynamic of Lucille Clifton     Quilting bees were occasions for women to gather bringing discarded scraps of material, which they masterfully transformed.
Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History American Quilts and Coverlets 22.55 2005.284 33.122 38.59 10.125.410 67.33 23.80.75 1988.127 1970.288 1974.24 56.113 1996.4 52.103 1985.347 1983.349 1988.24.1 1988.128 1973.94.