Quilting Traditions: The Art of the Amish
is showing at the Dairy Barn Arts Center in Athens, OH until Sept. 6, 2010.
The 60 quilts are from the collection of Tom and Marsha French and showcase the design and sewing skills of Amish quilters from Indiana, Pennsylvania and Ohio. The quilts were made between 1880 and 1950.
Geese on the Pond
This quilt, called Geese on the Pond immediately caught my attention. Whether by plan or by serendipity, the colors and shapes used in this design are simply amazing.
If you look at this photo, imagining it is a stereogram or Magic Eye, you might be able to see “deep into” to the image. The design now appears differently, recessed in its frame. Start over again, concentrating your view on the green squares placed on point and you may notice 2 or 3 different layers coming to the forefront. I see a lattice view as well as a star-like view. The quilt maker may have been using the pattern often called Ohio Star.
I also see the diagonal green blocks bringing an energy not always evident when a quilt is so uniformly constructed. The small red triangles on black also add to the quilt’s vibrancy.
Focus your gaze on different elements of this quilt and you may discover what I did – it’s fascinating to consider that the humble pale blue shade of the triangles in this quilt could be the reason Geese on the Pond has such visible impact.
Visual effects of this sort often jump out when a design is viewed “in miniature”, as seen on our computer screens.
This is a topic I will be writing about in a follow-up post.
