Art Quilt: Legacy: What You Do

The pattern was calling to me again. I originally created a stencil that was inspired by a Royal Display Cloth (ndop) from Cameroon that I saw at The Met in New York in 2018, and I wanted to work with it again. I had used it previously in the 2019 quilt, Everything Is Temporary, and included pieces in the 2020 quilt, Backbone and in 2021, in Keys. 

With metallic gold and tan fabric paint, I stenciled onto linen and onto some hand-dyed cotton. After stenciling nine pieces, I thought the quilt would be a ninepatch, but instead I disrupted it, and the word, "Legacy" came to mind. The quilt became a meditation on what we leave behind when our bodies are not longer present on earth. Is it what we have, who we are, or what we do? Teachers, artists, and others leave their legacy, many, perhaps most, without ever knowing how they inspired those they met.

Legacy: What You Do

37.25" x 31.75" (95 cm x 80.5 cm)

Hand-stenciled cotton and linen with fabric paint; hand-dyed and commercial cotton; Japanese yarn-dyed cotton; embroidery; free-motion quilting

Details:

Examples of the Royal Display Cloth (ndop) from Cameroon that inspired my stencil, can be seen at The Met digital collection here. A legacy.

I have photos of it when it was on display in 2018:

Other similar textiles at the digital collection are here and here and here and here.