Quilting @ Nelson Art Gallery

African American Quilts are being display at Nelson Art Gallery. These quilts are beautiful artworks dating from the 1800s to present. Through repetition, color, contrast, and variety the quilts displayed at the gallery each have their own unique rhythm. The quilts offer many stories, and hold emotions that span time. Using rhythm and repetition, the patterns created by the different materials used give a rare feel to each quilt.

This pieces of quilt have a windmill design which lends its rhythm to its distinct color pattern. The windmill design each have a different positions of the colored blades, the windmill actually move counterclockwise. The color scheme enhances the pattern because the alternation between red and green creates a vibrant rhythm which ultimately constructs a balance. The way the windmill blades are faced also displays variety through their different variable movements. The variable movements and dual colors within each frame possibly represent a day in the field where African American slaves worked endlessly.

Each quilt have a story behind it. The connection between the past and the present is represented through the material used in the quilt, and these materials bring a particular presence to the quilts, as if the materials were telling a story all by themselves.