Fritillaria Fulcrum by KAREN HAMPTON

ART QUILT TITLED: Fritillaria Fulcrum,

CREATED: 2016

SIZE: 31 ½” x 31 ½”   

Artist’s Statement

Inspired by the Arts & Crafts Movement of the early 1900s and Marie Webster’s Sunflower, Iris, and May Tulips quilts of that same time period.

Marie used Appliqué as a major design element in her quilts, as well as symmetrical balance, where the appliqué design elements radiate and are arranged equally around a common center. Marie also based many of her quilts on individual flowers.

Working with these three design elements resulted in asymmetrically balanced, geometric, and concise contemporary composition, pivoting from the center around a centrally placed fulcrum. The simplicity and sophistication of design, quality of craftsmanship, and naturalistic style pay tribute to all of the Arts and Crafts reformers and their fundamental ideology “art for life’s sake.”

Techniques

Bobbin drawing with heavy thread, hand appliqué, trapunto, and machine quilting.

Materials

Heavy Pearl Crown Rayon thread for bobbin drawing, commercial gradated cotton, and hand-dyed silk fabrics, cotton batting, and silk thread for quilting.