Quilting as Conceptual Art: Inspired by Sol Le Witt

 Sol Le Witt, Minimalist and the Father of Conceptual Art

Sol Lewitt is considered the father of Conceptual art.  He believed that the artist did not have to be present for the art to occur.  He left instructions (some more detailed than others) that explained how the design was supposed to be depicted by "technicians".  He usually referenced architectural points such as corners, edges, openings, etc.  It sounded a lot like quilting instructions, especially written instructions, classroom instructions or the word-of-mouth instructions for traditional quilting patterns, the designers of which are lost to the vagaries of time.  I got a little testy that he was included in many museums.  So rather than get myself in a dither I decided to study him.  So far I have completed two interpretations of his work. One is a representation of part of a large wall painting.  In Tribute to Sol Le Witt I used Kona Sheen because I thought the fabric looked like paint.

Tribute to Sol Le Witt

Red Lines, Four Squares, Mirrored, is an original interpretation of his ideas. He used a language of lines, vertical, horizontal, slant left, slant right and wavy. which I believe is very similar to our quilted lines. He also frequently used cubes, cubic representations and squares in his work (similar to many quilt designs). Several of his photography books are formatted in 3 x 3 or 4 x 4 square patterns very similar to traditional quilt square patterns.  I chose to orient my squares vertically.  The lines are quilted using size 8 cotton thread.

Red Lines Four Squares Mirrored

In the tradition of Conceptual Art, below are the instructions for this Piece.  Please feel free to interpret Le Witt on your own.

A Fiber Tribute to Sol Lewitt and Conceptual Art

 In 2019 I saw an exhibit at the MASS MoCa that was a retrospective tribute to Sol Lewitt, minimalist and father of Conceptual Art.  At the time I was taken with how much LeWitt’s Conceptual Art is like quilting.  Instructions include size, color, pattern and line, much like our quilting patterns and  Lewitt’s emphasis on line is echoed in the quilted line.  I decided to interpret some of his work in fabric.  I chose Kona Sheen as a medium because of it’s visual similarity to glossy paint and regular Kona cotton for it’s similarity to matte paint.  Below are instructions for a grouping of shapes and lines and ALTERNATIVE SUGGESTIONS.

Red Lines, Four Squares, Mirrored

 Supplies:

Kona Sheen, red (or fabric of your choice)

Kona cotton, Red (or fabric of your choice)

Batting I used a low loft

Backing (cut to match final size or your piece or pieces)

Thread to match (I used size 8 cotton crochet thread)

Scissors

Needles

ALTERNATIVE SUGGESTIONS

9” x 9” canvases or stretcher frames

Picture wire and eye screws

Pliers

Staple Gun and staples

Notes:

My instructions call for needle turn applique and big stitch quilting, you may choose to substitute raw edge machine applique and machine or free motion quilting in your tribute.

Also you may choose to use binding as a more traditional quilted finish instead of the pillowcase turn.   The Alternative Suggestions use stretcher frames and staple the individual pieces to the wood.

Directions:

Cut four 9.25”x9.25” pieces of the red Kona cotton. Cut 2 9.25”x9.25” pieces of Kona sheen.

Layer the Kona Sheen with both right sides facing up.  Using an erasable pen or a fine pencil draw a wavy line down the middle of the fabric. Cut on the wavy line.

Lay each piece of the Kona Sheen over square of the Kona Cotton matching the edges, needle turn applique the wavy center edge. Trim the excess Kona from the back.

Sew the four squares together.  You may choose to use a different layout than my four vertical squares.

Place the appliqued piece over the backing and the batting.  Sew around the edges leaving an opening to turn the piece.  Trim the corners and turn the piece and turn. Slip stitch the opening.

Using the matching thread quilt each of the squares in one of Lewitt’s 4-line patterns, vertical, horizontal, diagonal left to right and diagonal right to left.

My design is as follows but you may choose to put the lines in a different order:

1.       In the first, sew straight vertical lines approximately ¼ inches apart in the center of the square for the width you choose (I did 11 lines)

2.       In the second, sew straight diagonal lines starting from the upper right to lower left, approximately ¼ inches apart for the width you choose (I did 11 lines).

3.       In the third,  sew diagonal lines starting from lower right to upper left, approximately ¼ inches apart for the width you choose (I did 11 lines).

4.       In the forth, sew horizontal lines, approximately ¼ inches apart in the center of the square for the width you choose (I did 11 lines).

ALTERNATIVE ARRANGEMENT

As an alternative construction, add edges to the squares, staple the squares to 9-inch stretcher frames, add eye hooks and a hanging wire.

Hang the 4 pieces together in a square or linear formation.