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David Owen Hastings - Design + Art + Textiles
  • design
  • art
    • art on paper
    • art on canvas
    • art on panel
  • textiles
    • quilts
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Edgar Degas Quilt

July 12, 2019 by David Owen Hastings

This is a small portrait quilt I created of the painter Edgar Degas.

  • Portrait quilt of Edgar Degas
    Edgar Degas: machine pieced with hand appliqué, machine quilted, 35.5" x 28.75"
  • Portrait quilt of Edgar Degas, detail
    Edgar Degas: detail of piecing and quilting lines
  • Portrait quilt of Edgar Degas, detail
    Edgar Degas: detail of piecing and quilting lines
  • Quilt design process photo with fabric pieces, black and white photo, and tools
    Edgar Degas: beginning the design process, choosing fabrics
  • Quilt design process, grid lines on source photo
    Edgar Degas: applying grid to the source photo, isolating the individual squares
  • Detail photo of quilt back, using the same fabrics in a geometric design
    Edgar Degas: detail of quilt back, using the same fabrics
  • Quilt back, geometric design
    Edgar Degas: the quilt back, using the same fabrics in a geometric design
  • DOH-Quilt-Slider-EdgarDegas-01
  • DOH-Quilt-Slider-EdgarDegas-02
  • DOH-Quilt-Slider-EdgarDegas-03
  • DOH-Quilt-Slider-EdgarDegas-04
  • DOH-Quilt-Slider-EdgarDegas-05
  • DOH-Quilt-Slider-EdgarDegas-06
  • DOH-Quilt-Slider-EdgarDegas-07

Learning a new way of seeing

I started this piece in a portrait quilt workshop with New York artist Jack Edson. The workshop took place in May 2018 and was organized by the Pacific Northwest Quilt & Fiber Arts Museum in La Conner, WA. I based the image on a public domain photo of the painter Edgar Degas. 

Breaking down the image

Jack Edson showed us how to start from a black and white image, breaking it down into a grid of squares. We then worked one square at a time, interpreting each piece of the image in colored fabric, paying attention to value in particular. It was amazing to see the image start to emerge from the rough shapes of each block.

Choosing fabrics

The fabrics I chose are commercial cotton prints and batiks, plus some vintage yukata cottons. I selected the colors intuitively and enjoyed the process of reinterpreting the black and white photographic image in a colorful and creative way. I based the palette on blue, yellow, and added a grey-green to add a neutral element. I thought the complementary colors (blue and yellow) would give the composition some energy. Greens and teals snuck in, and helped fill out the color palette.

Putting it all together

I machine pieced the quilt squares, added hand appliqué for the tricky bits, and machine quilted it with an organic leaf motif using the walking foot on my domestic sewing machine. The quilt back is an exercise in improv piecing, using a similar palette of colors.

This was a terrific workout for my brain, and I thoroughly enjoyed the workshop with Jack Edson. He has a masterful eye for transforming ordinary photographs into something extraordinary. In an interview about his work, Jack had this to say:

“These portrait pieces are conceived as works or art, rather than quilts per se, so I see them closer to paintings or collages than traditional quilts.”

JACK EDSON

Certainly, the way Jack Edson approaches his work is more like a painter. The quilting adds a textural element that draws you in. I’m so fortunate to have had the experience of watching him work, and learning along the way. To learn more about Jack and his incredible work, follow his Facebook page.

Looking for branding or graphic design services for a nonprofit? Want to book a quilting workshop or lecture, or ask about original artwork? Please contact me!

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