andrewwelsby

As evidenced by other posts over the last year or so where I discuss Quilting and the Colonial Gaze, the intersection of Systems Art and quilting, and a broader albeit brief overview of a postcolonial perspective on quilting, my practice and interest has moved to an exploration of material, fabric and assembly as ways to apprehend, and make visual analogues of interests in colonialism, migration and diaspora.

This page will serve as a space to chronicle those journeys and experiments. It comes with a rather large caveat – although I work diligently as a maker, I can often forget or overlook documentation, so try not to see this archive as complete or exhaustive.

Inspiration

I tend to agree with those who argue that the creative process is a constant cycle of observing, researching and synthesizing those towards experiments that move closer to an idea that remains illusively out of reach, the goal posts constantly shifting. The flood and saturation of visual culture, a new text on a subject close to our interests, the discovery and rediscovery of ideas, theories and discourses keep creative types always busy on a catch-up mission. Common threads and patterns can keep our focus somewhat fixed on a steady horizon in a swelling sea of distractions. For me, repetition, systems, geometry and contrast drags my attention back to my steersman mission to make some sort of order out of the chaos. I’ve been clear in other posts about the theoretical ideas that inform my interest. Here’s a (very small) sampling of where my eyes and then my hands have been moving over the past years or so.

Quilt 1: Forward the Revolution