SCORCH QUILT. 2020. Burned silk, cotton batting. 57”x57”.

Scorch Quilt was made in response to an item in the collection of the Newport Art Museum, Crazy Quilt #4, to be included in their 2020 Call and Response exhibition. Silk, marred by iron burns, references sumptuous materials used in American “crazy quilts,” while making visible the tools, labor, and error of the maker. A muted foil to the maximal aesthetic of most crazy quilts, Scorch Quilt purposefully calls attention to the relationship between beauty, utility and flaw. Pattern and repetition, common elements in quilting design, can become a meditative control against which a quilt’s human imperfections stand out. This project acknowledges the potential of accidents to be not just surmountable, but to generate new creativity. “Imperfection” is another term for unpredictability, and it can challenge us to reckon with the subjectivity that is an inherent part of deciding what we deem to have aesthetic and creative value.