The horse fabric in this subject’s collar is called “I Run Faster Than My Rival.”īutler always begins with a photograph. Her subjects shimmer in brilliant hues of fuchsia, imperial blue or acid green, with a purple lip, an orange cheekbone or a turquoise temple for emphasis. She focuses on people of African descent but avoids representational skin tone. Today, her life-size quilts hang in museums across the country. She made her first portrait quilt, Francis and Violette (Grandparents), while pursuing a master’s in arts education in 2001. Butler’s stunning work has helped shatter that barrier. ![]() For years, quilting has been dismissed by the fine arts world as decorative craft or domestic labor. The artist touches up her Questlove portrait using a longarm quilting machine, enabling her to sew the quilt’s top, back and batting at the same time.Ī renowned portraitist, Butler has done for quilt-making what Matisse did for paper-cutting: elevating a humble technique to a high art. This article is a selection from the July/August 2023 issue of Smithsonian magazine Subscribe ![]() Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine now for just $15 The gold, orange and green in her skirt suggest her African heritage. The background of sunflowers symbolizes the constancy of the North Star as Tubman’s unwavering faith. Her skin is a contrast of cool blues and fiery reds, capturing her need to hide along with her tenacity and courage. Made entirely out of fabric, it portrays Tubman in a kaleidoscope of colors. Celeste Slomanīy 2021, Butler’s large quilted portrait, I Go to Prepare a Place for You, was hanging in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. What would she think of everything that I think I have hard in life?’”įor her portrait of Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, Butler chose colors influenced by the stage set in his Oscar-winning documentary Summer of Soul. The 19th-century photograph featured the famed Underground Railroad conductor when she was around 40, about the age Butler was at the time. But once you learn this preparing and cutting technique, you can use it to cut as many pieces for a block as you want.Bisa Butler’s portrait of Harriet Tubman began with a minuscule black-and-white carte de visite. ![]() You can make kaleidoscope blocks with how many pieces you want (at least three), the more pieces you use, the more complex the work.įor these patterns I decided to work with 4 pieces, in order to simplify the instructions and offer you a quick and easy pattern. But I love so much the kaleidoscope effect on blocks so I started again sewing kaleidoscopes, but with a little modified technique, that does not require pins at all and does not stretch my patience to the roof! Lately I just don't have patience for this. This requires lots of pins, lots of patience, lots of time. You can cut shapes with the same print using different techniques: for just a few blocks you can fussy cut the pieces or for lots of blocks you can stack multiple layers of fabrics with the same print, matching the motifs of the print design. The kaleidoscope quilt patterns is all about pieces of fabric (in various shapes) with identical print you arrange the pieces with corners with the same design at center and you get a beautiful, circular design at center, created by symmetry.
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