Sometimes, before I start a new quilt I spend the evening before and part of the next day looking through my art books. Not just the quilt books, but any of the books from my collection. Before the began the first quilt I made for Linda I was looking through my Jacob Lawrence book “The Migration Series”.
Through a series of 60 paintings Lawrence tells the story of the Migration of African-Americans from the South, during World War I, looking for work in the factories, mills and rail yards in the North
I first saw Lawrence’s work at MOMA a few years ago. I was taken with the shapes and colors. And how he captured so much movement and emotion in the simple shapes he used.
Many of the small painting could have easily been quilts.
I left the book open on my floor to Panel 57 “The female worker was also one of the last groups to leave the South” as I worked on my quilt.
It wasn’t until I was done with the quilt and looked at the book, still open on my floor, that I realized how much the colors in it were influenced by the painting by Jacob Lawrence.
I finished backing and tacking this quilt yesterday. I’m calling it “Migration”.
