Panel Entitled "ABC Drawn Quilt"
1998
Designed Cynthia Schira (American, born 1934) using JacqCAD software and woven on a TIS Jacquard Handloom Centre des metiers d'arts en construction textile Montreal, Canada
Montréal
Cynthia Schira made this work on a digital Jacquard handloom, a loom in which the wefts are inserted by the weaver while the pattern is controlled by a computer. Schira was one of the first artists to experiment with this technology, which was developed in the 1990s. It allowed her to produce a wider range of surface textures than would have been practical with a less sophisticated mechanism. ABC Drawn Quilt marks the beginning of a series called Intersecting Traditions (1998–2005), which employed traditional textile motifs represented by visual fragments and symbols. Here, the artist referenced the use of multiple blocks, or pattern elements, to form a whole, pieced quilt.
Cotton and linen, areas of warp-float faced 7:1 satin weave; warp and weft-float faced 7:1 twill weaves; diamond and point twills; combined twill; and plain weaves with areas of paired warps or wefts and plain weaves self-patterned by main warp and ground weft floats; woven on TIS Jacquard handloom with Jacquard Computer Aided Design