artist
Q&A A conversation with Daphne Taylor with Martha Sielman
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t Quilt National 2011, Daphne Taylor’s piece “Quilt Drawing #13—for Maureen” stopped me in my tracks. The play of light on the off-white silk was amazing. The design was simple, yet so powerful. (The piece was awarded a Juror’s Award.)
Photo by Robin Bowman
It was therefore my pleasure to invite Daphne to be one of the Featured Artists in my recent book, ART QUILTS INTERNATIONAL: ABSTRACT & GEOMETRIC, and to learn more about her work. I enjoyed going behind the scenes so much that I asked her to tell me more about her inspiration and working practices.
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MARTHA SIELMAN: How did you get started with quilting? DAPHNE TAYLOR: As a child I grew up in a dynamic circle of women. At any family gathering, the women would pull out their bags of sewing and knitting as they sat and caught up. My mother had an old treadle machine in a corner of the living room. She gave me a bag of scraps and taught me how to use it. I would treadle away, creating clothes for my troll dolls. Later, I learned more sewing skills through 4-H. F E B R U A RY / M A R C H 2 0 1 8
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Photo by Kevin J. Johnson
“Quilt Drawing #20” • 481⁄2" x 47"
It wasn’t until I was an adult with an art career that I discovered quilting. One summer I picked up a five-dollar bag of cloth scraps at a yard sale along Route 3 in Maine. When I spilled it out onto my studio floor, the scraps showed me a maze of design possibilities. I started to cut and sew, creating a collage of
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the fabrics, making my first quilt. For the next few days, I painted outside until the sun was too high, then rushed back to the studio to play with the fabrics. Finally, I gave myself permission to sew full-time, and I have been working in the quilt tradition ever since.
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Each quilt represents a year in my life where time was spent daily in its creation, so it carries a story of time and place.
Photo by James Dee
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“Quilt Drawing #13 – for Maureen” • 39" x 46" 12
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MS: You frequently reference the importance of your Quaker background. Would you explain a little more about Quaker practice and describe where you see parallels with your work? DT: I was brought up to believe that Quakers search for divine guidance by sitting in silence together. They seek simplicity in their lifestyles, and they value that of God in every person. My Quaker roots give me a deep appreciation for the power of silence and simplicity. Learning to sit quietly, to reflect, and to listen are all tools that help to support a thoughtful and creative life.
Photo by Jean Vong
There is a lot of overlap between a spiritual practice of sitting in silence with nothing but my breath and my art practice. Each is a practice of stripping away to the essence: one to the breath, the other to a world of wonderment that I strive to express in the most simple visual language possible. “Quilt Drawing #16 • 50" x 51"
MS: How does drawing influence your work? DT: Drawing has always been an intuitive, natural act. It’s a second language: I am often more able to express myself through drawing than through speaking or writing. It is at the core of all my work. My sketchbooks are a place where I can draw with no judgment, scribble notes and design ideas, and record the progress of my work. It is my small, portable sketchbook that gives me the greatest pleasure. Each page is a drawing of a mundane object: a cup, a chair, a landscape. They are studies in light, shadow, and the color found in everyday life. It is this act of drawing in response to the world around me that most influences my work as an artist.
MS: Why do you exclusively hand quilt? How does that relate to drawing? DT: I have tried machine quilting and would use it if it supported the visual spirit of my work. But for me, hand quilting is the equivalent of drawing and honors my hand’s particular marking. Hand quilting creates a particular surface, and this surface would be erased if I completed the same work using machine quilting. There are times when I have taken out days of stitching. It’s not that my idea has changed, but rather some technical issue has occurred or I am not achieving what I’m after. I hate compromising an idea, so I am at peace with un-stitching.
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My needle and thread assortment is a vast and always growing collection. Buying threads is like buying tubes of paint: I never have enough and each one is a little different. For embroidery, I like to use single strands of cotton thread, predominantly Aurifil™ cotton threads. And at present I am collecting various metallic threads to experiment with in my work. I am not particular about my needles except to change them out when something doesn’t feel right. I use a square PCB white plastic frame for my quilting, plus a portable light which replicates natural daylight.
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MS: You’ve described your work as being influenced by place. Would you describe how landscape influences your abstract designs? Has your recent move from New York to Maine changed your work?
My move from New York City to Maine has been a huge change. Both places have been a part of my life for over 30 years. I was fortunate to be part of a magnificent teaching community in an amazing city for most of my career. The biggest change that being in Maine full-time has brought is having time to reflect, to slow down, and to work daily in my studio. The winters here are long and dark, so there is plenty of opportunity to sit and create work that takes time. MS: Your early work was made of pieced colored silks, and then you spent most of your career working with off-white silk. Now your recent work is exploring a palette of deep, rich colors. What led you to those changes and what is next? DT: Change often occurs when I get a sense that my work is feeling too familiar, too comfortable. In my Drawing Quilt series, I worked with white silks and black-and-white threads as a way to explore the act of drawing, similar to using pencil on paper. With this reserved palette, it was easier to speak about my quilts as drawings. I could work with white silk for the rest of my life, as the beauty of light and shadow silk produces 14
Photo by James Dee
DT: The imagery of my quilts is not influenced by a particular place. However, each quilt represents a year in my life where time was spent daily in its creation, so it carries a story of time and place. When I look at a piece, I remember vividly where I was, what was happening around and within me, and the discipline involved to create that final piece.
“Quilt Drawing #18 • 41" x 41"
is ever-present and abundant with possibility. However, I enjoy taking a break to keep things fresh in spirit. In my past few quilts I have worked with rich, dark colors to explore other ideas and challenges. Shadow doesn’t play as prominent a role in these pieces. The interaction of simple shapes within a vast dark background takes hold. In the past two years I have had a fascination with gold metallic threads. The ancient embroideries that I have seen in museums mesmerize me. I use white and gold threads to create shapes and movement with the dark silk and wool backgrounds.
challenge was holding onto the gestural quality of the line while embroidering with metallic thread, letting the exquisite subtlety of the thin gold line just be. I’m currently finishing a wholecloth quilt of deep blue-black wool, but I am contemplating a return to an off-white palette for my next piece. Perhaps I will investigate the creation of a palette where I can use my love of quilted shadow and embroidery to explore the wonderfully subtle gradations of color found in pearls.
Visit daphnetaylorquilts.com for more inspiring photos and information about her work.
The central focus of “Quilt Drawing #20” is a fine-line, gestural circle in gold. Nothing more is needed. The
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Q U I LT I N G A RT S ® M A G A Z I N E