Nine Patch

Scroll down to see individual images and titles.

Available in several sizes

5 inch square giclée card-blank inside with envelope ● $12
7.25 inch square giclée on Museo Max paper ● $45

7.75% sales tax applies. Shipping via USPS Priority Mail.
See FAQ for how to order.

As I was drawn to make these “dress quilts”, in my mind I saw them displayed as a nine patch pattern of art. The dress quilts came about after reading a blog by artist Jude Hill who hand-quilts very interesting works that she calls “spirit cloth”. She inspired me to quilt without needle and thread and make these digital somethings. I love how we inspire each other via a kind of quilting bee with the internet as our connecting web. The dress celebrates the feminine in all of us.

I made the “dress quilts” to be part of a group exhibition of digital art called “Pixil Impressons”. The show ran from September 30 — October 30, 2015, with Joan Constable, Elsah Cort, Robert Mertens, Brent Mosley, Wayman Stairs and Susan Thompson at Arts Visalia Gallery in Visalia, California. The images were framed individually and hung in the pattern below, collectively called “Nine Patch”.

The Nine Patch arrived in the early 1800’s as a way for women to quilt smaller squares on their laps as they traveled across our continent in covered wagons. This was a revolutionary idea for quilting, during a time when every bed was covered with a handmade quilt.

As the dress quilts showed up and became a nine patch, I also saw how they represented the profound bagua pattern used for practicing feng shui. I love feng shui and have integrated it into my home, art studio, artwork and life over the past twenty years. The word bagua means eight-sided. It becomes a nine patch when the eight sections are connected via the center, called the tai chi or well-being. I hung the images in specific positions syncing with the bagua pattern.

“Tide Pool” digital collage © Elsah Cort

(I came across images of clothing found in a trunk belonging to Frida Kahlo and this dress became the first “dress quilt” before I even knew a series of them would show up.)