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Christmas Tableau…(nearly) DONE!
And the front is finished! I took photos on Monday and mailed my entry to Houston on Tuesday! The only things left to do (as usual) are sew down the bottom side of the hanging sleeve, add the label (half-done on the computer) and sew it on, and add the documentation pocket (more about that when it is done).
So, here it is:
For several years I had wondered what I could do in the way of an art quilt as a gift to San Domenico School, where I attended 7th to 12th grades (1969-75). When the Alumnae Bulletin arrived in Fall 2005, and I saw that year was to be the 100th consecutive performance of Christmas Tableaux, I knew I had my subject matter. I immediately set to work researching images of Fra Angelico’s paintings on the internet, as well as collecting images and scripts and songs from the program itself (with help from Beth O’Hara and Sister Gervaise). Then I began sketching. Other influences on the quilt were motherhood, a favorite book: They Followed a Bright Star, a favorite Christmas recording that I have listened to almost every Christmas eve since I was a young child called “The Night the Animals Talked,” and the show “The Little Drummer Boy.” By the time the quilt was finished it had grown in completed size (69 inches wide by 51 inches tall), and is packed with symbolic images and words.
The overall feel of the quilt, I hope, is reminiscent of the settings and scenery of Fra Angelico’s paintings, and individual figures are taken from his paintings (please refer to the Image Sources list) and my family life. First I sketched the figures, then roughed out the background of the quilt. I placed the dark blue batik for the night sky and my brown hand-dyed fabric for the ground on the design wall, then disassembled two plaid winter uniforms (thanks again to Beth, who found some old uniforms in the uniform closet that were too tatty to be re-used) to create the mountain range. Finally, I added the buildings.
Once the background was stitched together, I began work on the figures. I tackled the hardest part first: the faces. I began using Tsukinenko inks, but found that in this scale I couldn’t get the detail I wanted with the tools I had available to use with the inks. So I created the details on the faces using artist’s Prismacolor pencils and “set” the images with spray fixative. Next, I placed the fabric in an embroidery hoop to do free-motion machine embroidery to create the hair. Finally, I cut out the faces.
For the bodies of the people and animals, I used a firm interfacing, fusible side up, and cut out shapes reminiscent of paper doll forms. I fused the fabrics to the top, turning the edges to the back side. Fra Angelico’s paintings show people dressed the way people did when he was alive, in early 15th century 
My second, oops, make that now-third-grader, Eli, likes mousies, and asked me to add one to the quilt. Since he has a book called the Mouse in the Manger, and since my cat Tyger is getting ready to jump into the warm spot in the manger, I thought that would be a great place for a mouse. Eli drew one for me, and I added him –if you right-click to open this picture in a separate window look smack-dab in the center for a spot of gray…that’s Eli’s mouse!
And I’ll add more about the quilt, the words quilted into it, the individual paintings that inspired the figures and more as the week progresses.
June 21st, 2006 at 8:04 am
Wow Sarah It is really breathtaking! You have done a wonderful spectacular job. Tell Eli I saw his mouse:)
June 21st, 2006 at 3:40 pm
Sarah … what can I say … stunning! The details, the quilting, the embellishments … simply stunning. Congratulations!
June 21st, 2006 at 5:18 pm
This is absolutely an amazingly beautiful quilt.
June 22nd, 2006 at 5:29 pm
What an absolutely beautiful quilt. Good luck with it!
December 15th, 2006 at 10:07 am
I love this quilt. Do you think it will be in Chicago this spring. I would love to see it in person. Your art is really an inspiration to me.. Love your blog and website. Laura
May 3rd, 2009 at 10:54 am
[…] list about my drawing, Suzanne saw my post and must have remembered my San Domenico quilt (here and here plus additional blogposts in late June 2006) and sent me this jpeg of her quilt for her school. […]