African-American Quilt - The Unrecognized Contribution to Design

The Nelson Gallery at Art Building is hosting an unusual exhibition of African-American quilts. There are exhibitions of French painting, Asian china, Modern photography, and many more, but I don't see African-American quilt too much. As a matter of fact, the Nelson Gallery exhibition director, Renny Pritikin said that "Among the visual art museum, quilting has been largely ignored." In this exhibition, it features private collections from Sandra McPherson, a former UC Davis English professor and Avis Robinson of Washington, D.C.

Avis Robinson, Piano Keys, 2009

McPherson said that "the African-American contribution to American culture has been crucial, even definitive, in music and dance, and inceasingly vital in literature and theater, but not as well apperciated in the Black contribution to the visual art." In Avis' Piano Keys, I can clearly see the most important design theory elements of Gestalt. Influenced by African-American culture, this quilt pattern is bold. The pulsalting color theme gives it a off balance symmetry with the heavy blue color being contrast with the light yellow, which, at the same time, it creates an instant focal point at the red at the center. The design grabs attention like how modern American pop-art style does with its bold simple color theme. The Gestalt unity does not stop here. The few fragments of blue stripe at the bottom create a continuation out of the frame, which leading the audiences' eyes back on the top. I found the rest of that collections happen to have the same similarities of modern American arts, mainly in their simiplicity and boldness.