Song Quilts: A Celebration of Stitch and Song

The “Song Quilts” project visually interprets folk music from across the US and Northwest Russia. I traveled to Moscow, Arkhangelsk, Murmansk, Nebraska, Alabama, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, where I recorded folks songs sung by women. I then developed a notation method that translates pitch into color, and rhythm into shape.  Quilted with a regional textile design, each quilt brings the person and the place into the room –  to recreate the spirit of the singer and pay homage to the textile traditions of their homes. The result is a synesthetic meditation on the power of women’s voices and folk traditions across diverse peoples. The Song Quilts celebrate the contributions of “women’s work” to national identity and global culture, and challenge audiences to revisit their own conceptions of fine art and folk art, the visual arts and music, and the people who create them.