Quilt No. 6 | Shelby Seier
Shelby Seier is a disabled and chronically ill artist and creative accommodations provider rooted in the Great Plains. Her practice, All Kinds Accessibility Consulting, promotes and implements accessibility as an art form and as an opportunity to strengthen relationships. She is an improvisational quilter, holds a background in performing arts, and so far exclusively draws chairs and beds — two of her favorite accommodational aids. She is particularly interested in exploring the political potential of playscapes, anti-ableist dance practices, making accommodations for and by disabled people, and the power of play in the collective's day-to-day. Say howdy @shelbyseier on Instagram, or at www.shelbyseier.com!
Tenants from the artist's background in improvisational comedy — such as the frenzied, yet methodical nature of building individual scenes to make a whole — are folded into the creation of this quilt. The colors chosen are a nod to a major wellspring of inspiration in Shelby's life: a cohort of close friends that all happen to adore primary colors, perhaps symbolizing a strong base from which all else emerges.
Quilted by Michelle Berman, bound by Lindsay Oldani in Portland, OR.
Quilt measures: 34.5" x 44.5"
Materials: 100% linen front, back, binding. 100% organic cotton batting.
Image Description for Quilt Top: A 34.5" x 44.5" improvised quilt using red, ochre, lavender, mustard, cobalt blue, dark green, white, tan, and black and white gingham linens with gingham basting. There is a red L shape on the left, interrupted with strips of ochre and lavender, meeting up with a large cobalt blue square on the lower right. Stretching along the top of the quilt is rectangles of mustard interrupted by checks of rectangular white and colored fabrics, with a large strip of gingham fabric underneath. What remains of the quilt are various improvised vignettes, connected through no order whatsoever, and somewhat evoking Bauhaus textile trends. There are three nine patches and two log cabin variations. There are moments of strips of fabric squeezed in on curves, forming long slivers of color. Quilt is hanging from natural rope against a cream-painted, cinder block wall.
Image Description for Quilt Back: A large rectangle of lavender on the top left, with two long smaller strips of ochre and black and white gingham underneath, each a smaller width than the rectangle above it. To the right of these three are two parallel pieces, the first in mustard, with a break of checkered patchwork, and a cobalt blue piece. Underneath all of this, a stretch of gingham. Taking up the most space is a large block of mustard, interrupted by thin vertical strips of lavender, dark green, and red in irregular breaks. Underneath, a larger width stretch of gingham, finished by a long strip of red. In the left bottom corner is a tiny sliver of surprise of of cobalt and lavender. The quilt is replete with gingham binding and horizontal striped topstitching.