When my children were young and home sick from school, I would wrap them in a patchwork quilt that my aunt made from scraps of cloth. We called it the “sick quilt,” which contained magical powers that helped them heal. I have fond memories of those days: reading storybooks, watching children’s movies on clunky VHS tapes, and drinking root beer floats while the quilt performed its healing magic.
Maybe this is why I am so taken with the story of Sonia Delaunay (1885-1979), an abstract artist and key figure in the Parisian avant-garde, who began her career by sewing a quilt for her infant son using bits of colorful fabric like those she had seen in the houses of her neighbors in her small Russian village. When it was finished, the arrangement of the pieces of material reminded her of cubism, the dominant artistic style of the time, which she then applied to her paintings. She became so famous for her work that in 1964 she was the first woman to have a solo exhibition at the Louvre Museum.
I think of Sonia’s patterns when I work on my small, colorful, abstract paintings: her bohemian lifestyle, forward thinking approach to art, use of bold colors, texture, and abstract designs find their way into my own creations. As a shout-out to this courageous woman, I titled this painting Sonia’s Delaunay’s Quilt.
