Installation with Indigo: Stacked quilts on vintage cot

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Artist: Astrid Bennett

Title: Installation with Indigo: Stacked quilts on vintage cot

Attribution: Installation with Indigo: Stacked quilts on vintage cot, 2023, Astrid Hilger Bennett

Year: 2023

Materials: Installation in various forms with hanging elements and/or stacked 80x80" quilts, vintage cot or table. Indigo and fiber reactive dye on cotton broadcloth, matte medium & stitching, vintage cot

Dimensions: 152" x 84" x 100"

Image Statement: I create visually abstract wall art using only fabrics that I paint or print myself. Having accumulated and created a lifetime of “things”, I now wonder in what ways I’m part of the sustainability problem. Do artists need to make so many “things”? Are there alternative ways to think about art pieces, accomplishments, and storage? Is making functional art radical in our times? Some say yes! At this juncture, I’ve decided that all of my large finished pieces must also be functional. In some dystopian future, they can be used for shelter or warmth, or they can be used well now. Needing color during the global pandemic in July 2020, I started the Dreaming Quilts project, using 30 years of my own fabrics to create 15 one-of-a-kind, full sized, functional quilts to be hung on walls or used for bedding. I continue to add to that trove of large-scale functional works.