Interweave 2, 1982, 68” h x 68” w

From 1974 to 1992 my studio work was carried out in dedicated spaces in our homes, though they were multi-functional spaces that served Judy and I as co-working areas and, with our son Trevor, as family/tv/playrooms that we occupied as a threesome. I adapted early-on to sharing the “studio” with others’ activities, and had only one requirement: there had to be music, and music of certain types, to suit, even to provoke, thoughtful reflection. Generally that meant classical music in many guises: strictly instrumental when a surface concept was being developed, but sometimes opera, especially live Saturday Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts when the tasks at hand were strictly manual. While in time I would acquire dedicated spaces that I no longer had to share, the need to have suitable musical soundtracks has endured. Fifty years later, it’s impossible for me to be in the studio in complete silence. I need others’ creative output to aurally background my own.

By the time I launched into the series I titled the Interweave quilts, I was intentional about marrying musical sensibilities with visual ones. I’d read Kandinsky’s “Concerning the Spiritual in Art” as an undergraduate, while working through Josef Albers’ color theory exercises in design courses, and I came back to it (and to Albers) often as a graduate painting student. Once I began teaching color workshops myself, Kandinsky became a kind of mentor. He offered me a way to articulate a language for my preoccupation with color, and to find ways to translate that fascination into pedagogical strategies.

l. to r.: Interweave 1 (1982), Interweave 4 (1982), Interweave 5 (1982)

“Generally speaking,” Kandinsky wrote, “colour is a power which directly influences the soul. Colour is the keyboard, the eyes are the hammers, the soul is the piano with many strings. The artist is the hand which plays, touching one key or another, to cause vibrations in the soul.” [“Concerning the Spiritual in Art,” 1977 Dover Publications edition, p. 25.] That sums up precisely what I aspired to do when I organized sequences of colors in narrow bands, sewed them together, then cut and juxtaposed specific “color notes” within a simple grid structure. While a certain degree of chance or serendipity contributed to the overall visual energies of each piece, each individual spot of color “sounded” against its neighbors, participating in creating visual chords and harmonies that gave each piece its substance and resonance.

Square Dance Interweave 2, detail view

 Interweave 7, 1986, 60” x 60”

 Interweave 10 (l.), 1986, 45” x 45”; Interweave 12 (r.), 1987, 34” x 34”

The consistent element in this group of quilts was same-sized strips, organized in color and value contrasts. I'd cut and sew one-inch strips (resulting in half-inch sewn strips), one-and-a-quarter inch strips (resulting in three-quarter inch sewn strips), or one-and-a-half inch strips (resulting in one inch sewn strips), depending on the ultimate size I projected for a given work. Smaller quilts used narrower strips, and larger ones used wider strips. It was calculated and deliberate, though the final surface design of each piece incorporated a lot of unanticipated contrasts and energies.

 Interweave Diamond Variation, 1998, 34.5” x 34.5”

Square Dance Interweave 2, 2001, 50” x 50” ; below, installation view in collector’s home

Between 1981 when I finished the first Interweave quilt and 2015 when I completed the final one, I made a total of twenty-five variations, representing about 7% of my total output over 50 years. These were popular with collectors, and consequently I had to be careful to avoid approaching them formulaically. The design problem had to remain challenging, and every color and value juxtaposition had to considered and purposeful. Each color "note" had to vibrate in some way, and the vibrations had to "sound" as if they were instrumental chords. So, Kandinsky and Albers as spirit guides, music as embryo, process as generative vehicle. A body of work coalesces.

Interweave 16, 2002, 51.5” x 51.5”. Installation view in College of Education & Human Sciences, University of Nebraska–Lincoln. In this public space, the quilt is protected by a plexiglas shield.