Quilts

The Nelson Art Gallery at UC Davis is currently hosting an African American Quilts exhibition from September 24 - December 13, 2009. I did not take any pictures but I remember looking at this quilt (shown on the right) in the gallery. The first Gestalt principle that pops out in my head is similarity of colors. The vibrant colors of red, maroon, purple, pink and the different hues and saturation shades from it combine to make an aesthetically-pleasing design for the quilt. Also, the vertical and horizontal lines used in the quilt makes it easy for the viewer to distinguish the different squares amongst each other. But what's interesting is that the lines are not completely straight and horizontal and vertical, they are wavy. It somewhat creates an illusion effect that the quilt is draped with some flowy dimension to it. If the designer of this quilt had used completely straight lines, then the quilt may have had more of a 2-dimensional aspect to it. But because the lines are wavy, there is a somewhat 3-dimensional aspect as if maybe the wind can be blowing on it.

It's a shame I did not bring my camera because I saw many beautiful quilts. I noticed that not all the quilts were ever the same. Some were very different, and some were similar. I also noticed that the Gestalt principles play a huge role in all of these pieces. There were some that had similarity in color and there were some with different kinds of colors to distinguish space. There was use of repetition and continuation as if you could put the quilts next to each other and make an even bigger quilt. Overall, it was a great learning experience for me.