Coverlet: Boston Town c. 1939

Byron Dingman made this coverlet, Boston Town, using dyed threads to depict buildings, birds and vases. I can imagine him patiently building up these motifs, stitch by stitch. The whole thing shimmers in reds, blues, and purples. What was he thinking as he worked each thread? Did he see the finished composition in his mind's eye? Or did the design emerge organically as he went along? Look at how the repeated patterns create a rhythm across the surface. The houses seem to stand in for people, like a little village rendered in cloth. There's something so human about textiles, isn't there? The touch of the hand, the imperfections, the way it absorbs our history. It reminds me of quilting, which I’ve never done. I am thinking of Gee’s Bend quilts and the work of Rosie Lee Tompkins. Artists building on each other’s experiments, stretching and skewing forms. And in the end, it all comes down to seeing and feeling. It’s a back and forth that makes the whole project worthwhile.