Crib Coverlet 1935 - 1942

Marian Curtis Foster made this Crib Coverlet, and it's a small marvel of color pencil and graphite. I can imagine her, pencil in hand, thinking about the little one who might snuggle under this design, the kind of love that turns into geometry and flowers. It’s not just a drawing, it’s a soft, safe world mapped out in red and yellow tulips, each one a tiny promise. The leaves shoot out like little directional signals. Look at the border, that quiet flurry of pencil marks that make the quilt almost breathe. Thinking about all the different ways people make marks—sometimes, like here, they make a whole new world bloom. It reminds me of the quilts of Gee’s Bend; different medium but the same type of dedication. There is such tenderness in these acts of creation, isn't there?