Handwoven Coverlet c. 1939

This handwoven coverlet, made by M. Louise Kent, probably involved a huge amount of intense labour! The artist would have worked in a repetitive way, building up an image from small woven marks. I am imagining Kent, working away to create this colourful pattern, and wondering what's going through their mind. This piece has a real tactile quality – you can almost feel the texture of the woven threads. The palette is quite muted with pale greens and reds, which gives it a calming, folksy vibe. It reminds me of old quilts but also the work of artists like Al Loving, who explored colour and pattern in really innovative ways. It’s all about how these elements come together, right? What a great example of how artists, or artisans, respond to the everyday, transforming something simple into something beautiful and meaningful. It embraces the handmade, the imperfect, and the deeply personal.