Punctuation
- Object:
- Place of origin:
Colchester, United Kingdom (made)
- Date:
- Artist/Maker:
Impey, Sara, born 2053 (maker)
- Materials and Techniques:
Free machine quilted silk
- Museum number:
- Gallery location:
- Image unavailable
Trained as a journalist, Sara Impey views words and narrative as implicit to quiltmaking: often constructed over a long period of time, every quilt is imbued with the experience of the maker. Impey believes that by using text, this narrative can become explicit as well. The inscription on 'Punctuation' is based on a letter that came to light when the artist was searching her mother's belongings following her death. The letter was kept for many years in a chest of drawers containing bottles of perfume and bath essences, and hints at a former relationship between her mother and a family friend. In conversation, Impey speaks of the surprise of discovering a hidden, intimate history, stowed away yet treasured amongst personal possessions. She also notes the enduring power of this story to resurrect itself, its will to survive, and the perpetual allure of the words on the page.
Impey chose two phrases to work with: 'never did like punctuation' and 'see you suddenly one day'. Playing with the myth that women stitched love letters into their quilts, Impey used this letter from a family friend to inspire the rest of the text.
Physical description
Cream silk ground, free machine quilted in orange, red and three shades of blue polyester thread. Wadded with cotton. Cream cotton reverse.
Place of Origin
Colchester, United Kingdom (made)
Date
2009 (made)
Artist/maker
Impey, Sara, born 2053 (maker)
Materials and Techniques
Free machine quilted silk
Marks and inscriptions
SEE YOU SUDDENLY ONE DAY/ AT/ THE GAP BETWEEN THOUGHTS/ OR IN/ THE COLOUR OF SPEECH/ OR ALONG/ THE DASH OF THE STITCH/ OR BEYOND/ THE PINPOINT OF FOCUS/ OR AROUND/ THE CURVE OF THE QUESTION/ OR ON/ THE BRINK OF OMISSION/ OR UNDER/ THE IMPRINT OF FOOTNOTES/ OR THROUGH THE TEXTURE OF SCRIPT/ OR ABOVE/ THE SHOUT OF THE SURFACE/ OR INSIDE THE WEB OF CROSS-REFERENCE/ OR BEFORE/ THE LILT OF THE COMMA/ OR AFTER/ THE FINAL FULL-STOP/ NEVER DID LIKE/ PUNCTUATION/ SEE YOU SUDDENLY ONE DAY
Dimensions
Height: 126 cm, Width: 126 cm
Historical context note
Trained as a journalist, Sara Impey views words and narrative as implicit to quiltmaking: often constructed over a long period of time, every quilt is imbued with the experience of the maker. By using text, this narrative ‘can become explicit as well’.
Descriptive line
'Punctuation', quilted cream silk, designed and made by Sara Impey, England, 2009
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Sue Prichard, 'Negotiating space: fabric and the feminine 1945-2010, in Sue Prichard (ed.) Quilts 1700-2010 (London: V&A, 2010) p.181
Exhibition History
Quilts 1700-2010 (Victoria and Albert Museum 20/03/2010-20/03/2010)
Labels and date
Punctuation
Sara Impey (born 1953), England
2009
Like its 19th-century counterparts, Punctuation explores the quilt as a carrier of messages. The work is based on a letter that came to light when the artist was searching her mother's belongings following her death.
Impey chose two phrases to work with: 'never did like punctuation' and 'see you suddenly one day'. Playing with the myth that women stitched love letters into their quilts, Impey used this long-cherished letter from a family friend to inspire the rest of the text.
Silk
Collection of the artist
My primary concern is getting the utmost from the medium as it exists in its simplest form - just fabric and thread - in order to express myself. Recent quilts using text have opened up a new dimension in expressive potential. The narrative that imbues every quilt (since it is constructed over a period of time, accompanying events in the maker's life) was once implicit. With text it can become explicit as well.
Sarah Impey [20th March 2010]
Materials
Cotton; Silk; Polyester
Techniques
Quilting
Categories
Textiles
Collection code
T&D
