Sometimes it isn’t the technology that’s new, it’s what a person does with it. I must admit, I’m not usually a big fan of video art installations, but Merli V. Guerra’s video at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles had me riveted.
To create Threading Motion Project: Quilt Vignettes, Guerra chose six quilts from the New England Quilt Museum’s exhibition Silk! and projected each one onto a dancer or troupe of dancers. What’s so exciting about seeing a quilt projected onto a dancer? The shadows, the movement, the form. I especially enjoyed three of the videos.
Sonya Lee Barrington’s quilt Spinal, a stylized backbone made of silk dupioni projected onto one solitary “dancer.” There’s not much movement, but it is mesmerizing.
Video Still (left) and Actual Quilt (right)
Quilt by Sonya Lee Barrington
Judith Content’s Chasm, again projected onto a solitary dancer, was magical. This time the movement and changing camera angles created waves of color.
Quilt by Judith Content
Bethanne Nemesh’s Gllding the Arbor was the most energetic dance. The music and the energy of the dancers blended perfectly with the color scheme of the quilt. What was so compelling about this piece was that the quilt was not reflected off of the black clothing of the dancers, as opposed to Chasm, where the quilt reflected off all of the dancer’s garb.
Quilt by Bethanne Nemesh
This installation is part of the exhibition, Milestones: Textiles of Transition showing at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles May 8 – July 21, 2013. To see the promo for the video, click here.