Artwork Details
- Title
- Slow Poetry #1
- Artist
- Date
- 2018
- Location
- Not on view
- Dimensions
- 47 1⁄8 × 45 3⁄8 in. (119.7 × 115.3 cm)
- Copyright
- © 2019, Chawne M Kimber
- Credit Line
- Gift of Fleur S. Bresler
- Mediums
- Mediums Description
- cotton denim, felt cotton thread, and cotton batt
- Classifications
- Subjects
- Object — letter
- Allegory — passion — love
- Object Number
- 2023.40.7
Artwork Description
Chawne Kimber
born 1971, Frankfort, KY
resides Lexington, VA
Slow Poetry #1
2018
cotton denim, felt cotton thread, and cotton batting
Against blue-jean patchwork and in the form of the 1990s magnetic poetry trend, this quilt offers a series of affirmations that sometimes repeat themselves or generate new affirmations when rearranged. Loose threads hang from the denim, refusing clean resolutions and boundaries.
Chawne Kimber hand-stitched this quilt during long drives to visit her ailing mother in South Carolina, during which she also reflected on the physical and historical landscape of the United States. The denim honors her father’s roots in Alabama, where cotton was once king, and the indigo threads honor her mother’s coastal Carolina heritage.
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Fleur S. Bresler, 2023.40.7, © 2019, Chawne M. Kimber
We Gather at the Edge: Contemporary Quilts of Black Women Artists, 2025