Textiles at the Museum of Appalachia

The Aunt Cordie Parker Quilt, The Museum of Appalachia

Our IDS212 class visited the Museum of Appalachia. We explored the grounds and saw items made out of different materials. I am part of the textiles group and found quiltmaking interesting. One item I found inparticular was the Tulip Quilt.

The Tulip Quilt was made by Cordie Peters Parker. She was born in 1856 in East Tennessee. Specifically she lived in Union County which is in Luttrell, Tennessee. Cordie was married to Elvin Parker and they had nine children.

This quilt has a tulip pattern and made in the traditional quilt style. It is composed of three layers, a woven cloth top, a layer of batting which is like insulation for the quilt to keep people warm. The back is woven. Each piece of cloth is woven together. There are two distinguishable types of squares: a navy one and then the cream one with the tulip design on it. There are smaller squares within those two types that make up the quilt. Two fabric layers are joined together by stitches. The top of the quilt is usually called the "patchwork." (a series of blocks.) There is a binding that goes all the way around the quilt and seals in the batting. 

The quilt was used for sleeping. It was a way for their family to keep warm at night when it was cold, especially in the winter. 

Women of Appalachia stayed at home and did housework. They cooked and sewed. Making quilts was something that the women liked to do. There are several patterns and designs that can be created. Quilting was almost a necessary craft. Designs and patterns would become more extravagant therefore quilts started to become art. 

This quilt was passed down to Cordie's children, grandchildren and then was given to the museum. Her family cares about the quilt and knows that quilts were a prominent part of her life. Quilt-makers care about their craft and the different designs that they can create. It is important because, they can incorporate personal elements into the quilt. For example, while visiting the Museum of Appalachia, we listened to a current day quilt-maker, Ruby. She told us about the time she let her granddaughter help make part of a square for the quilt and then sewed her initials into that square. I like how quilts can be personable. To me Appalachian people cared about their craft and focused on making products that were functional but still included ornamental details.

Granny "Lyndall" Toothman

Sweater made of dog hair by Granny Toothman at the Museum of Appalachia in Norris, TN.

     A woman from Williamsburg, West Virginia named Lyndall "Granny" Toothman made this sweater. She was born May 1, 1910 and died on July 13, 2002. She was raised to support herself and use materials from nature. She grew up with weaving arts all around her, but she really learned to spin and weave when Roosevelt issued a Works Progress Administration program to learn forgotten arts.

     The sweater above is made of the hair from her Samoyed dog. The dog is North Siberian from the Samoyed Tribe of people in Russia. Granny claimed the dogs were exported to England and then West Virginia to herd sheep. She also claimed that the sweater is 100% waterproof. It took her a long time to spin the coat from the spring shedding of her dog on an old fashioned wooden spinning wheel and then knit. Granny said, "Well, all I can tell you is that the dog wore the coat one year, and I wore it the next."

     This object is unique to Appalachia because the art of spinning thread and knitting is found historically in Appalachia. Also, Granny Toothman is a very unique person herself from Appalachia.

      Granny was able to use her spinning skills to work at Knotts Berry Farm, Old Tuscon, and Cedar Point amusement parks. She attended the Appalachian Celebration festival in Morehead, Kentucky and from there went to be an artist in resident at Morehead State University. Granny's outstanding accomplishments help show that something incredible can come of something that might seem so "country" and "old-fashioned" to some people.

Museum of Appalachia

The Morehead News

journal 3- the functions of the decorative arts

i have written what i learned from various readings about functional art below:

herman muthesius- the significance of applied art

muthesius characterizes applied art in 3 aspects: artistic, cultural and economic. its artistic sense started out being an expression of the artist, but as time progressed, creators looked at past ideas and art forms to create. applied art has a cultural sense because we use these forms every day. our use for things may change over time as a whole and there is a need for things now that there wasnt a need for many years ago. it is very progressive. finally, the economics of applied art influence the product because cheaper materials make for a better value for the manufacturer and such. all three factors influence the final product. 

the influence of stained glass windows used in a modern home

walter gropius- manifesto of the staatliche bauhaus in weimar

gropius stresses the importance of the structure of a buliding or product. if the structure is not sturdy or working, the product will not work to its full potential. while ornimentation is important and adds beauty and catches the eye, it is not the most important part.

the gargoyles on notre dame cathedral do not give any structural support to the building but add something very interesting to look at

le corbusier- type needs: type furniture

le corbusier's most important point is that human scale is important for all products. an artist or designer must take into account a human's needs before designing their product because if it is not to scale, it is pointless. all humans have the same basic needs when it comes to sizing and scale of objects, even though their individual bodies are different.

Applied Art

Function and Form

    “The Significance of Applied Art,” by Herman Muthesius talks about how applied art serves a specific purpose in our everyday lives. Muthesius makes it clear that applied art has changed in time from being more visually focused, to making sure that the piece has visual interest while serving it’s particular function with ease. This is particularly important nowadays that implied art does it’s job with efficiency, because of the fast paced American lifestyle. Applied art is also significant when it comes to the economy, because it causes people to focus more on the function and design of an object as a whole, rather than believing that it is necessary to buy something soley for it's function, or soley for it's design appeal. Applied art is apart of American art culture, because it is so prevelent nowadays for artists to create artwork that have another purpose rather than just for their beauty. For when an artist is creating a chandelier (like the one shown below), it is more important as a craftsman to make sure that the chandelier is lighting up the desired space, rather than it just looking pretty hanging from the ceiling.

    Many different aspects of life influence applied art: the economy, artistic, and cultural. All three impact how products are produced, because it is important to create interest in a piece while also holding its function.

Unique Wooden Chandelier that also serves it's purpose in creating light

Fine China is a good example of applied art

 Crafty

      “The Manifesto of the Staatliche Bauhaus in Weimar,” by Walter Gropius discusses the importance in creating crafts in order to be a successful designer. I agree with this statement, because your design instincts begin with simple crafts. It allows you to get familiar with materials such as fabrics, which will only help you become more knowledgable as a designer later on in life. Crafting will also allow you to get informed with basic principals like making clean lines, using different materials, and creating an eye-catching piece that serves a purpose.

Weaving bracelets is an example of a craft but it is the basis to weaving applied art such as a basket

Crafts are a way to get your creative juices going, colliding function and form

 Function > Form

     LeCorbusier discusses how the importance of function outweighs form completely, but it seems as if designers have lost touch with this idea lately.  He reminds us how it is important to remember how the use of an object is also what satisfies us, not just by its appearance. Artists and designers seem to focus on the beauty of the product they are creating, but if it is supposed to be applied art, then the real main focus should first be on how they are going to achieve that function. Design should always come after making the function of the applied art, because the purpose of the object is what will be most important to the consumer. 

The Guggenheim Musuem is a good example of how the architect and designers let design and form come before funtion. This musuem turned out to not work, because the musuem needed flat walls to display the artwork, but instead the walls were rounded, therefore the artwork could not lay flat against the wall.

 

The Decorative Arts

Hermann Muthesius states in "The Significance of Applied Art" that "style cannot be anticipated:it is the sum of the honest aspirtions of an age" (81). Style is constantly changing, but we do not determine what it is in style. It truly just comes about and our soiety just follows along with what is said is in style. Economically, we as the customers are told that whatever the newest trend that they are selling is what the current style is. Culturally, in the nineteeth century applied arts were focused more on the style and art of an object rather than the purpose it served. Artistically, artist look in the past at what good design was and what ways there are to improve it. This is where new style forms. Today designers try to figure out what purposes need to served and the style of a product. What comes to mind right now is the current release of the new iPhone 5. They look at old models and try to create something that is better than what is was before and incorporate a new look that they think customers will like. The fact that they tell customers that the new version is better and they change the look of it, everyone listens and goes out and buys the new product.

http://www.apple.com/iphone/#video

 "Together let us desire, conceive, and create the new structure of the future, which will embrace architecture and sculpture and painting in one unity.." (83). Walter Gropius talks about the collaboration of all forms of art in "Manifesto of the Staatliche Bauhaus in Weimar." I believe this is Gropius's most important point. That to know art and design one must explore all art form types and use all of these when creating and designing. When I think of all forms of art put together I think of Michelangelo, an architect, scultor, and painter. One of his great designs was St. Peter's Basilica which embraced each of these art forms.

St. Peter's Basilica

In Le Corbusier's "Type-Needs: Type-Funiture" he states "to search for the human scales, for human function, is to define human needs" (86). When LeCorbusier says this he means that decorative art should relate to the human because most humans all have the same functions. The things or tools in our everyday functioning lives are what he refers to as our type-needs. Le Corbusier states that decorative art is the "extensions of our limbs and are adapted to human functions that are type-functions. Type-needs, type-functions, therefore type-objects and type furniture" (88). Decorative art pieces such as furniture, or a kitchen table, become part of the human from the extreme uses of these objects in human lives.

Kitchen table

Frank, Isabelle (editor) (2000). The theory of decorative art: An anthology of European and American writings 1750-1940. New York: Yale University Press.