In June 2004 I was fortunate to take a class from Phil Beaver. Phil, who lives in Indiana, took up quilting after he retired from a long career as a high-school art teacher. Within a very short period of time, his quilts were winning Best of Show!
Although I started this quilt in 2004, I didn’t finish it until last night! All the fabrics used for the sunflowers themselves I hand-painted in Phil’s class.
This past weekend, after months of on-again, off-again stitching, I finished the smaller of two wall hangings inspired by the ceramics of William De Morgan. De Morgan was the foremost ceramic artist of the Arts & Crafts Movement, and a close friend of William Morris. I am especially enamored of his animal designs, which are reminiscent of those in Medieval illuminated manuscripts, another area of great interest for me.
This wall hanging is modeled on a two-tile design that De Morgan called a dragon. To me, it’s clearly a gryphon. You can see the original tiles at the De Morgan Centre website: http://www.demorgan.org.uk/. On the right side of the home page, scroll down to the last thumbnail image and click to see the tiles.
