Saturday, April 1, 2023

Albersesque

Once again, it's my turn to put forward a prompt for my Bee Sewcial mates, and after much internal debate, I've decided that we will spend the month being inspired by the work of Josef Albers, making blocks in a style I've dubbed 'Albersesque.' "Josef Albers was an American-German artist best known for his iconic color square paintings, also know as his Homage to the Square series. These works, along with his writings, are considered invaluable contributions to color theory." [artnet.com]

I've created a small Pinterest board with several of Albers' pieces, though my mates are welcome to be inspired by others of his works. Another good source of inspiration would be Josef Albers' book, Interaction of Color. I'm just looking for inspiration images with basic shapes, not necessarily the ones illustrating transparency.  I'm also ok if they create their own Albers-like block to recreate, rather than an actual one. The key focus should be on simple shapes and color.

I'm asking for three 9.5" square blocks from each member. No gray/black/brown or white/ivory, but all the other colors are welcome. 

Each block should be its own palette, though there would preferably be some minimal crossover between blocks. And each block should definitely be improv, preferably ruler-free (until final trimming), and inspired by a Josef Albers or "Albersesque" piece - maybe even recognizable as such, but not necessarily. 

Each of the three blocks should follow the same inspiration piece. I made my first block quite similar to my chosen inspiration, hoping to illustrate clearly my intent with the prompt, though it isn't necessary to be quite so obvious.


I usually choose a narrower color palette for my Bee Sewcial prompt, so I feel like I'm going out on a limb here. But I wanted a prompt that wasn't overly demanding, yet fun, and I hope this one will prove to be so. You know I'll share more as blocks start rolling in!

6 comments:

  1. This is exciting, I love what you're designing and thinking here! Thanks for sharing!

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  2. I like that all 3 blocks should be based on the same inspiration piece. Now that I know that I can see the variations in your blocks and I'm quite curious to see how others interpret the challenge.

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  3. These are very interesting and I love the bright colors. I always seem to gravitate to the more vintage styles and fabrics, but I have a niece that's been begging for a quilt and she like the modern styles and truth is I've been wanting to do something out of my wheelhouse. I'll be looking forward to seeing your finished project.
    Happy Quilting! Connie :)

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  4. Ooo. What a good choice for inspiration! I like the simplicity of these blocks, and the ways you've manipulated colors to make each one of yours a little piece of art. I think a quilt of these sorts of blocks will be amazing - I can picture it. You've presented your bee mates with a fun opportunity to create.

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  5. It will be fun to see how others interpret this prompt and what the choose for inspiration. It looks like fun!

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  6. I totally agree with Yvonne. It was exciting to see the difference and yet similarity in the three blocks and I am sure it will help get the piece "together" in the end. xo

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