The Quilts of Pauline Parker: Family Guide

READY FOR MORE FAMILY FUN? Stop by the ArtPack Station, on Level 1 near the elevators in the Collection Galleries, to check out more activities for families.

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THE QUILTS OF PAULINE PARKER

first spread: [Oshkosh farm quilt], 1980s. Frog Hunt, 1999. second spread: Blue Mosque, 1996. Collection of Olivia A. Brown.

Elegy to an Old Lace Dress, 1996. Birches in Moonlight, 1992.

The Rock, The River, The Tree - Maya Angelou, 1993. third spread: [Garden party dress], 2003.

All works from Parker Art Legacy, LLC, and all photos by Patrick Young, unless otherwise noted.

WELCOME!

BREAKING WITH TRADITION

You are about to discover quilts that Pauline Parker made.

Parker’s early quilts are based on traditional quilt patterns.

She soon turned to making quilts in her own way—“painting” with fabric to tell a story. She took inspiration from nature, her travels, stories from the Bible, and current events.

Pauline Parker lived from 1915 to 2003. She was born in Alton, Illinois, and later took painting classes at the Art Institute of Chicago. She not only made art, mostly in watercolor, but she taught it, too! After she retired from teaching, she moved to a farm near Viola, Wisconsin.

It was there that she first started making quilts. It’s never too late to explore your creativity or try something new!

Pauline Parker

One of Pauline Parker’s early quilts.

Pauline Parker’s later work.

The Family Guide is sponsored by Four-Four Foundation and an anonymous donor.

The Quilts of Pauline Parker March 20–July 19, 2020 Presenting Sponsor: The McCombe and Pfeifer Families and the Gottlob Armbrust Family Fund in Memory of Helen Louise Pfeifer Supporting Sponsors: Milwaukee Art Museum’s Friends of Art Milwaukee Art Museum’s Garden Club

Museum Visionaries: Debbie and Mark Attanasio Donna and Donald Baumgartner John and Murph Burke Sheldon and Marianne Lubar Joel and Caran Quadracci Sue and Bud Selig Jeff Yabuki and the Yabuki Family Foundation

TAKE A TRIP

MATERIAL WORLD

Find this quilt.

Find this quilt.

Pauline Parker loved to travel, and this quilt depicts a real place that she visited. It shows the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, also known as the Blue Mosque, in Istanbul, Turkey. Why is it called the “Blue Mosque”? The inside is covered with thousands of patterned, blue ceramic tiles.

Pauline Parker loved collecting fabric to make her quilts. She shopped at fabric stores, but she also cut up clothing that she found at thrift stores and antique shops.

Find Parker’s watercolor painting of the same subject matter nearby.

Look closely. Which fabric in this quilt is your favorite? Sketch it in the patch here:

How are they alike?

How are they different?

Sultan Ahmed Mosque

Fun Fact: Sometimes a fabric that Parker found inspired a story. A baby’s lacy dress prompted this quilt, and she used it to clothe the baby and the woman holding her.

THE BEAUTY OF NATURE

POETRY IN MOTION

Find Birches in Moonlight.

Find The Rock, The River, The Tree - Maya Angelou.

The landscape of Parker’s farm in southwestern Wisconsin fed her imagination. She absorbed what she saw, and then brought it to life in her own way.

This quilt takes its name from a line in a poem called “On the Pulse of Morning” by Maya Angelou. While Angelou, who lived from 1928 to 2014, used words to help us see the world in a new way, Parker used fabric.

TRY IT! Make a sketch of this quilt in the space below:

Look closely. What pattern of fabric did Parker use to create the river? (circle one)

DOTTED

Now that you’ve drawn the quilt, did you notice anything new about it?

Parker used lots of pieces of fabric and turned them in different directions to create a sense of movement.

STRIPED

FLOWER

STITCH BY STITCH

PARTS OF A QUILT A quilt is made up of three layers that are sewn together.

Look!

Parker used appliqué to make this and other quilts. Appliqué is a sewing technique in which smaller pieces of fabric are arranged and then sewn to a larger piece to create a pattern or a picture.

Fabric Top

Look!

The lines of the background are an example of what is called “machine quilting.”

This means that Parker used a sewing machine to “draw” the lines with thread. The thread serves another function, too: it holds together the three layers of the quilt—the fabric on the top and bottom, and the batting (thin stuffing) in the middle.

Look!

Look at the woman’s shoes and the flower petals. See the small patches of material?

Parker carefully folded the edges of the fabric and sewed each piece on by hand.

How to say it: AP-lih-KAY Appliqué comes from a French word that means “to put on.”

Batting (Thin Stuffing)

Look!

What is the woman wearing?

What is she holding in her hands?

Fabric Back