TIC TAC TALK
Elizabeth Gurrier
Hampton, New Hampshire
2000
Unbleached cotton muslin, textile pigments, silk thread, polyester fiber fill and batting
Machine quilted, stuffed and hand embroidered with three-dimensional stuffwork hands
39 x 40 inches
Note: This work is signed by the artist.

This is a wholecloth quilt; the top was hand painted on a single piece of unbleached cotton muslin that was then stuffed, backed, bound, quilted, and embroidered.

Like the tic tac toe game it references, this quilt is made up of nine equally sized squares, set three over three.The squares depict a shifting series of intense, intimate interchanges between two men, two women, or a man and woman, all of whom might represent players in the deceptively simple old game. The diagonal row of male/female couples running from upper left to bottom right wins the game.

"Gurrier uses Createx textile pigments, developed by Color Craft, which are liquid, water-based textile pigments known for their soft hand, lightfastness, and color intensity. She never uses color directly from the bottle, and she reduces the intensity without changing the consistency by using extender.

"She avoids using black and white but likes grays and complementary colors. 'I’m having fun playing with the colors, putting in the extender, washing it all out, and then putting in just binder,' she says. 'Paints are unpredictable. Using them is a learning process.'

"Gurrier keeps a notebook of color swatches and formulas so she can build her color knowledge as each piece progresses. However, she mixes new colors for each piece. 'After I have finished a piece, I dump out all the paints so I don’t repeat,' she says.

"As she paints on the pigment, she follows her sketch lines exactly with the same precision for which her stitchery is known. 'Sometimes as I’m painting I think, Gee, that gradation would be nice. And then I think, That’s paint. I want the gradation to come in the quilting.'"

—Meg Currie, Threads Magazine

$2500

For more information or to purchase, contact Robert Shaw