#1 Space Veggie

i live here

im a person

its okay to make noise

youre allowed to go outside

First row:

Aurora 1978 108" h x 96" w assorted fabrics; hand-sewn Collection, the International Quilt Museum, University of Nebraska–Lincoln

Moonshadow 1979 100" h x 80" w assorted fabrics; hand-sewn

Private collection

Second row:

Double Cascade; Yang, Yin 1989 51" x 102" cotton & silk; machine-sewn

Collection, American Association of Retired Persons, Washington, DC

Third row:

Rhythmetron 1980 68" h x 68" w cotton; hand- and machine-sewn

Private collection

Interweave 2 1982 68" h x 68" w cotton; machine-sewn

Private collection

Fourth row

Blue Undercurrents 1983 70.5" h x 69" w cotton; machine-sewn

Collection, the International Quilt Museum, University of Nebraska–Lincoln

His more recent work has moved into a more mixed-media collage direction; I particularly like this:

I ask my students every week to write 10 observations of the actual world. It’s very hard for them.

Ms. Tippett:

Really?

Ms. Howe:

They really find it hard.

Ms. Tippett:

What do you mean? What is the assignment? 10 observations of their actual world?

Ms. Howe:

Just tell me what you saw this morning like in two lines. I saw a water glass on a brown tablecloth, and the light came through it in three places. No metaphor. And to resist metaphor is very difficult because you have to actually endure the thing itself, which hurts us for some reason.

Ms. Tippett:

It does.

Ms. Howe:

It hurts us.

Ms. Tippett:

You naming something.

Ms. Howe:

We want to say, “It was like this; it was like that.” We want to look away. And to be with a glass of water or to be with anything — and then they say, “Well, there’s nothing important enough.” And that’s whole thing. It’s the point.

Ms. Howe:

It’s the this, right?

Ms. Howe:

Right, the this, whatever. And then they say, “Oh, I saw a lot of people who really want” — and, “No, no, no. No abstractions, no interpretations.” But then this amazing thing happens, Krista. The fourth week or so, they come in and clinkety, clank, clank, clank, onto the table pours all this stuff. And it so thrilling. I mean, it is thrilling. Everybody can feel it. Everyone is just like, “Wow.” The slice of apple, and then that gleam of the knife, and the sound of the trashcan closing, and the maple tree outside, and the blue jay. I mean, it almost comes clanking into the room. And it’s just amazing.

Ms. Tippett:

In some basic level, what they’ve done is just engage with their senses.

Ms. Howe:

Yeah, and have been present out of their minds and just noticing what’s around them, which is — we don’t do. And again, not to compare it to anything. They’re not allowed. And that’s very hard for them. And then on the fifth or sixth week, I say, “OK, use metaphors.” And they don’t want to. They don’t know how. They’re like, “Why would I? Why would I compare that to anything when it’s itself?” Exactly. Good question.

So then you think, why the necessity of a metaphor? Why do you have to use a metaphor now? Not just to do it to avoid it, but to do it to make it more there. And it’s very interesting.

someone on reddit explained 😭