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Marsh Island

Gayle Fraas and Duncan W. Slade

Marsh Island

1985

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Gayle Fraas and Duncan W. Slade

Marsh Island

1985

Physical Qualities Acrylic on fabricated wood components, procion dyes on cotton ground, batting, and backing, a (panel A): 79 1/8 x 48 x 3 1/2 in. (201 x 121.9 x 8.9 cm.) b (panel B): 78 x 52 x 3 1/2 in. (198.1 x 132.1 x 8.9 cm.) c (panel C): 79 x 57 1/2 x 3 1/2 in. (200.7 x 146.1 x 8.9 cm.) d-f (steps A-C, each): 15 1/4 x 48 x 11 1/4 in. (38.7 x 121.9 x 28.6 cm.) g (urn): 12 x 13 7/8 x 1/2 in. (30.5 x 35.2 x 1.3 cm.)
Credit Line Gift of the Artists in Memory of Michael Kile
Object Number 2014.82
Three painted wood frames with dye painted and quilted inserts, steps leading up to each and an urn on top. The three frames and steps form a single unit with the painted and quilted insets. The whole forms a triptych with a single scene showing a rocky beach with shards of pottery and an urn scattered over the sands looking out to the sea and horizon line. The scene is inspired by the rocky coast on Marsh Island, an island in Muscongus Bay off the coast of Maine. Each panel is quilted by machine in the area of sky and to some extent the land with hand quilting added around the rocks and shards on the beach. Each frame is painted black with irregular angular motifs painted yellow, blue, or purple with the lower sections painted in rocks and bolders to match the landscapes on the quilted sections. Each also has a superimposed irregular section added on top of the framework that project over the quilted panels. A flight of five steps leads up to each frame as if the viewer is walking through an opening onto the beach. The reverse side of the panels are painted black with a few irregular shapes in purple, blue or yellow. A painted urn is attached to the top of the middle panel.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 2014; the artists, Maine
Anita Jones, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "New Arrivals: Art Quilts," December 16, 2015 - June 19, 2016.

Penny McMorris and Michael Kile, "The Art Quilt," Los Angeles Municipal Gallery, began Oct. 1, 1986. Toured for three years.

“Frontiers- the Art Quilts of Gayle Fraas & Duncan Slade" (retrospective), New England Quilt Museum, Lowell, MA ,1998.

Anita Jones, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "New Arrivals: Art Quilts," December 16, 2015 - June 19, 2016.
McMorris, Penny and Kile, Michael. The Art Quilt. San Francisco: The Quilt Digest Press, 1986, pl 13, et. al.
Cox, Meg. "The Art Quilt Market: Inverview with Robert Shaw." SAQA Art Quilt Quarterly no. 11 (2018): 4-7.

Inscribed: Quilted panel in 1st (proper right) section signed at lower proper left (viewer's right): "FRAAS SLADE" Quilted panel in 3rd (proper left) section signed at lower center on rock: "FRAAS SLADE"

Artist

Gayle Fraas and Duncan W. Slade

American, born 1952; American, born 1951
Meet Gayle Fraas and Duncan W. Slade

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