J'Adore: Luke Hayes Quilts

I hate gender-based assumptions about life’s activities, but when I think quilting, I don’t think “men”. Clearly, I must think again, after seeing the quilts made by Luke Hayes.

The last six monthsLuke Haynes, born and raised in the American South began experimenting with quilt art, after receiving formal training in art and architecture at Cooper Union, New York.

Subverting the traditional quilting form by integrating modern concepts, his art transforms the comfortably familiar, redefining quilting in an entirely new way.

It’s news to me that quilts were originally worn under armor for cushioning. I think of them as bedding or wall art.

Dancin’ the night awayWorking from photographs, Luke Haynes disassembles, digests, and reconstructs images as progressive cloth murals. Haynes builds on the traditional geometric artistry of medallion quilts, incorporating the narrative influence of slave folk-artist Harriet Powers, whose quilts expressed a narrative. A