(Unknown (attributed to African American Slaves)
The windmill design on the quilt lends its rhythm to its distinct color pattern. The windmill displays movement through the different positions of the colored blades; if viewed from the top half left to right, the windmill is moving counterclockwise. The color scheme enhances the pattern because the alternation between maroon and olive green creates a vibrant rhythm which ultimately constructs a balance. The way the windmill blades are faced also displays variety through their different variable movements in which no two windmills are alike. The variable movements and dual colors within each frame possibly represent a wind day in the field where African American slaves worked laboriously as they looked up towards the windmill.
(Ross Ella Kincaid
Untitled n.d.
Cotton
Collection of Sandra McPherson;
taken by camera phone)
(Quilt up close; taken by camera phone)
The quilt holds two salient symbols: the women in bonnets and the farm barn. Although they appear simple and somewhat mundane, they depict a rich and sophisticated tale of African American women working on a farm, or plantation. The repetition of the women and the farm has a distinctive, erratic pattern that creates a unique rhythm. In addition, the repetition of the vibrant colors and irregular pattern designs emphasize unity because the fragmented shapes are sewn together in a continuous form creating a completed composition and backdrop.
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