Here’s what we think of Deeds Not Words: Celebrating 100 Years of Women’s Suffrage by Sandra Sider and Pamela Weeks in a nutshell.
Introduction
What an unusual book! Authors Weeks and Sider take on the subject of the women’s suffrage and turn it to a textile angle. This book focuses on art quilts and their messages. Twenty-nine artists were chosen to present their quilts, providing a rich variety in style and form. Imagery documents each artist and quilt, sometimes filling a page. This is a celebration of women and their rights, which an acknowledgement at times to men who have been in support of its message. It is published by Schiffer Publishing Ltd.
About The Authors
Sandra Sider is the editor of Art Quilt Quarterly and is curator of the Texas Quilt Museum. Pamela Weeks is curator of the New England Quilt Museum. She is a quilter, fibre artist, and quilt historian. So they are well qualified to discuss quilting as a subject. Sider has been a practicing artist for many years and has yet another book out soon on quarantine quilts; which is rather timely.
Who Is This Book Aimed At?
Not just the textile artist, although those who specialise in Quilting will find this inspiring. The large images help the reader to focus on the quilting details of each piece.
Content
This book delves into more than just the art and textiles side, it discusses the history of this subject matter, opening us up thematically to its content.
Large images are a standard sight throughout this book:
This really helps the reader to see the details on each piece. As you can see, the examples are well described and titled.
There is no mistaking this books subject matter; the quilts illustrate women’s journey to get heard. Typed areas are often used to vocalise the message. For some artists, a few images have been presented, as in the case above.
Photography
The book itself has been published as a hardback square. This actually ties in beautifully with the quilting format, with many pieces illustrated, covering at least one page. The colours are bright and no pixel loss can be observed.
Our personal highlight can be observed latterly in this publication, where the authors and certain artists have allowed for an insight into working practices. Here in the example below, we see the artist in action, creating the quilt, with the finished piece pasted in for our reference. We love this behind the scenes view, and it works well as a section. The book itself is slick and well presented, thus this W.I.P concept does well to be separated and housed nearer the back.
What Makes This Book Special?
Most of us like to get to grips with any behind the scenes features and this book doesn’t disappoint on that score. We meet some of the artists involved in this publication, housed in a section near the back. We really felt the imagery within this section satisfied our curiosity – that is all we will reveal!
Anything Wrong With The Book?
Really it comes down to subject matter – yet this book felt very relevant for our time, centring on the issues which women have gone through in order to be heard, yet making it colourful and arty at the same time.
Conclusion
Get your copy from BookStore and support independent bookshops!
