No. 84, Bird Brains Wood Wall Art by James Nelson

When I studied tribal textiles in my past, I often noticed similar symbols and techniques which seemed to appear worldwide, symbols as diverse as swastikas and eagles, cultures as diverse as Amish or Afghani. I delighted in hunting down the international travels of symbols and designs.

Having the opportunity at Artful Home to view hundreds of works of contemporary art has given me the chance to notice forms which today’s artists in diverse media are exploring. The recent arrival of fabulous new wall sculptures in wood by James Nelson gave me the chance to compare his forms to those found in art quilts by Janet Steadman. Both artists explore heavily textured angular forms with tribal influences. Nelson describes his work as, “These sculptures are like multidimensional puzzles and I treat each piece of the puzzle as an individual work of art.” This is much like the processes involved in piecing and quilting.

The triangular forms present in No. 84, Bird Brains evoke wings, flight, and movement. Interestingly, those same triangular forms appear in “Going My Way” by Janet Steadman. This quilt uses abstracted variations on traditional Flying Geese quilt patterns – which naturally reference flight. But both works also reminded me of something else, so I went back to my reference books to look at Navajo rugs. As you can see, the influence of forms, stripings, and color combinations in both of these works reflect traditional rug forms of the Red Mesa dazzler style rug. Look closely at the quilting pattern Steadman employs overall, and you will see shapes found in the rugs. While I have no idea if either artist has ever seen a Navajo weaving, I strongly believe the collective unconscious works in most interesting ways!