Dragon's Blood
'Dragon's Blood' 82cm x 112cm © Claire Passmore 2016
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Dragon's Blood
82cm x 112cm Known as ‘dragon’s blood’ to the ancient Greeks and Romans, the beautiful yet deadly ore cinnabar has been mined in the Spanish town of Almadén since Biblical times. Although highly toxic, when heated cinnabar breaks down to produce the unique and mysterious metal we call mercury, a metal that is invaluable to science, medicine and industry. As well as being the major source of metallic mercury, cinnabar can also be transformed into an intense red pigment when finely ground. The pigment is known as vermilion and has been a favourite of artists ever since the Renaissance. In 1937 the Spanish Republican government invited Alexander Calder to create a piece for the World’s Exhibition in Paris. He chose to make a kinetic mercury fountain to pay tribute to the people of Almadén, who suffered greatly at the hands of Franco's fascist troops during the Spanish Civil War. The quilt was made in response to a challenge to members of the Europe and Middle Eastern Region of SAQA. The title of the challenge was 'Made in Europe' and I am delighted that it was selected to travel to several of the American Quilters Society Quilt shows in the USA next year (dates below). When making the quilt I wanted to try to tell the somewhat complicated story of the relationship the Spanish town of Almedan has with the silver skinned metal called mercury. As it was neither safe nor practical to use real mercury for this quilt I chose to use silver leaf instead. |
You can read more about the making of this quilt from two blog posts I made as I was making the quilt. Click on the buttons below to view the posts.
AQS Quilt Week Daytona Beach, FL: March 1 – 4, 2017 AQS Quilt Week Lancaster, PA: March 29 – April 1, 2017
Paducah Art School Gallery, Paducah, KY April - May, 2017 AQS Quilt Week Grand Rapids, MI: August 16 – 19, 2017
Paducah Art School Gallery, Paducah, KY April - May, 2017 AQS Quilt Week Grand Rapids, MI: August 16 – 19, 2017
