Laurel Izard
Nanuq and the 3 Bears, 2023
Vintage baby blanket, cotton thread, fabric paint, and batting 33" x 24"
all start with Mid Century baby blankets. This quilt is embroidered with a real polar bear contrasting it with the cartoonish papa, momma, and baby bear from a child’s story. Polar bears are often used as a symbol for endangered animals. I feel that contrasting a dangerous polar bear with cute story book bears allows us a different glimpse of the dangers and contradictions faced by the wildlife the world over. My hope is that this message helps us look at the wild world in new and more supportive ways.
Laurel Izard
Tanks and Teddy Bears, 2024
Vintage baby blanket, cotton thread, fabric paint, and batting 40" x28"
American Childhood is the term I use for this series of quilts which start with Mid Century baby blankets collected on the internet. I’m looking at several things here and one is the huge contrast between the cute and sweet images we insulate infants with and the violent reality we are surrounded with as adults. Many show a cute and fuzzy world of baby animals that can insulate us from the from the harsher realities of the wild. Some tourists have learned the hard way that those are not teddy bears out there. Other baby blankets show babies and children engaged in idealized, sex role appropriate activities in an idealized picture of childhood that was completely unattainable for many.
Laurel Izard
Tanks and Puppies, 2024
Vintage baby blanket, cotton thread, and batting 40" x 29"
American Childhood is the term I use for this series of quilts which start with Mid Century baby blankets collected on the internet. I’m looking at several things here and one is the huge contrast between the cute and sweet images we insulate infants with and the violent reality we are surrounded with as adults. Many show a cute and fuzzy world of baby animals that can insulate us from the from the harsher realities of the wild. Some tourists have learned the hard way that those are not teddy bears out there. Other baby blankets show babies and children engaged in idealized, sex role appropriate activities in an idealized picture of childhood that was completely unattainable for many.
Laurel Izard
Baby, 2024
Vintage baby blanket, cotton thread, fabric paint, and batting 29" x 28"
The message in Baby, and my quilts in general, depends on contrast, such as this play between a sweet quilt with “baby” embroidered with flowers and flourishes and a baby seal. Many of us have been horrified by photographs of baby seals clubbed to death for their fur. I feel that this contrast between the sweet and the cruel allows us to see the dangers and contradictions faced by the wildlife the world over when contrasted with the loving care given to our human babies. My hope is this message helps us look at the wild world in new and more supportive ways.
Laurel Izard
Guns for Girls, 2023
vintage baby blanket, cotton thread, fabric paint, and batting 48" x 28"
Part of the American Childhood series
Laurel Izard
Mad Bear, 2023
Vintage baby blanket, cotton thread, fabric paint, and batting 32" x 24"
The message in Mad Bear, and my quilts in general, depends on contrast, such as this play between a sweet quilt with embroidered angels and flowers with a screaming eagle. While eagles have barely gotten off the endangered list, I feel that an angry eagle is an excellent symbol for the dangers faced by the wildlife the world over especially when contrasted with the loving care given to our human babies. My hope is this message helps us look at the wild world in new and more supportive ways.
Laurel Izard
Condor, 2022
Vintage baby blanket, cotton thread, fabric, and batting 47" x 25"
Condor is part of an ongoing series of quilts made from vintage baby blankets that contrast the images we surround children layered with animals facing extinction.
Laurel Izard
Tip Toeing Through a Dangerous Generation, 2023
Vintage baby blanket, cotton thread, fabric, and batting 39" x 35"
Tip Toeing Through a Dangerous Generation is part of an ongoing series of quilts made from vintage baby blankets that contrast the images we surround children layered with contradictions in our modern American culture.
