Quilt Magazine, February/March 2011

In our celebrity obsessed western culture, youth and glamour seem to dominate our sense of what is desirable. Women particularly complain of disappearing if they go grey. Men suffer this too, though to a lesser degree. I say “western cultures” because in other parts of the globe like Japan there is real respect and curiosity for the old.

I come from California where there is so much masking of age; it’s really hard to tell how old anyone is. You’d have to start looking for physical signs in areas of body that are harder to disguise. This subject is getting more poignant to me as I enter my 70’s, not so much in the changes in me but because if the amazing examples I see of greatness in my older friends.

In my quilt workshops I always seem to meet two or three women in their 80s who confidently plough on with personal and original color arrangements that take my breath away. They often change the concept of the quilt we are working on in such a way that I could never do it again. That makes teaching rewarding indeed.

After a party in Morocco about 10 years ago I met a stunning women in a huge turquoise tent like dress, a jeweled beaded collar at her throat. Her hair was silver and pulled tight. Attracted by her colors and style, we chatted, and at one point she calmly said, “well, I’m 80.” To a man, our mouths fell open in disbelief. “I wouldn’t have told you if I wasn’t looking fabulous!” she blurted out.

Shortly after, in Australia teaching workshops, I wandered into an exhibit of abstract art. What really gets me going is art made of found objects, like packing crates, bits of discarded linoleum or shells and corrugated metal. Each work of art I saw had a vigorous ‘masculine’ style. “Who is the guy who made all this?” I asked “Its not a guy, its an 83 year old women, Rosalie Gascoigne.” I was dumb struck and so admired this exciting artist I bought her book. I’m inspired to design quilts with a freer hand every time I open it. Rosalie started life as a flower arranger who made a quilt of neighbors dress making scraps. She had her first show at 57, going on to become one of Australia’s most celebrated artists. I see her in museum shows there, but she is largely unknown elsewhere around the world. Do look her up; she is bound to inspire you, too.