HOW TO DANCE IN A QUILT with performance-quilter Leslie Rogers
Leslie Rogers is an unpinnable butterfly of a human. Her creative practice flits from quilts to performance to garment-making to puppetry. She’s a deeply thoughtful artist whose often whimsical or jarring pieces are underpinned by hours of historical research. Leslie and I met at Penland, and if her name sounds familiar, it’s because she came up in my conversation recently with Paolo Arao. That episode, HOW TO BRING IT ALL TOGETHER is a treat in and of itself and I’d encourage you to give that one a listen too.
In this conversation, Leslie and I discuss:
①how to set fire to quilts without burning them up
② how to make quilts float on water, the old-fashioned way
③ the nonhierarchical thingness of things
WHY LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE?
Leslie Rogers merges quilts with performance, breathing life into textiles and exploring profound historical and social narratives that create rich story-telling that often belies a whimsical appearance
REFLECTION PROMPTS
Textile Art in Performance: Consider how quilts are designed to partnered with the human body and are therefore can play a dynamic role in performance art. What emotions or themes can textiles uniquely convey in such settings?
Artistic Collaboration with Materials: How can viewing materials like fabric, especially the trickier ones, as collaborators rather than tools change your approach to creative projects?
Exploring Local Histories: Leslie's work often involves researching local textile histories. How can you incorporate local histories into your creative endeavors?
HELPFUL RESOURCES
→ Join the QUILTY NOOK: A Curious (and Sometimes Feral) Online Textile Community https://nook.zakfoster.com/
→ Top Ten SEAMSIDE Episodes Guide https://gift.zakfoster.com/pzp
→ Weekly Email Goodies from Zak https://nook.zakfoster.com/newsletter/
→ Visit Zak’s website https://www.zakfoster.com/
→ Follow Zak on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/zakfoster.quilts
