The unstretched quilted creations that grew out of Sam Gilliam’s time in Ireland lie between the improvisations of his stained drape paintings and the rigour of his stretched collaged compositions, writes John Beardsley
Painter Sam Gilliam, one of the most accomplished abstractionists and pre-eminent African American artists of his generation, had a surprising connection with Ireland. Born in Tupelo, Mississippi, and raised mostly in Louisville, Kentucky, he moved to Washington, DC in 1962, where he remained for the rest of his life. However, in 1993, he accepted an invitation to a residency at the Ballinglen Foundation in Co Mayo and began a series of unstretched collaged and quilted paintings there.
Apparently, the works came about almost by accident. Gilliam’s wife, Annie Gawlak, recalls that he had planned to bring his customary petroleum-based paints with him on the plane, but this was not permitted. So, he used the paint to stain fabric in Washington, which he then sent ahead to Ireland. When he arrived in Mayo, he set about cutting up the fabric and creating compositions with it, which a seamstress stitched together.
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