2020
Sendai, Japan
Cotton; machine pieced and quilted
Gift of the Robert and Ardis James Foundation
IQM 2020.052.0002

Keiko Goke’s meditation on the original Rob Peter to Pay Paul quilt creates an updated, richly-colored and spontaneous version of the traditional pattern.

When Goke first began quiltmaking 50 years ago, she focused on what she calls “picture quilts” made with figurative appliqué because, she says, “I didn’t want my quilts to look similar to other quiltmakers’ work.”

Later, she embraced traditional pieced patterns, but only by approaching them extemporaneously, without templates and by cutting and placing hand-dyed fabrics directly as she works.

This is one of 10 quilts made by leading Japanese artists commissioned by the International Quilt Museum for display in "Abstract Design in American Quilts at 50: Journey to Japan." It is also on the cover of the catalog for "Abstract Design in American Quilts at 50," which is available for purchase in the IQM store and online.

Click here to see the reference quilt, which appeared in "Abstract Design in American Quilts" at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1971.