The Light Quilt at Clay Art Center
The Light Quilt hangs in the Clay Art Center Gallery window, was originally constructed in 2007 from more than 150 translucent porcelain tiles. Learn more about the history of the Light Quilt and the artists behind the project.
Clay Art Center has served as a creative home for ceramic artists since 1957, and in turn, those artists leave their marks. From the small ceramic figures who stand guard above the kilns, to the intricate root mosaic in the bathroom, artists always seem to bring their spaces to life. One special legacy that Clay Art Center is home to is the Light Quilt, an installation of translucent paper porcelain tiles, strung up in the Gallery window to form a beautiful ceramic quilt. The piece was made by artists Dalia Berman, Sarah Koster, Parviz Batliwala, and Natalie Kase in 2007. Each delicate tile features a punched out profile of a different type of bottle, a design that connected the piece to their exhibition, All Bottled Up. Dalia recalled that, “We had every type of bottle in the show, but Sara had come up with this kind of translucent quilt. In order to fit the exhibition, we decided to create designs of various styles of bottles out of pinholes, so that it would go with the theme.” After All Bottled Up, the piece was carefully wrapped and stored for years before being reinstalled for the 2024 exhibition Lighting the Way. We spoke to artists Dalia Berman and Sara Koster about their experiences making the quilt and how they reflect on the work today.
From Dalia Berman
Q: Where did the inspiration for the exhibition come from?
A: “We all worked upstairs at the time, so we had these big open tables to spread out on. Natalie was making beautiful handbuilt cups, very organic looking, with a tall foot. When I looked at it, I said, ‘Hey, when you turn this upside down, it looks like a bottle.’ That may have been the start of the exhibition idea.”
Q: How was the Light Quilt made?
A: “Paper clay was new then, and to think of a translucent clay – it was innovative. We made the paper clay ourselves. It’s fired to Cone 10 with no glaze. Without the glaze, we could pile them up to fire. Later, we came up with the idea of connecting them with fishing wire. It was really an experiment, we had never done anything like it before. It’s just one of the amazing things people can do with clay, it’s so versatile. And making the paper clay was a very exact process. The proportion of toilet paper and porcelain had to be exact. Now that paper clay is so popular, it’s readily available. I still use paper clay to make a joining slip, which I make with toilet paper and vinegar.
“In terms of the design, there were a lot of Mexican and Peruvian inspired bottles, but we looked for any inspiration. And it was done very spontaneously. We lightly sketched the shape with a pencil on the leather hard clay and then pricked it. Because it’s paper clay, it’s much hardier.”
Q: How do you feel when you see the piece in the window today?
A: “Now when I look at it, I think about my friends and the work we did together. How enthusiastic and excited we were. I’m so glad it’s survived this long. It had been sitting in the basement for many years. When we rehung it for Lighting the Way, the pictures of the original piece made it easy to rehang it in its original form. We invited Parviz’s daughter to help open it. It was very touching for her to see her mother’s work.”
From Sarah Koster
Q: How did you come up with the idea of the Light Quilt?
A: “We made it for a show of bottles in 2007. All four of us had separate displays with the theme of bottles, but the window was open invitation. I had been experimenting with paper porcelain, and thought that a piece inspired by a quilt would fit within the frame of the window and it would be a joint unifying project for the four of us. And it is about light. Paper porcelain is a beautiful material, even though it's so fragile. The quality of the light changes depending on the time of day or night and where the light is coming from, inside or out."
Q: What was the process of making the Light Quilt?
A: "We mixed the paper porcelain, approximately three quarters porcelain and one quarter mashed damp toilet paper. The toilet paper is white, so it doesn't detract from the porcelain. We each took small identical balls of clay and rolled them out. We then got lots of books with bottle photos in them, we selected forms we liked from the books, and then individually pricked the shapes into the porcelain. They could be any bottle, from any period, from any culture or any place. We also made holes in each corner of every tile so that we could thread nylon fishing line through to hang them. The fishing line is very strong and doesn't show much. The hardest part was putting it together. It was a grid - it had to read vertically and horizontally. Also, the tiles are inflexible, and we had to be very careful not to break them.”
Q: How do you feel when you see the piece in the window today?
A: “We were very proud of how it turned out and now I love seeing it in its original site. We managed to keep it intact for nearly 20 years; it had to be very carefully wrapped for storage. It also makes me think very fondly of Parviz, who died a few years ago from cancer. She was from Mumbai, very accomplished. She was so generous and giving with all she did and everyone thought very highly of her. We dedicated it to Parviz. She was such a strong member of the studio for so long.
“The principles of the Clay Art Center are education in the ceramic arts and community, and our quilt represents a cooperative effort between the four of us. It's an extension of the original ideals of the Clay Art Center. We enjoyed each other along the way, and Dalia and I are delighted and honored that it is now a permanent fixture at the studio.”
The Light Quilt today.
