In the 1800’s, young girls made a baker’s dozen of quilt tops for their future engagement, which could come as soon as their 14th birthday. These quilts were made throughout her childhood in preparation for her future which would be solely dedicated to providing for her family. Within the collection of 12 utility quilts and one great quilt, the Rose of Sharon pattern was often used as the great quilt. This quilt would decorate the couple’s bed upon marriage. As an object, it lies amongst an expansive culture of gender-based violence and the tradition of wedding night virginity testing found in the Old Testament. In this installation, the horse is painted in the style of the 19th-century American Romanticism movement. Its back is donned with a muted quilt depicting the patterned rings of the Rose of Sharon.

​

The colt is posed before a stormy open range. The landscape holds a territory that is new and unknown, representative of a beginning. A figure stands before the painting with one arm crossing their chest, gripping their upper arm tight enough that the viewer can see the fingers squeezing into the soft flesh of the body. This gesture sits between nursing an injury and a protective stance of hiding their chest and therefore, their feminity. I find myself reflecting on the wedding quilt, in all of its historical and personal significance as an object, as something that deserves as much reclamation in identity as us women who were traditionally expected to craft it.