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More Portrait Quilts from Michael Aaron McAllister
Our profiled artist in the April/May issue of Quilting Arts Magazine, Michael Aaron McAllister, has a fantastic sense of humor. For example, Aaron, as he likes to be called, explains his lack of a buff body this way: "Fiber arts are not good cardio."
He'd rather sit and stitch than hit the gym, and viewers of his art derive the benefits, delighting in his amazingly even stitches, flawless color choice, and plays on words, like "Shorn Between Two Lovers."
"Delilah," 2007, 8 ¾" x 10"
"Delilah was from The Bible and perhaps one of the first hair stylists? She gave a fatal 'cut' to her paramour Samson's hair, which took him from tiger to kitten in a few chosen snips. Delilah approached Samson on three occasions trying to get him to 'spill the beans' on where his strength lay. It was the fourth time in which he confided, unwisely, in Delilah. That night she drugged his wine whilst brandishing her sheers. She was paid gold pieces for her act, helping the Philistines in battling Israel. We know that Samson was dearly in love with her…but we don't know if the love was ever reciprocated. Perhaps aside from Jezebel, this woman is the embodiment of the 'cunning femme fatale.' In my portraits, I usually choose not to succumb to incorporating items that aren't beads or jewels…but putting 20 miniature pairs of scissors in the portrait was 'the right thing to do.'"
 "Charles Darwin" 2007 16 ½" x 21"
"Charles Darwin could be considered the 'Father of Evolution.' In Victorian England, he dared to suggest that men and women (including Queen Victoria) evolved from lower animal life. At first the literary and scientific worlds were shocked. The church? Shocked to its foundation. Foundation-shaken churches still exist over 150 later. The research made by Darwin was all-consuming. His relationships with loved ones suffered. It is said Darwin became an atheist at a time when several family members died in close proximity, including his nine-year-old daughter, Annie. Perhaps his life could, along with Howard Hughes, be considered a blueprint on what happens when passion turns to madness? Many called him a heretic, many called him the man who put a face on 'how we got here." He was buried in England with his family after the family declined his proposed burial at Westminster Abbey."
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