Mandy Pedigo
This Land, 2021
Cotton, linen and silk. 55" h x 47" w
The fabric of the quilt contains the pages of my Master of Fine Arts thesis printed onto fabric, cut and re-pieced. The cutting and reassembly shift the readable text into a jumble both revealing and concealing the meaning. The quilting is done in white to subtly reveal the words This Land is My Land; This Land is Your Land in repeat. My thesis explored my journey through graduate school to explore how my hidden heritage impacted the art that made and the focus on finding home and building connection with nature. I uncovered a heritage of feeling dislocated and homesick that was passed down from my great grandparents to me. In the United States, we understand on a certain level that most of us are descended from immigrants, but we don’t know what that means. My own family came from Sweden and Finland to the US. The Finns came after many years of famine, lack of work and land, and conscription into the Russian army. It wasn’t a good time back home. When they left, it was for good and there were loved ones they never heard from again. When I hear the stories and the voices of current immigrants and refugees, I can’t help but think about my own family and what was given up to fit in. The quilt form is a very powerful object that already contains notions of home, family, and comfort. This work explores home, maps, directions, hidden stories, and searches for connection to a new country.
Mandy Pedigo
Memory Grove II, 2020
Digital print on fabric, hand dyed cloth with hand embroidery. Cotton, linen, and silk. 8" h x 10" w
Mandy Pedigo
Mapping Memory II, 2019
Hand dyed and woven fabric, hand embroidery, and machine quilted. Cotton and linen. 10" h x 10" w
Mandy Pedigo
Memory Map II, 2019
Hand dyed fabric and hand embroidery. Cotton and linen. 8" h x 8" w
Mandy Pedigo
Gathering, 2017
Handwoven and hand dyed fabric, machine quilting, hand embroidery. Dried lichen, silk, linen, cotton, rayon and mixed fibers. 10" h x 10" w x 1" d
Mandy Pedigo
Migrations, 2020
Machine pieced, appliquéd quilt with digitally printed photograph handwritten text, digitally printed altered maps, hand embroidery, and hand quilted. Cotton, linen and silk 50" h x 49.5" w
Mandy Pedigo
Koti: Home, 2020
Whole cloth quilt with handwoven fabric appliqué, hand dyed fabric, handwoven fabric, cheese cloth, hand embroidery, free motion machine stitched, and hand quilted. Cotton, linen, and silk. 46" h x 32" w
Mandy Pedigo
Koivikko (Birch Grove), 2018
Photographs digitally printed on fabric, machine pieced and quilted. Cotton 77" h x 69" w
Mandy Pedigo
Homelands, 2018
Hand dyed cloth, handwoven fabric, digital print on fabric, hand embroidery, machine pieced and quilted. Linen, cotton and silk. 45" h x 45" w
