Description of my piece:

I have chosen to respond to ‘A Bomber’s Moon’ by the Arthur + Martha Project. I chose this quilt because I liked the concept of it which is a pilot’s view of flying over fields during World War 2. Therefore, I decided to respond to this quilt by allowing the audience to see this from an outside perspective. I have taken inspiration from the pattern and colours of the quilt to create a background in watercolour and added illustrations of the planes flying over the fields as the foreground. At first, I decided to turn this into a repeat pattern, however, I later decided to change this to create a collage by creating the planes separately and placing them on top of the background. I created the planes using watercolour, starting with a light wash of grey and building darker tones for the details. I wanted the viewer to experience the context of the original quilt from an outside perspective rather than the point of view of the pilot which is why I decided to add the planes flying over on top of the work. I also decided to place the planes coming off the page to make the work unique.

Reflection on creative journey

In the beginning of this project, I went through all the available quilts and decided to respond to the quilt ‘A Bomber’s Moon’ by the Arthur + Martha Project. This quilt shows the perspective of a pilot flying over fields during World War 2. I first started to respond to the work by researching the quilt and its context. I found that this quilt is a collaborative piece; each section has been made by people who have experienced World War 2. I also found several poems and interviews which went alongside the quilt. I then made several drawings responding to the poems, interviews and context of the quilt. I decided to then create a mind map of the potential ideas I could create with this quilt. After conducting more research into World War 2 and several artists who have depicted the war, I developed my drawings turning them into repeat patterns. I then decided to bring aspects of the quilt back into the work, therefore, I took the pattern and colours of the quilt to act as a background. For the foreground of the piece, I added World War 2 planes which would fly over the fields.