Rainy Day, San Francisco - October 25, 2010

2011

38" X 48"

The San Francisco Bay Bridge looms over the southern edge of the City and is in that way even more of an integral part of the San Francisco skyline than it's much better known and romanticized cousin The Golden Gate.

Completed in 1936 (a year before the Golden Gate) the Bay Bridge linked the City with the East Bay and the growing city of Oakland for the first time by automobile - the vision of future of transportation in the 1930s. The successful completion of both the bridges during the Great Depression was a symbol of America's optimism and continued ability to build and grow into the 20th century.

The strength and durability of its architecture spanning over the waterfront on a gray and rainy day last October inspired me to take a cell phone photograph just as we exited after our own trip on the bridge across the Bay.

To translate that photo into a quilt several shades of hand dyed gray cotton were raw edge appliquéd on a gradient printed ground. Textile paint, fabric markers, computer printed graphics and free motion quilting were used to translate the photo into a pictorial quilt which I hope captures the essential grandeur of the San Francisco Bay Bridge.

Currently traveling in the Quilts on The Wall Fiber Artists special exhibit "Bridges" which made its debut at the international Quilt Festival Long Beach in July 2011.