Koi Diptych from the collection of San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles

Koi Diptych, 1997

Silk

52 x 86 in (132.08 x 218.44 cm)

Inv: 2017.525.2a-b

Hilary Fletcher and I chose quilts for our collection that we both liked, in terms of their workmanship, the techniques employed by the artist, the colors used in the quilt and the overall design. Tim Harding’s Koi Diptych is one of the largest quilts in our collection and we had to measure to make sure we had a place to display it.

For the 1997 Quilt National catalog, the artist wrote: “I wanted to create the illusion of depth and movement, to capture the way goldfish appear to flicker through the moving, reflective surface of water.” To my eyes, he achieved this spectacularly.

This quilt has all of the qualities that we sought and attracted us from the moment we first saw it when Tim submitted it as an entry for Quilt National ‘97. It was also a very popular quilt with the viewers in Athens, Ohio that summer. Over the years it has continued to fascinate us for the way in which the artist used cloth pieces to simulate fish swimming through a body of moving water. Additionally, I love the colors and the design. I continue to feel that it gratifies the viewer from up close, as one admires the techniques used, and from a distance, as one soaks in the imagery.

Techniques: Raw edge silk, machine quilted
Culture: American
Geographic Location: North and Central America, United States
Credit Line: The Marbaum Collection, Gift of Hilary and Marvin Fletcher

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Additional Details

Additional Artworks

Invented Hybrid 068 (Bulbous), 2017

Stuck/Unstuck, 2015

Truth and Fiction, 2008

Moulting, 2002

Sink or Swim #21 and #22, 1994

Fire Storm Quilt, 1992

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