Beth and Trevor Reid
Quilts from the Floating World

Travelling through Rome in 2009 and we came across an exhibition of Japanese woodblock prints by the renowned Japanese artist Ando Hiroshige, we were so taken by these images that we decided to base our work, for this exhibition, on Japanese woodblock prints from the genre of Ukiyo-e, or 'pictures from the floating world'.

Our series, based on woodblock prints but in the form of a Japanese painted scroll, explores:

• Earth - The high cliffs and trees shaped by the elements
• Air - Birds drifting silently on the currents
• Fire - The volatility of a volcano
• Water - The dynamic force of the sea

Materials
Hand-painted cotton homespun, commercial quilting fabric. Heavily machine quilted and embroidered.
Ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese woodblock prints (or woodcuts) and paintings produced between the 17th and the 20th centuries, featuring motifs of landscapes, tales from history, the theatre, and pleasure quarters. It is the main artistic genre of woodblock printing in Japan

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