Quilting and Patchwork

Genome Quilts - How DNA Inspires Our Art

by Mary Emma Allen on May 7th, 2007

Knowing of my interest in quilting, Dr. Hsien-Hsien Lei, who writes the Eye on DNA blog, called my attention to quilts and other art work inspired by DNA. 

“How could this be?” I wondered.  “I think of DNA as something scientific or medical.  What does it have to do with quilts?”

However, Hsien directed my attention to her blog post, DNA Art,  at Eye on DNA, and  Genome Quilts by Beverly St. Clair.  Beautiful and inspiring!

Here, Beverly St. Clair tells how she encodes genetic information into quilt designs. 

“I realized I could use a simple quilt block to represent each of the four bases in DNA….”

You’ll find it fascinating when you view the Genome Quilts and learn how they’re designed.  You may even find some displayed at an event or gallery near you, since Beverly has become very well-known for this art.

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POSTED IN: General Quilting/Patchwork, Online Resources