The Ziggurat

The Ziggurat was a temporary, collaborative installation with Ryan J. Paxton at AIR Paducah, Kentucky. 

Paducah, Kentucky

The city of Paducah is located where the Ohio and Tennessee Rivers meet in Western Kentucky. Because of the confluence of these waterways, this city has been ravaged by floods and demarcated by flood walls. Paducah is also home to the National Quilt Museum, an international cultural destination for the fiber arts and quilting community.

The natural geography of the land and the strong quilting tradition influenced the evolution of our Ziggurat. The terraced pyramid shape of the ziggurat was used in ancient civilizations as a respite for floods. We also wove painted strips of paper and created a network of colorful strings of embroidery floss on its interior, as a nod to the local quilters.