Williamson, Rosemary Ann

2008

Quilt-making has enjoyed great popularity in Australia, as in other countries, since a resurgence of interest in the craft in the 1970s, Specialised quilters' magazines emerged and proliferated in Australia from the late I 980s. While some of the magazines are mainly instructional. others feature editorials and other content. including profiles of quilt-makers, that emphasise the benefits of quilt-making to individuals and to communities. The article explores the ways in which quilters' magazines integrate a rhetoric of addiction in their construction of the identity of "the quilter," a ploy seemingly at odds with the overall positive and promotional tone of the magazines. Drawing on two prominent Australian quilters' magazines (Down Under Quilts and Quilters Companion) over a five-year period. the article demonstrates that the concept of addiction is exploited within the magazines 10 reinforce the quilter's creative drive. her communal belonging and her vocation.

International Journal of the Humanities, 5(11), p. 163-170

1447-9559

1447-9508

https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/2185

en

Common Ground Research Networks

Obsession, Guilt, Subterfuge and Penury: The Rhetoric of Addiction and the Construction of Creative Identity in Australian Quilters' Magazines

Journal Article

Publication