Les Saltimbanques (Acrobats) is a poem by Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918). It refers to the traveling circuses that used to roam the countryside, bringing people a little dream and perhaps the only distraction from their hard life. In a 1901 painting (Harlequin and his companion), Picasso depicts a circus performer wearing a garment made up of lozenges.

Dyed fabric for the background, non-woven with sequins for the path, with words chosen at random from the poem quilted on top. The figures are fused and reworked in free-motion quilting.

I used a stencil and metallic paint for the diamonds. They are linked by embroidery representing the paths taken by the acrobats.

Hand-dyed cotton, commercial fabric, linocut, rayon threads, metallic threads, non-woven fabric, acrylic paint.

Saltimbanques (trad. Anglaise)

Acrobats

The strollers in the plain

walk the length of gardens

before the doors of grey inns

through villages without churches

And the children gone before

The others follow dreaming

Each fruit tree resigns itself

When they signal from afar

They have burdens round or square

drums and golden tambourines

Apes and bears wise animals

gather coins as they progress