The Heart Nebula – Deep-sky Object ALC 2

The Heart Nebula

34 x 34 cm (13,5" x 13,5")

This quilt is the second in a series of astroquilts that I’ve got planned. The first quilt in the series is titled Cosmos and you can read about the process behind it on this blog (Cosmos Part 1, 2, 3 and 4) and in the Autumn 2019 issue of Art Quilting Studio magazine.

Cosmos, detail

This second astroquilt was inspired by a nebula called the Heart Nebula (IC 1805), which is located about 7 500 light years from where we are. The shape of this interstellar dust cloud resembles the heart symbol, and that’s how it got its name. It was in fact the name that caught my attention, but not as the romantic heart-shape it was named after. Instead, I was interested in the anatomical, blood-pumping, tough muscle that keeps us all going.

The human heart is a complicated old thing

A nebula is an interstellar cloud of dust and gas. When a cloud like that is dense enough the pressure may become so great that the cloud starts to contract and it becomes a stellar nursery: a place where new stars are formed. I wanted to make a Heart Nebula quilt where the pressure inside the contracting heart muscle is so great that stars are forming and the heart begins to pump out stars.

The mathematical symbols in the background represent ”Jeans mass”:  the critical point when a nebula starts to contract and form stars. I’ve also included a representation of the sinus rhythm: the rhythm of the heart starts at the sinus node, which has the ability to spontaneously and continuously produce electrical impulses that cause the heart to contract.

If you want to follow the process behind this quilt step by step, please visit my project page or check out my Instagram feed.

Thanks for visiting my blog!