For a couple of years now, Duane Jones of Art Pays Me and I have been having conversations about the intersection of our art and the sport of basketball — he as an injured and aging player and coach, and both of us as parents of kids who play. We discussed the parallels between art practice and commitment to sport and came to the conclusion that there is much overlap: passion, tenacity, creativity, discipline, and risk-taking. On these themes, we were given opportunity to show our work in an exhibition at the 2026 DesignTO Festival titled Out of Bounds. One of the new works I created for the show is Free Throw (Glory).
Free Throw (Glory), 49″ x 70.5″, Andrea Tsang Jackson, 2025-26.
The vision for this quilt was well-formed from the beginning — an improvised background in neutrals with a minimal graphic on top, representing the bird’s eye view of a basketball net. It was based on the idea that a basketball net could be on the same spectrum of object as a doily: a round, albeit 3D, structure of knots.
Doily in Rope (in progress), Andrea Tsang Jackson, 2023-24.
The details came about a bit more organically. I asked Duane to screen print his logo on some fabrics from my stash. I also endeavoured to print a piece of lace (from a vintage wedding dress) onto quilting cotton. After some experimentation, I used a gel plate to achieve the results that I wanted.
For a few of my quilts in the last few years, I have used a mini collage to be the basis of a larger composition. My method is outlined in my book, Quilting: A Modern Creative Journey through an Age-Old Craft. Duane’s and my printed fabrics, along with others in my neutral scrap bin, became this improvised composition based on the small fabric collage. You can see it in the photo with the Art Pays Me fabric.
Improvised patchwork background. Photo: Deborah Wong
The process split off into two: one for a T-shirt design and then the rest of the process of making the quilt.
Free Throw T-shirt: I had Deborah Wong photograph the patchwork and I made a digital “double” graphic to lay on top of the patchwork background. I wanted to make sure that the graphic was legible at the scale of a t-shirt. I was also able to express movement of a ball going through the net, superimposed on the static position of the “doily” net. You can order the Free Throw tee here.
Photo: Katya Koroscil
Free Throw (Glory) quilt: I used bias tape appliqué (Asahi 1/4″ tape in white and some wider tape that I made myself) to make the “doily”. Using a long-arm rental, I quilted the background with straight lines and accented the doily motif with curves. My friend and collaborator Gillian Noonan added some hand-stitched accents. The quilt will be exhibited in Toronto until February 8. Another showing of this exhibition is slated for May/June in Halifax. Stay tuned for details!
Andrea Tsang Jackson and Duane Jones at the Out of Bounds exhibition, as part of the 2026 DesignTO Festival in Toronto. Photo: Katya Koroscil