About
LFO is an exploration of the intersections between quilts and synthesizers by Mary Toscano and Andrew Rease Shaw. This immersive installation presents Toscano’s intricate quilts with Shaw’s evocative soundscapes, blending visual and auditory dimensions into a cohesive experience.
In the world of music, LFO (low frequency oscillator) refers to a waveform that modulates parameters within a synthesizer, producing effects such as vibrato, tremolo, or other dynamic movements. LFOs typically follow waveforms like sine, square, triangle, and sawtooth waves. These waveforms echo the geometric shapes found in traditional quilt patterns — log cabin quilts are built of square angles; flying geese are distinctively triangular; half-rectangle triangles resemble sawtooth waves; and the curved arcs in the drunkard’s path evoke the flowing motion of sine waves. This parallel between the visual language of quilting and the technical structure of sound synthesis sparked a year-long conversation between Toscano and Shaw, inspiring the creation of the works in LFO.
In addition to the quilt and sound installation, Toscano and Shaw collaborated on a series of eight letterpress prints and two assemblages that reinterpret block patterns found in the quilts, further blurring the lines between textile art and sound design.
ARTICLES
The Utah Review 02.20.25
15Bytes 03.06.25