Burnt Page

Ink transfer onto release paper lead to serendipitous bleed and inspired a bit of heat around the edges.  This piece is too fragile to use in a resolved piece, but interesting and evocative.  It also gave me yet another idea to try.

Another Page Experiment

A completely different technique and completely different look.  Aged paper and torn bindings.   Stained beyond use.   Modern materials put to use telling an ancient story.

New Work

After almost 4 years working on CHROMA where the 8 panels are 80" by 50" this new series is on a much smaller, more intimate and manageable scale.    I'm looking at books, time, wear, continuity and return.   Much dyeing is going on at FiberFly Studios in preparation.  Very exciting to be starting anew and watch the creation unfold.   This is the first experimental piece, a collage, no stitching yet.

 

Palme d'Or

Hollywood/Cannes - the bejeweled palm trees and glittering stars draw adoration to their balmy/palmy magical oases of the imagination.

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Dye Workshop at FiberFly Studios

Eight fabric lovers came to dye.   We spent the day ice dyeing, doing low immersion dyeing and painting with thickened dye.  We played with some resist techniques:  clothes pins, rubber bands, folding and stitching.    Lots of the fabric went home to be batched overnight so I haven't seen all the results, but here are pix of attendees busily creating!   So much FUN!!

Away in Berlin

Just got back from an excellent visit to Stockholm, Dresden and Berlin.   Here are a few pix.   The first two are of bits of The Wall which are on display mid city Berlin, and the others are just shots of the Brandenburg Gate at dusk.

 

UNHINGED!!

This is the second piece in a round robin I'm participating in which is focusing on texture - both visual and literal.   This is my response to a sweet piece by Connie Tiegel with a welcoming gate.   Being something of a contrarian, I jumped right in by rusting heavy Pellon for the gate, stitching it to a shiboried background, then creating the atmosphere with all kinds of wonderful layers of semitransparent fabrics, stringy stuff and scads of beads.  In spite of the few embroidered flowers, this garden may not be quite as welcoming!

Gyre #11

This could be the last in the Gyre series which addresses the Garbage Patches in our oceans in which vast unmeasurable quantities of plastic swirl, are broken down into tiny beads and consumed by all manor of sea life.  They never disappear from the planet.  They are insidious detritus of our consumer society and our need to toss and replace items in our daily lives.   I have collected household plastics which come to me, iced dyed the fabric, then hand stitched the spinning imagery underlying the bright plastic forms I then appliqued in place.  The piece is 42" x  44"

Dye Workshop!!

There are still a couple of places left.

Here are samples of the techniques we will be doing:

Zephyrs

Zephyrs are light winds.   This piece is part of my Fierce Winds series and is comprised of 8 modules each representing as different zephyr.  I hand dyed, fussy cut and layered all the fabrics.  Then I hand stitched each unit to give the idea of how tenuous the connections are and how unexpectedly the winds dance.  The quilt is 41" x  39"

Texturizers - A New Round Robin Series

A group of eight textile artists from all over the US have committed to a 16 month art exchange.   Each of us has just finished our first piece in the series we are each developing and have sent these works off to the next artist.  She, in turn, will make a piece in response to the one she receives.   Then round and round they go until each artist has contributed to each series.  All the works are then returned to the original maker - eight pieces which visually, and in this case, texturally, cohere.  All are 12" square plus a border for future finishing.   Here are a couple of detail shots of my first piece.  I do NOT post work of other artists so will only show my own contribution.  Once the series is complete in 2016 we are hoping to have an exhibition and/or catalog so we can share all eight completed series ... 64 glorious pieces!

The theme of this adventure is TEXTURES which are, of course, both visual and tactile.  This piece is mostly metal and colored (painted, etc.), burnt non-woven substrate with LOTS of hand-couched embroidery.  No name yet.  Can't wait to see how it all evolves.   

Some Laminated Work

These pieces are all comprised of antique textiles (silk and linen) to which I have laminated printed paper.  I then scrape away part of the paper to reveal the fabric beneath.  I use water soluble media and permanent markers to visually cohere the images on paper to the substrate.  Once satisfied, I hand stitch a bit to bring out the design and further integrate the elements of the artwork.   My framer then stretches and frames the pieces which are all in the 10" - 18" range.

Behind Bars:

Tossed:

Wanderlust:

New Guest Bed Quilt

Augie Marshmallow is enjoying this as yet unquilted log cabin quilt top.

Painting

This is an example of integrating fabric into paint.  The texture is literal as well as visual.

The Banquet of Donny & Ari, scenes from the opera

I was the textile consultant on this book-length epic poem by Naomi Guttman which dropped this month.  It’s an examination of a modern marriage between a textile artist and a composer both of whom are concerned about the state of the natural world and dealing with the pressures of modern life on a Montreal family.  Adding to the depth and universal reach of the poem is that Donny and Ari are 21st century incarnations of Dionysus and Ariadne from Greek mythology.  Naomi found me a couple of years ago by means of my website as I do a lot of fiber art about the environment.  I am so lucky to have been involved in this very classy project!