Seedpod Seven detail
My work is inspired by nature and the touch of human hands upon it. The fabrics are maps implying ancient messages. The forms are documents of the passage of time.
Seedpods hold the germ of life, receptacles of potential, able to burst forth with new growth or slowly drying up into reminders of what could have been. I began working with this particular form at the end of 2009. This Spring I traveled to Hawaii, and on my walks found seedpods in the shape that I had begun drawing months earlier. I was amazed by the variation of the simple form, the warts and bumps and undulations. This inspired me to focus on the one shape for this series, finding richness in a narrow groove.
Both the Artifact and the Vessel Series interpret natural forms and textures through the lens of culture. These pieces reference the vessel form as both useful and sacred object, an imagined series of Rosetta Stones discovered by an archaeologist’s assistant.
Three practices come together to form my work: The sketchbook, surface design on fabric, and stitch. Drawings become paper sculpture become patterns. Fabric is dyed, over-dyed, discharged, resisted, printed. Panels are free-motion embroidered on a sewing machine and hand-stitched into their final shapes. I am invested in process: Exploring, teaching, documenting, and writing.
I attended the opening of the Bellwether Art Walk, a group sculpture show in Bellevue that includes one of my pieces. The indoor sculpture is at Bellevue City Hall, a beautiful building with an amazing terrazo floor. The outdoor installations are at the Downtown Park.
I was invited to show two pieces, Leaf Vessel and Can I Help You?, in the Rio Patchwork Design Show in Brazil this year. The organizers of the show have a strong desire to introduce their local quilters to art quilts. Through their research they found CQA and invited a number of members to participate in the show. They did a beautiful job with the display of the artwork and the show will travel to two other cities in Brazil.