Maquette 1: I decided the center panel was too long and flat.
Although the basic forms often come together quickly for me, there’s lot of time spent fine tuning to get them right. It’s important to work these things out in paper even though I’m sometimes frustrated and want to start working on the final. It feels like I haven’t really started, even though I know that this time is the most important. All the fabrics and stitching won’t matter if the basic form isn’t right. I met with my studio mates for a critique last Thursday and they gave me a much needed push to kick these pieces out a bit. Not to stay in the safety zone of symmetry and the lovely curves I’m so attached to. It’s good advice and I’m taking it but it’s not easy.
Macquette 2: Too symmetrical, center panel too short
Macquette 3: Center panel good, assymetry good, but the bottom of the form is too deep.
Macquette 4: Reduced the depth at the bottom and added an inverse curve. Just right!
I’ve begun working on forms and fabrics for my new series, as yet unnamed. The Artifacts series is my jumping off point, but the work is also being influenced by the work I did for MadArt. The shape of the figure is still coming through in these forms and the wall forms are much larger than those I made last Winter. Nothing is set yet, no decisions are final, and I’m still living in this unsettled place of creation. Forms are almost there, and I’m auditioning fabrics, so progress is being made but I know I’ll be happier once I start putting my hands on pieces that will become the final product. Until then, it’s time cutting out shapes, dyeing fabric, and head scratching.
I’ve decided to quilt up two pieces of fabric I printed as part of the series I did for MadArt. (Detail of one above, the full piece to the right. The other piece at the end of this post.) They don’t go with the work I’ve started for the Foster White show but they’ve been calling to me. I don’t think I’ll feel finished with that series until I finish these two pieces.
I’m participating in the October West Seattle Art Walk. My work will be at The Body Bar at 4156 California Avenue SW. The show is a combination of work from MadArt with some recent work. It’s nice to see some of the panels from MadArt, which played the part of backdrop to the 3-d pieces, get a chance to stand out on their own. I’ve also included three of the Bird panels from Seen/Unseen from last year’s Sound Transit’s Art on Broadway. Those plus a couple other 3-d pieces make the show. It actually all works together well and is a nice compliment to the business where they do massage, acupuncture, facials, and other treatments.
I have the extreme good fortune to have two studios, one inside my home where I do all my sewing and one outside the home.
I’m participating in Quilting Arts Magazine’s virtual Open Studio. Click on the link below to reach the website of Studios Magazine. And check back in the next few days to see pictures from my studios.
I was invited to be a part of MadArt, a window art project in Madison Park that opened on September 13th. The project matched artists with local businesses to install art in their windows for three weeks. I asked to be matched with Ann Marie Lingerie, a store that sells high end lingerie, because the body of work I visualized was about the figure, women’s roles, and working with form and transparency.
I used the technique of break down printing along with my own twist, using freezer paper as a resist for the image area. This technique gave me the soft and abstracted imagery I was looking for. In working with the female form, I used the most convenient model around, myself. I turned photos into silhouettes which I attached temporarily to the silk screens. I wanted to add more texture to the screens and, looking around the studio, was thrilled to find my stash of doilies. Just the thing to add texture and keep the theme of women’s work and roles.
This year was my third trip to Burning Man, the alternative arts festival in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada. One of the precepts of the event is that there are “no spectators” and I’ve wanted to bring some of my work to share. It is a challenging environment for fiber art, very dusty and windy. My previous attempts to bring my work there have been foiled by the strong winds.
I love my Canon PowerShot SD 1000 because it takes pretty good photos for a point and shoot and it’s small and sturdy enough to keep in my purse. I got these shots on a family trip to the Georgetown neighborhood of Seattle. The light was right when we came upon these distressed walls. I think they make really interesting abstract compositions. Who knows when or if they’ll show up in my work.
