Posts Tagged ‘fusing’

A Bit Of A Sleeper, Really …

Thursday, July 21st, 2022

Although I only had this work photographed a couple of months ago, I actually made it in 2015. A bit experimental in materials and processes, I designed and made it for a particular wall in our home, hung it immediately it was finished and always forgot to take it to be photographed every time after that I took other new work to be done. I tend to have several pieces photographed at once, a couple of times a year, but this one just somehow got overlooked every time. Fast forward to 2022, and in January I was inspired to make a new work for that space, and put that one straight up, too, without naming or even measuring and documenting it, and I still haven’t had it properly photographed, either! However, in a few weeks’ time I’ll be taking some new work in to Eduardo’s studio, and will try to remember it in then.

However, back to this one –

“Slideshow” 110cm x 120cm 2015

Even when I posted my fresh new new photo on Instagram I hadn’t yet bothered to name it, and friend Kathy Loomis of OH suggested I should call it Slideshow. I agreed, and went on to comment ” @kathy_in_ky 😂 you’re right – and I never titled it because I made it for a particular place in our house. So “Slideshow” it is, not that it’s ever going to appear in any catalogue, except for the illustrated record I keep of all my work – with an eye to the major retrospective in about 100 years’ time, of course 😍 ”

When Studio Art Quilt Associates, SAQA, called for entries to a juried collection of SAQA juried artists’ quilts to feature in their exhibition space at the huge annual expo SOFA, (that stands for sculpture objects fine art design) I looked to see what might fit. There was no age limit, so I included Slideshow among the three in my entry, and then quite forgot about it until an acceptance email turned up yesterday. I’m not sure there’ll be a catalogue, but that expo is big, and it’s a wonderful exposure opportunity for my art.

“Slideshow”, detail

Grid layouts are my go-to design structure, definitely an influence from traditional patchwork and quilting. But there’s more to my love of them. I’m a creature of some degree of habit, and calm and order do come from a level of predictability derived through repetition. In today’s turbulent world, I value an orderly home where actual people live, using and enjoying our various belongings, and tidying up and cleaning when absolutely necessary. When I go downstairs in the morning to make the first cup of tea I like that the cat is waiting on the window ledge for its breakfast. I like opening a cupboard knowing I’ll find that thing I want without having to rummage around too much. You probably have regular ‘markers’ in your daily and weekly lives and can relate to those comments. I’ve known a couple of serious hoarders in my life, and in their environments, nothing is filed sensibly, put away properly, repaired or thrown away. Stuff just accumulates in no particular order, and I’ve found such people’s chaotic environments very unsettling.

In addition to the masses of traditional and contemporary quilt makers, many of my favourite artists work in grids and grid-like structures, so they too influence me. Outside of the fibre art world, I particularly love the work of artists like Agnes Martin, Mathias Goeritz, Shane Drinkwater, Giles Bettison and Vera Molnar – you’ll see what I mean if you go to these links to their work.

An Embarrassing Omission

Tuesday, April 6th, 2021

There must have been a good reason, but I really don’t remember why I agreed to make a quilt for an exhibition+auction that some womens group was holding to support a worthwhile charity. Perhaps it was on my mind to make it at the time …. I do know (1) someone must have asked very nicely or compellingly (2) and at the time I was totally infatuated with the ceramic art retrospective exhibition we’d just seen of iconic Uruguayan painter and ceramicist Jose Gurvich. He did a lot of couples/Adam and Eve/lovers, and while I can’t remember why I chose a The Tree Of Life format, which is so different from inspirations before and since … I do know I started with this hand painted version, which I ditched, a good decision probably … anyway it is gone and not subject to reappraisal. (I think the snake’s pretty elegant, though)

Arbol de la Vida, version 1, painted background.

The Tree of Life, or Arbol de la Vida…. version two. I began a draft blog post at the time, 2005, and was diverted and it remained as a draft until today. At the time I felt I could become hooked on fusing, but I’ve not done much since, until recently. Whatever original deadline I was given, it was brought forward at the last minute by three days, so that the comfortably do-able became a frantic, last-minute miracle. Maybe that was why I resorted to the fusing – anyway that worked, though the quilt was not sold to my reserve price, and is in the back of a cupboard somewhere. Another thing I totally overlooked when compiling my illustrated catalogue a couple of years ago!

Arbol de la Vida, 2005, approx 1m x 1.25m. The Gurvich influence is plainly visible!

Edges and Holes 2

Sunday, November 29th, 2015
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