I am keen on grid layouts featuring repeated units, the essence of traditional geometric patchwork, with which I had a brief involvement 1989-90 before venturing to designing my own original quilted fibre art. Some time in 2020 I focused on an image of squares and lines by Vera Molnar, widely recognised as a foremost pioneer of computer algorithm aided art known as generative art On seeing this image, I realised a square of paint or applique plus stitch could be a wonderful repeat unit for my textile art, and did the following two samples –
These turned out to be the beginning of an obsession really, and more or less in the order of their development, the following samples show how I’ve explored that idea in stitch+different materials. As I’ve written elsewhere, technique and materials can come together in unexpected and inspiring ways as a result of good teaching, to students prepared to experiment to explore potential of what was learned. I myself am a keen experimenter, a maker of samples to see what happens when I follow an idea.
2020 SAQA Spotlight auction, 6″ x 8″, 3/4″ squares, polyester.
Auditioning of different square-on-squares designs on ~1″ squares hologram fabric.
Stencilled ~1.5″ squares with fabric stacks.
3/4″ inch holograpm fabric squares, different stitch auditions.
Further auditions, and the simple ones, on the ~1″red stamped squares work best.
Who knows wherethis is leading…. I feel almost ready to just jump in and start a major work incorpoprating some of this – stacks, holographic fabric, perhaps some stencilling…. and think I’ll go for a walk to think about all this.
I’ve mentioned a couple of times before not being able to fully cross reference images that weren’t listed in my master list ‘catalogue’ – and vice versa. But this has turned out to be a bumper week for surprises.
First, when I emptied out the contents of a decaying plastic bag that had been literally sitting on a shelf undisturbed for years, and which I thought it held just a few offcuts and samples, I pulled out this little quilt I’d totally forgotten I ever made, and which I’d failed to enter on my master list:
Tidelines 13, 2012 80cm square. Whole cloth, stencilled, machine quilted. perhaps I should have ironed or steamed it before photographing, but this is literally how it was when I pulled it off the shelf!
and next I pulled out another two which I really thought were in storage in Australia, and that I don’t remember bringing over here!
Sunburnt Textures 3 1997, 70cmh x 100cmw Freehand cut, machine pieced and quilted in the ditch. Hand stitched.
“Forgotten Title” was in a 1994 exhibition in Sydney, Australia. Improvisational patchwork, machine pieced and quilted.
But the biggest surprise of allwas when I contacted Dianne Finnegan in Sydney who headed the selectors team for the Colours Of Australia 1994 exhibition, asking if she could tell me what I had called that piece above, and she sent back an image of a quilt I apparently called Bushfire Weather from the catalogue for Art Quilts of Australia 2000 that I really don’t remember making, but it undeniably has my signature all over it :-
“Bushfire Weather” 1999, 100cmh x 120cmw. Improvisational machine piecing, machine quilted with triple needle stitching. (catalogue page by Dianne Finnegan, and I’m still not sure who took the orignal image)
That clears up a bit of the confusion on that master list I referred to at the start of this post as I couldn’t find an image to go with that title – and most of my slides and records of entering shows, catalogues, etc are in my filing cabinet – all safely in storage. Stuff in storage is at times the bane of my existence – a long story I’ll not go into here. But I must have a slide somewhere there because we had to enter juried exhibitions by submitting 35mm slides until about 15 years ago. But for the moment, this will have to do for the record.
And, looking at it, I wonder how on earth I could have forgotten about it, and how I’ve no idea where it is, whether it sold or came back after the exhibibition…. So let me just say I really like this work and am so glad some record of its existence has been restored to me!!
The first paragraph statement is exactly as I would have written it today. The second paragraph is a nice little bio for the time.
A few months ago while rummaging around in a cupboard looking for something else, I unearthed a wall quilt I’d started 7 or 8 years ago, maybe. I don’t remember why it was shelved, but for some reason it got tucked away, and I forgot about it. Such a UFO is unusual for me, as I tend to finish one work before starting actual work on the next, although I may be mentally planning the next work, or even capturing an idea in a sample or two until I can give it my full attention. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I like it after all this time.
This discovery came just as SAQA was about to start another challenge. Those challenges go from as little as 30 days up to 100 days, but they’re personal – you don’t have to pay a fee or buy anything – just let the organisers know you’re joining and work out whatever it is you want to work on a bit each day for for the duration of the challenge. Joining gets you access to the private challenge FB page where participants post progress pics and/or comment each day, or as often as possible. It’s always interesting to see progress other people are making from the different stages of their development.
As I had only quilted about 16 or 17 of these 64 blocks, I decided I should aim for at least one block of quilting per day which would be more than enough to see this thing finished by the end of the challenge. Some days I stitched several blocks, and I’ve done other things in between times, but on Day 30, October 21, I pulled out all the stops by quilting the last 3 blocks and facing the edges. Mission accomplished!! I think it will look good over the mantel above the fireplace, as it’s time we had a change on that wall.
Wall quilt ~75cm sq. An improvisational interpretation of one of my favourite block/repeat units – which I call that sunrise thing. Machine pieced, hand quilted.
It’s funny but I simply cannot remember where I saw this little unit, or if I made it up from seeing some idea somewhere – all I know is it’s stuck in my mind for many years. If anyone familiar with the traditional quilt world knows a name for this unit/block , please let me know!
2012 – A sample of one of my favourite repeat units/blocks which I call the sunrise block,
I first used it as per this sample, made by cutting improvisationally through 2 layers of fabric at once so that rearranging and sewing the pieces together produced a positive and a negative of the pattern. I have no idea what happened to the other one. This litle 4″x4″ sample has been on and off my design wall and in and out of my sample bag for many years. I’ve used it teaching, too, and last time I taught an improv workshop just before the pandemic, one of the students made up an interesting variation on it, which inspired me to explore more possible variations. This kind of exploration could keep me going for a long time. I frequently draw quick rough diagrams to capture an idea – so here are some of the variations I came up with:
With a couple of family menbers, I recently visited a fibreart exhibition, “Dados o El Azar Inexistiente” roughly translated as “Dice or Non-existent Chance” There are various ways you could look at this exhibition, and though I at first came down on the side of ‘textile art’ then mentally modified that to ‘fibreart’, I eventually conceded ‘sculpture ‘ is the best descriptor of this exciting exhibition.
The curator’s statement, here roughly translated: “These linear works awaken a stripped and questioning surprise, naked in volume, variegated and intricate, formed into small compact forms lodged in the vortex and sustained like dice. Muddy, this linear hair, nervous but exuting, allows the entirety of its textile structure to be transparent, calm in the meticulous conception of its chromatic warp.The shadows, pilgrim ghostly lines, displaced feedingly, according to a luminous source mirrored in its distortion, complete and complement the original form in its colorful resolution, fiery, shadowy always magnetic. These fictitious oscillating lines are essentialized, imprecisely thinned, contrasted with tentacular sharpness with swaying cords of intensity and clear chromaticism. The game of shadows multiplies the lines, inciting the imagination to subjective and silent associations.” is a fairly verbose comment on the exhibition as a whole, and yet adds nothing more to my own exciting interpretation I gave it as I carefully considered each section of the exhibition. The works were not indivually named, because in the words of Cardarelli to me in correspondence, he wants them to be viewed as one whole, all parts of the same vision.
“Below The Tideline” / “Debajo de la Linea de Marea” 2023, 20cm x 20cm Fibreglass, glass beads; beading plus hand and machine stitch.
A few months ago I saw a call for entries for an exhibition here in Uruguay early next year. South American artists working in glass and/or textile were invited to submit a 20cm x 20cm piece combining both textile and glass materials and techniques in some way. The January exhibition will be along the coast at Maldonado, part of Punta del Este, the summer season playground for the rich and beautiful from Europe and other latin Americn countries. An online catalogue will be presented, too, so for exposure alone I thought it definitely worth trying for.
My first thought was “fibreglass, that’s a textile!”, and my next move was to rummage in the cupboards for a long forgotten stash of large glass beads. On a visit to Egypt years ago, a textile artist friend living there took Mike and me to a glassblowing artist’s studio. I simply couldn’t resist gathering up a heavy half-full shopping bag of these huge beads, with no idea of what I’d do with them. I strung some into a necklace, which looked great, but was so heavy I could only wear it for about 3 hours. I don’t remember what I did with it, but probably gave it away.
I called a carpenter friend, PJ, who had some remnants he gave me to experiment with. through sample making I learned how to handle this stuff – and it is not at all like stitching on even weave linen! For one thing it’s pretty slippery to work with, so there were handling problems requiring creative solutions. After a week of fiddling around samplising, I followed PJ’s recommendation to visit a store where I could buy some fabric and was able to buy just one metre. I also bought some velo – (trans. veil) It’s very like a single layer of unwoven facial tissue and similarly delicate, which disappointed me a bit. Velo’s used as the final finishing layer on surfboards, for example, giving a smoother finish to the board, and probably making a difference to the performance in the water. I had decided not to get into the area of resins and toxic fumes etc, but did look up health and safety concerns for fibreglass itself, and that’s ok on its own, though it bothers some people when they get it on their skin (I didn’t). As a fibre it’s fairly heavy, and any tiny pieces fall, they don’t waft around in the air.
Considering techniques, to use,my first thought were of the counted thread and drawn thread embroideries I made when young, but the piece of fabric I had wasn’t closely enough woven, and so I turned to the creative embroidery I worked with in the 80s, in the style of Constance Howard and the other, mostly British, embroiderers of that era. Perfect – because in recent years, after a long period making quilted contemporary patchwork, my layered stitched artworks are again featuring hand stitch as a vital surface design element.
Glass beads from Egypt! The fabric is fibre glass, and the other bobbly things are another purchase I simply had to make in Egypt… they’re thread ‘buttons’ for traditional men’s clothing. I’ve always thought them quite beautiful but they’re not very robust – several are unravelling even though about all they’re ever done is travel a day or two in a suitcase, then sit in a drawer and about once a year just slip through my hands for a few minutes….
In this pic are several things I auditioned for the piece I eventually made. I had thought I’d hemstitch the edge, but the glass is too brittle to fold over into a hemstitched edge – in addition to which it is very slippery indeed – so although it looks like even weave linen, it doesn’t behave anything like it!! I had a fairly steep learning curve to handle and control it, while adapting my expectations a bit! And, in the end, I didn’t use the hemstitching, the grey ribbon or the two glass flowers.
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Appliqued puffs, and crumpled fibreglass was machine sewn down before being hand embroidered over.
These large pieces of glass are heavy ~1.5 – 2.5cm across and ~0.5cm thick. Barely visible strips of nylon organza cut on the cross secure them under the strands of wandering fine glass beading.
Strings of beading and lots and lots of French knots add the textures that suggest encrustations in rock pools below the tideline.
I avoided googling to see what other artists are doing with this stuff, as I wanted to keep what I already envisaged within the exhibition’s prospectus, and it will be exciting to see what people have produced within those 20cm x 20cm measurements!
When I did get round to googling the uses of fibreglass fabric, I was astonished at the number of industrial, engineering, automotive and architectural uses of this material. It wasn’t easy to work with, but I would consider using it again if it was appropriate, or if a bright idea strikes me!
The exhibition opens early in January, and I’ll post the details of that closer to the time.
