| My work seems to fit into the fabric/fiber art/quilt art category, but I prefer to reference my work by saying that I make paintings using silk and thread. These works are a hybrid of artistic disciplines: abstraction and the decorative arts. I attempt to explore formalist issues including color, composition and gesture, space, and time by incorporating historic ornament and pattern as well as textile techniques. Using intuition within a predetermined structure has been the way I have approached my work.The materials I use are varied – fabric dye, embroidery floss, fabric paint, gouache and traditional painting media. The combination of these materials has become the vehicle through which I attempt to satisfy various needs: to create works that are artistically compelling as well as elegant, inclusive and pleasurable. Some of my influences are the paintings of Joan Mitchell, Lucas Samaras' late 70s “quilts”, oriental carpets, historic wallpaper patterns, Japanese kimonos and textiles, scientific illustration and aerial photography. In terms of my creative philosophy and process, I combine disciplined planning that takes into account structure, materials, and history with expressive in-the-moment creation. The process is iterative and recursive. Throughout, I move from discipline to intuition and back again. At each stage of the process, I reconcile the old with the new, inventing ‘environments' by updating historical references.
To create an embroidered piece (see Patchwork/Fused/Painted sections) I first made black and white line drawings that were photocopied, cut up, and reconfigured.The resulting collages were enlarged and copied onto fabric ground.
The next phase goes quickly: Using broad strokes of color, dyes and paints cover the fabric surface (over the drawn lines). The process is intuitive and has no pre-determined color palette. The stitching begins once the color has been set and takes many hours in which I am caught up in the detail: small effects, the rhythm in the push and pull of thread. The painted surface leads me to continually reassess my color choices. Before completion, there is more painting at a quick pace which ties together the stitched and painted areas. The paint and stitch are distinct but inseparable.
The Works on Silk series is my interpretation of the traditional quilt. I do not not make any reference drawings for these works, nor do I start with a predetermined color scheme. First, many yards of fabric are painted and dyed. From this yardage palette, I cut strips which are sewn together. The resulting 'squares' are slashed across the grain into new strips and those are sewn together again. The 'slash and sew' process is repeated several times.The final collaged strips are fused onto a fabric surface and hand stitched. The stitching becomes the organizing linear factor, giving each piece its particular rhythm. In later pieces, I've combined of embroidered work, painted fabric and linear elements with the same collaged feeling.
I believe in the value of random happenstance as a catalyst for creative thinking. The question that is the cornerstone of my new embroideries, called Crisscross, is: How does one create a set of rules, attempt to honor them yet be free to discard them completely when one creates a work of art? The element of surprise is important to me as part of the process.
Mycreative process is purposefully simple. After hand painting squares of silk, I sew lines with multiple colors of thread on my machine without a predetermined design, using only the sewing foot as a guide. After a grid is complete, I sew random angled lines. As I begin to hand embroider a row, these angles interrupt the path, causing me to ‘turn the corner’ so to speak. The process is akin to playing a highly strategic game. Colors weave up and over each other while linear paths wander wherever the ‘road’ takes them. I work with several colors simultaneously and I have to predetermine where a color might end in order to balance theory with reality. At each stage of the process, my underlying goal is to reconcile the old with the new, making historical references while creating new situations.
For each piece, the object is to create a unique and vigorous rhythm and structure within a traditional setting, leading the viewer to consider the relationships of color and form from one part of the surface to another. A piece that appears tightly constructed from afar proceeds to dissolve as the viewer zooms in. At close range the piece takes on a looser feel with a complex series of strokes and optically mixed colors. My wish is that the viewer can get involved in and enjoy the work at various distances. |
