Artist Statement
A passion for creating something of substance from raw materials led me to quilting. My first quilt, aptly entitled “My First,” was made for my first child, Andrea, on her first birthday. Begun when she was six months old, it took me six months to complete. Though it was not my intention to create a specific traditional pattern when I designed this quilt, I did want it to look like the traditional quilts I was familiar with: squares and triangles of calico.
More than twenty years and over 300 quilts later, I created “Solitude IV.” In this work I seek the strength to be found in acknowledging the sensitive and fragile. This series is devoted to the fine, fragile line between solitude and loneliness. The reference to branches and leaves, especially during the retiring season of autumn, is a metaphor for life at the crossroads. “Solitude IV” was created from discharged black cotton fabric, hand painted with a wash of pigment, appliquéd painted silk organza, and machine quilted.
The emphasis in the next period of my work is on the painted or discharged surface versus directing the work through construction methods. I want to "see what's happening," rather than direct "something to happen." Simple structure is balanced with painted and stitched surfaces, allowing the elements of simplicity and complexity to coexist. I seek the strength to be found in acknowledging the sensitive and fragile.
My series about “Time” is an effort to honor my need to focus and strengthen my connection with my work. Using discharged fabric, time is alluded to in this series through such images as: the circular stokes that suggest the cross-cut of wood in “Time Squared”, the notches and paths on a time line in “Time Line”, the suggestion of bones or bone cells in “Facing Time”, the calligraphic marks that tell a “story” in “Time Told”, the image of leaves on a frozen surface in “Frozen in Time”, and a newspaper’s distortion of the truth in “The Times: Gaslighting”. The concepts of time and memory are also referenced in the structure of the quilts (threads left behind after ripping out seams, and dense lines of machine stitching). In honor of my need to focus and connect with my work, the stitching of line after line across the surfaces became a form of meditation. A bonus came with the heavy stitching - the “hand” of the quilts is more substantial. Perhaps we can only begin to understand time by the evidence it leaves behind.
At this point I returned to sewing seams to join fabrics, replacing the torn, machine appliquéd edges of earlier work which had created a softened surface. These seams, in addition to creating a cleaner, stronger line, are a metaphor for my search for a balance to the past desire to “loosen up”. Another words, it’s okay to show strength, to hold some things back (seam allowances as metaphor for feelings, ideas), to appreciate my own natural tendency towards neatness and order, as well as a sensitivity to the organic.
Regarding the “Fault” series: Pressure…stress. Life is haunted by these energies. The evidence of this, often perceived as a negative, is peeling, cracking, checking, breakage and fault-lines. However, change comes with breakage, relief of pressure, and the opportunity for creating something new. When considered in this way, a “fault” has the possibility of being a positive force.
While earlier quilts were built of hand painted, torn cotton fabrics which were direct machine appliquéd to a base, my most current work is constructed of hand painted silk organza, cut, layered, composed and direct-machined appliquéd to raw silk. The work continues to address issues of success, chaos, change, depression and growth through use of structural metaphors (i.e., parameters, columns and boxes) and natural metaphors (i.e., grasses, trees, rock, flowers).
More than twenty years and over 300 quilts later, I created “Solitude IV.” In this work I seek the strength to be found in acknowledging the sensitive and fragile. This series is devoted to the fine, fragile line between solitude and loneliness. The reference to branches and leaves, especially during the retiring season of autumn, is a metaphor for life at the crossroads. “Solitude IV” was created from discharged black cotton fabric, hand painted with a wash of pigment, appliquéd painted silk organza, and machine quilted.
The emphasis in the next period of my work is on the painted or discharged surface versus directing the work through construction methods. I want to "see what's happening," rather than direct "something to happen." Simple structure is balanced with painted and stitched surfaces, allowing the elements of simplicity and complexity to coexist. I seek the strength to be found in acknowledging the sensitive and fragile.
My series about “Time” is an effort to honor my need to focus and strengthen my connection with my work. Using discharged fabric, time is alluded to in this series through such images as: the circular stokes that suggest the cross-cut of wood in “Time Squared”, the notches and paths on a time line in “Time Line”, the suggestion of bones or bone cells in “Facing Time”, the calligraphic marks that tell a “story” in “Time Told”, the image of leaves on a frozen surface in “Frozen in Time”, and a newspaper’s distortion of the truth in “The Times: Gaslighting”. The concepts of time and memory are also referenced in the structure of the quilts (threads left behind after ripping out seams, and dense lines of machine stitching). In honor of my need to focus and connect with my work, the stitching of line after line across the surfaces became a form of meditation. A bonus came with the heavy stitching - the “hand” of the quilts is more substantial. Perhaps we can only begin to understand time by the evidence it leaves behind.
At this point I returned to sewing seams to join fabrics, replacing the torn, machine appliquéd edges of earlier work which had created a softened surface. These seams, in addition to creating a cleaner, stronger line, are a metaphor for my search for a balance to the past desire to “loosen up”. Another words, it’s okay to show strength, to hold some things back (seam allowances as metaphor for feelings, ideas), to appreciate my own natural tendency towards neatness and order, as well as a sensitivity to the organic.
Regarding the “Fault” series: Pressure…stress. Life is haunted by these energies. The evidence of this, often perceived as a negative, is peeling, cracking, checking, breakage and fault-lines. However, change comes with breakage, relief of pressure, and the opportunity for creating something new. When considered in this way, a “fault” has the possibility of being a positive force.
While earlier quilts were built of hand painted, torn cotton fabrics which were direct machine appliquéd to a base, my most current work is constructed of hand painted silk organza, cut, layered, composed and direct-machined appliquéd to raw silk. The work continues to address issues of success, chaos, change, depression and growth through use of structural metaphors (i.e., parameters, columns and boxes) and natural metaphors (i.e., grasses, trees, rock, flowers).
