Rainbow Fabric

So thankful to have

found and bought

this fabric

 

 

What fun to play with the

colors of my dreams

in my land of enchantment.



Thread Painting

My attraction to the infinitesimal began after watching an Antique Roadshow episode that featured an 1819 Philadelphia School Girl Silk Embroidered Picture.  Since then, the infinitesimal has become one of my secret obsessions, with messages about its meaning scattered around the world for me to find and seek. 

That is why, when I found out that a Thread Painting course was being offered at Peters Valley, led by artist Missy Stevens, I had to go.

Thread painting is all about using tiny stitches to bring your image to life.  Using a punch thread needle, and the colors of your choice, you punch tiny holes into your fabric to create the image of your desire.  You can shade with your thread, create shadows, add brightness.  You can use metallic thread to cause sparkle and shine.  You can add beads to your piece.  There is such depth of creativity and freedom allowed through this medium, and *there are no rules*.

 

This piece is the lovely Gina's, an amazing artist who is currently working on her MFA.

This is Judy's, whose husband volunteers at Peter's Valley,

and whose son is an amazing woodworking artist. 

It turns out that Judy was secretly inspired by

his cityscapes in the creation of her piece.

Here is the wonderful Missy, working ingeniously on a piece she has been creating.

By the end of the workshop, I was able to complete as much as you see

on the piece on the left, which is mine. 

(The one on the right is Gina's.)

I love this form of art.  It speaks to me with depth on many levels.  The piece I am creating is called
"A gift for you" and is with the pink hands holding out a blue heart.  The background is a circular rainbow.  All this week, I've been stitching for an hour here, an hour there, or a few rows when I am able.  More has been added, but I will take time to write about it again more next week.  For now, this is an introduction and a record of memory of my beginnings with this unique technique.

Here is just a quick photo

of where I am at with my piece so far:

 



Fiber Art

There is something about fabric and textiles; a depth that speaks to me in stitches and textures.  Mixed media art has always drawn me to it, as there is freedom and possibility in the ability to add elements that are usually not paired together.  Fiber art has become more and more interesting to me, and filled me with the desire to get my hands on fabrics and create pieces that are filled with tactile surfaces.  Later this week I will share about my introduction to Thread Painting, from a workshop I took over the weekend.


When I see and read about fiber arts, I am filled with awe and a desire for more.  There is an artist who creates archaeological treasures out of fiber: Diane Savona.  Her artist statement is: "Like an archaeologist digging out the remains of ancient cultures, I search out estate sales, looking for the recent artifacts of past generations.  Crocheted doilies and embroidered tablecloths - common in our grandmother's lives - are becoming extinct. By presenting them as unearthed specimens, I hope to change viewer perception of our textile heritage."  The art shown to the right and below are examples of her work.  The one below is from her Domestic Archaeology series, and is called Chest.  The pieces titled Ancient Text (1, 2, and 3) also open in the same style, and her Clothespin Shrine is something else to see.

 

What messages are conveyed through these art-full artifacts. 

Recently I came upon an article in the Smithsonian magazine, while waiting in the reception area of my childrens' doctor office for their well visits.  I captured as much as I could onto a tiny piece of paper to record the importance of this article's subject matter.  It resonated strongly with the significance of the small, and my desire to create art pieces surrounding the ideas presented in the article. 

The piece talked about a chemist who takes silk artifacts and tests them to discover their age.  Just a miniscule amount of the collected material is needed for testing; 5mg. has lots of compound, or even only a 1/100 speck is needed to analyze the fabric, which is made up of D to L amino acids. Chemist Mehdi Molini and his team dissolve the fabric in chemicals and test it to discover the date of creation. 



I could imagine pairing the fabric pieces together with  close-up microscopic photos of their molecular makeup, including a diagram of the process by which the fabric is made, and faces of those people who make it.  All of it = works of art.   Each stitch made complete. 

This is just the beginning, but through fiber arts and all of its possibilities, I am finding a voice through which I may speak.