ART QUILT XXII: As Near to the Edge as I Can Go

The Chandler Center for the Arts Vision Gallery hosts an annual (22 years now) art quilt exhibition.  This year my piece, Wide Sargasso Sea, is featured on the exhibition post card.  Indeed this is a great honor as the art is among 22 other multi-media textile pieces that are juried into to the prestigious show.

Vision Gallery - Postcard 2017

The textile piece was inspired by a book called The Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. The Sargasso Sea is known for it’s aqua blue waters and golden Sargasso kelp. The color palette was chosen to reflect those vivid colors of the region. Each panel was created to mimic the tidal movements of the sea and to mimic the currents of the ocean. The panels are interconnected through the basic design element of line which was emphasized by applying paint and hand stitch.
When I composed this piece I was drawn to experimenting with the nature of dying and over dying fabric.  I used the circle as a repetitive motif throughout and within the corresponding panels.  I also experimented with paint to highlight patterns created by the dyed resist.  Hand stitch was added to echo the painted imprints. In the largest panel, different size and type threads were used to convey the fluidity of water.

Techniques: Hand dying of textiles, fabric painted, machine constructed and hand stitched texture.