surface design exploration

More Dyeing explorations

Those of you who have been following my journey for a while may remember that I was quite disappointed with the results of my dyeing last summer.  Well, I have continued working with Procion MX dyes as well as with Batik resist techniques.

thread painted faces

Recently I have been exploring the notion of cross cultural human connections.  Connections between people, both emotional and physical, sometimes give strength but at other times are fraught with tension.  In either case we all carry ties that bind us to each other.  As the Ubuntu saying goes "I am because you are, our humanity binds us."

These faces were created with free motion stitchery on water soluble fibre.  Then they were encased in co-polyester using clear plastic resin and dye.

the journey of self expression

Recently I have been drawing and thought I would post a few I found to be particularly successful.  It has been suggested to me recently that my drawings may be expressing a search for the self.  I had thought that I was investigating the interconnections between people, a cross cultural journey.  But, the suggestion was to insert myself into this exploration.  Is this the key to what makes great art? The expression of the self.... hmmm.....

Element of Water

detail

Riverbed

Recently I have been busy exploring the notion of 'elements' as they are viewed cross culturally.  I found it fascinating that most cultures overlap with regards to what is understood to be essential elements.
This is my interpretation of

Water

The fabric is hand dyed cotton.  The river stones are a result of my drawing, manipulated on the computer and then digitally printed on to the cotton.  After that, the fabric was gathered and stitched with free motion and quilted.

detail of the collar

 Water, once again, as a wearable.  I dyed this silk fabric and the collar is dyed using a shibori technique.

Element of Cement

Cement

When exploring the elements, I felt that since I live in a big city, one of my elements is cement  (which is after all made from stone and water).  I am surrounded by cement, and so, this is my reality when it comes to basic elements.

Element of Earth

Earth

This is my interpretation of the element earth.  the fabric was hand dyed and then the quilting was done by both hand and machine.

detail

detail too

memories

I feel terribly guilty about not publishing anything for so long.  However, it is not for lack of working.  In fact, because I have been so busy 'making'  I disconnected from my blogging fun.  But, have no fear, I plan to make up for lost cyberspace.

This first piece was created as an installation for a seniors' long term residence here in Toronto. 

MEMORIES

 

 

 

Memories, detail

It has been said that "memory is a way of holding on to the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose."  Some of our memories are bright, others somber, some clear and others ephemeral and elusive.  In this work, I have tried to capture the notion of memory over time.

Memories, detail

The background is cotton that I immersed in soy wax using a batik process of immersing the cotton in wax, letting it dry and then 'crunching it up'  and immersing it in the black dye.

The layered squares are also all hand dyed including the batting.  (grey colour)  This is my ode to quilting by exposing the inside out!

The thread work was created using solvy. The work is about 6 feet wide and about 4 feet tall, created to snuggly fit into an alcove in the residence.