Threading Memories Artist StatementMy earliest memories of creation involve sitting at a sewing machine surrounded by my grandmother and aunts who were teaching me the art of meticulous measurement, intentional color choices, and precise stitching of fabric to create masterpieces that might be lying in someone’s chest for generations to come. For me this treasured craft held so many meaningful memories and quilting became the lens that I wanted to share these memories and experiences with others. This unlikely connection of something so familiar to something I’ve spent years studying at first presented me with a dilemma. Is it too simple? Too familiar? Craft vs fine art? And then I’m back at the core question I’ve heard so many times. Who gets to define art? What is art? And I find myself finally confidently answering the question through my own experience. It is a repetition of an intentional act using human creativity and imagination. For me, this is taking shape in the most personally familiar medium inspired by artists who have gone before me to create something new and unplanned. With full confidence, I have allowed myself to explore an unpredictable medium like quilting not through a traditional lens of pattern and measurement but through spontaneous decisions about directional line and its connection to stitch lengths as I butt up color and pattern. With the addition of different fabric treatments such as rust dying and acrylic paint, I have incorporated the physical movement and action I found myself longing for in my process. All coming together as “place holders” for memories that are stitched and connected together to create a timeline of remembrance, from my past and present, to looking towards the future. So often as we get older and have new experiences, we tend to forget some from the past. While creating these works, memories from my past and present were stirred up. Weather from color, pattern, or the simple sound of the sewing machine, I wanted to create piece’s that could ignite these memories for myself with one look and create a new ones for others, unforced and unconstrained.
Meredith WoolnoughMeredith Woolnough was born in 1985 in Australia Her mother Rae Wooldough is also a textile artist which no doubt encouraged Meredith’s fascination with her natural of choice and love for the arts. Currently living on the coast of Newcastle, Meredith received her BFA from the University of New South Wales and her MFA in 2008 in teaching from The University of Sydney. I find her current work and process fascinating. She is using a domestic sewing machine but using in a unique way to create dynamic sculptural forms merely from embroidery. She finds her inspiration from things in nature, such as coral, a leaf and other various plant and ocean life. She sketches out her design and when she is satisfied with the sketch, she transfers it to water- soluble fabric. From there, she brings her design over to her sewing machine and emborders out her amazing design. Then her piece is submerged in water which dissolves the fabric, leaving her with a beautiful, delicate threaded sculpture. I connect to woolnough’s work in regard to her gathered inspiration from nature, her choice of medium and her fascination with organic pattern. The process that she uses to create her works of art bring references to my own work. She is taking a traditional process of embroidery but approaching it from a modernistic viewpoint allowing her to draw with thread. http://meredithwoolnough.com.au https://www.artemorbida.com/intervista-con-meredith-woolnough/?lang=e Meredith Woolnough, Giant Lilypad, 2015
STATEMENT
My earliest memories of creation involve sitting at a sewing machine surrounded by my grandmother and aunts who were teaching me the art of meticulous measurement, intentional color choices, and precise stitching of fabric to create masterpieces that might being lying in someone’s chest for generations to come. For me this treasured craft held so many meaningful memories and quilting became the lens that I wanted to share these memories and experiences with others. This unlikely connection of something so familiar to something I’ve spent years studying at first presented me with a dilemma. Is it too simple? Too familiar? Too unfamiliar for the arts? And then I’m back at the core question I’ve heard so many times. Who gets to define art? What is art? And I find myself finally confidently answering the question through my own experience. It is a repetition of an intentional act using human creativity and imagination. For me, this is taking shape in the most personally familiar medium inspired by artists who have gone before me to create something new and spontaneous. With full confidence, I have allowed myself to explore an unpredictable medium like quilting not through a traditional lens of pattern and measurement but through spontaneous decisions about directional line and its connection to stitch lengths as I butt up color and pattern. I would like these pieces to be “place holders” for memories that are then stitch and connected together to create a timeline of remembrance. So often as we get older and have new experiences, we tend to forget some from the past. As I began creating these works, memories from my past and present were stirred up. Weather from color, pattern, or the simple sound of the sewing machine, I wanted to create piece that could ignite these memories for myself with one look and create a new one for others. QUESTIONS
PRIMARY WORDS-DEFINITIONS Memories
Quilt
- Vannetta Chapman
Art
Stitch
Spontaneous
Other words for Spontaneous
This week I wanted to incorporate a fabric panel that I printed in my lithography class recently. The house in panel was my dad’s childhood house that my grandparents recently sold. As I began pulling fabrics to include in this quilt, I wanted to incorporate influences of color theory and color relationships. One comment that was made during my last committee meeting was how my previous quilt had some dimensionality to them and how that was missed in the quilt I showed during our class critique. So, I made sure to consider that moving forward with this current piece seen below. Moving forward I’m planning on quilting and binding the piece shown here. Then start on my next piece that I hope to include more work from my printmaking class I am working on right now.
THINGS ListeningsI really enjoyed both talks, they brought up things that I hadn’t really put much thought into before. In the "99% Invisible - "Knockoffs: Articles of Interest" I found Dapper Dans story fascinating. From selling clothes out of his car to becoming one of the most known underground designers in the nation. In addition, I learned that only a 2D design can be copyright but a 3D design of a garment cannot. The American fashion industry is very, very successful. It makes a lot of money; it reaches worldwide and has been done very well over the last few decades. And yet the core idea, the design, can be copied by anyone, and is copied by anyone. Avery Trufelman from the episode states, “If you come up with a cool sleeve or a really different looking collar, you have no claim to it in the American copyright system. If you come up with something that’s useful or technologically innovative, like maybe it’s a new kind of sweat-wicking fabric, maybe you could get a patent.” This reality is something that I had never really realized or considered before. I guess the idea behind what seems to be a twisted give and take system, is it enables the fashion cycle, the cycle of something coming into fashion and going out. It enables this cycle to move more quickly, to keep up with the “trends.” It seems that trends come in style as soon as they go out of trend. Thinking about what happens to these no longer valuable, out of trend items of our wardrobe, is brought to light in the podcast episode, "Planet Money - "The Afterlife of a T-Shirt" In this episode David Kesenbaum discusses the unexpected afterlife of a T-shirt, when it leaves its owner. The distances it travels, its “afterlife” and its new created from its original style and purpose. I found these ideas to be very interesting and made me reflect on the fabric that I use in my current and past works. Where do they come, do they have a history, are they repurposed or taking on a “first life” journey of their own? Also, what value do they now hold compared to previous uses of that material. All thoughts that were brought to mind by listening to this episode. ProgressThis week after completing my first full quilt, I have been trying out different fabric combinations with quilt tops I made at the end of last semester. Also I've been looking at a fabric panel I recently Litho printed on in printmaking and seeing if can incorporate that into one of the pieces for my show. I have also started basting and now quilting the watermelon panel seen in one of the images below.
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