Sunday, April 27, 2014

In the Extreme

My last post invited you to attend the MIX Exhibition. Our challenge this year was to complete 3 pieces "in the extreme". Color, Shape distortion and material in the extreme specifically. Several member chose a single theme while others varied this. Each piece was to measure 18" square.

I often find I tell a story with my quilts and these were no exception. Where play golf when in the desert does a really bad job of pruning trees. Due to occasional wind storms they need to keep them low. So, they just top off all the limbs causing them to grow right angle joints. I fondly refer to these as the elbow trees.

In January, the trees were strutting their stuff with gorgeous pink flowers but nary a leaf. I decided they had to be girlies and my She Art series began. To date I have finished three and they were the entries to the MIX Exhibition.

First : She Gives New Meaning to Going Green
This tree begins with distortion due to wind and leans. It seemed the perfect coupling to explore distortion with dye. The shibori technique happens through pole wrapping cloth and then over dyeing. The fine angled lines shibori produces seemed the perfect detail for the fine branching of  tree. Hand embroidery completes the piece.

Next: She Put Her Freak On
This is color in extreme study: acid green and shades of grey. I chose a commercial fabric that resembles a hand dye for the tree. Sort of psychedelic. The arms of this tree make her seem as if she is raising the roof, rocking it. I added tree "bling" to her limbs 'cuz she is going out.


And last for now: She Has a Night on the Town and Nothing to Wear
I chose the color red for "painting the town red" but the tree is made from cloth that resembles a paper bag. I created some patterns in Photoshop and ran portions of the tree branches through my computer (extreme material). She is still a plain jane. Ifinished with some hand embroidery in the center section behind the tree.
More to come...

Sunday, April 13, 2014

MIX Extreme Studies

MIX is my small quilt group. Our challenge for this year was to work in an 18 inch square format and study the concept of material, form and color "in the extreme".  Several members chose a single theme for exploration  but in the end, each artist was allowed the freedom to apply the parameters in any way they wished. This produced 21 unique pieces which are hanging in the Community Hall of the First United Methodist Church in Portland Oregon.

If you live near by, stop and get a closer look It will be worth your while.