Symbiont Story
7.25” x 5” x 11”
Techniques: Machine stitched paper, oxidation/rust printed and washed for maximum conservation, indigo dye on paper & threads, paint. Book construction; ‘star book design’ modified.
Materials: Paper, book board, PVA, cotton thread, oxidation/rust, paint, indigo dye, UV spray, and workable fix spray.
Artist Statement: Humans interacting in ecosystems discover metals they evolve into our modern world – formed by human hands, used by human operators, then finally discarded by humans. This is not the end of these reminders of human interaction as the natural world returns to reclaim its own.
In this piece, metal artifacts have left behind their shapes and impressions with oxidation — rust complemented by the biological miracle of indigo — colors which reflect the eternal challenge of mankind amid the natural world.
Oxidation occurs from exposure to elements over time. This geometry, quilted by my grandmother, oxidized in my memory becoming part of my modern world.
Photographer: Nora Q. Garnett
Symbiont Story - detail
Oxidation
60 x 65 inches
Techniques: Acrylic painting, cutting & applique of post consumer waste, stitching
Materials: Canvas, gesso, acrylic paint, post consumer waste, wool/rayon felt, polyester thread, paracord, commercial cotton backing
Artist Statement:
Oxidation occurs from exposure to elements over time. This geometry, quilted by my grandmother, oxidized in my memory becoming part of my modern world.
Photographer: Owen Carey
Oxidation - DETAIL
Quilt of Fantastical Things
40 x 40 inches
Techniques: Acrylic painted and stamped canvas, machine appliqué, embellished with found objects and thread drawing
Materials: Acrylic paint; gesso; cotton canvas; silk, rayon, cotton, and polyester threads; wool/rayon felt; PVA; woven, printed commercial linen; bottle caps
Artist Statement:
I find inspiration in ordinary objects and often use them in unexpected ways to express my visual ideas about repetition and pattern. It was natural, then, that circles in a sketch made me think of the bottle caps my son, Jake, has collected all his life. When he saw the small sample where I tested them, he generously gave me his collection to use in a quilt, thus the “J” in the central bottle cap.
Photographer: Pushdot Studio
2050
50 x 41 inches
Techniques: Heat painting - Collaged, fused and stitched plastic bags
Materials: Over 150 shopping bags, my daily newspaper bags, plastic netting from a neighborhood garage sale, a discarded plastic party table cloth from the recycle center, 100% ECO recycled polyester felt, a repurposed cotton bed sheet
Artist Statement:
2018 began with the daunting reality that China would no longer accept plastic recycling from the US due to commingled contaminated waste.
I began collecting our discarded bags and observed the use of plastics in my own home. The pile multiplied as even our newspapers arrive in plastic bags. As my concern grew, I began fusing the bags as the surface of this piece.
Research suggests that by 2050 the plastics that have migrated into the North Pacific will be greater than the population of fish. I hope we shift consumption before we drown in the plastic ocean we created.
Photographer: Sam Garnett
Amalgam
54” x 44”
Techniques: Traditionally prepared canvas painted then divided, black applied vinyl border; three layers (aluminum, painted canvas, die-cut waste) connected with screws and washers.
Materials: Canvas, acrylic paint, industrial die-cut waste, composite aluminum, stainless steel washers, screws, painted paper die cut, and black adhesive vinyl.
Artist Statement:
Amalgam: A composite, a blend, a fusion.I come from a long line of craftsmen and women - with grandmothers & great grandmothers who made quilts that I cherish. As a modern female artist I often wonder what they would make today with all the choices open to them?My amalgamation pushes the edge of quilting tradition — living where traditional geometry meets unexpected materials and processes.The base layer is a composite aluminum over which is laid a layer of wild, expressive painted canvas then finished with a third layer of plastic post-industrial, die-cut waste. The piece is "quilted" with stainless steel screws, hand painted and stainless steal washers.I remain grateful to my ancestors for keeping the tradition and high standard of craft alive, and for valuing creativity and artistic drive. I wish they could all see this Amalgamation of past, present, and future — to see where "women's work" has come.
Photo By: Pushdot Studio
Amalgam - Detail
Dimensional Drift
52” x 32”
Techniques: Acrylic painted and stamped canvas, machine appliqué, machine quilted.
Materials: Acrylic paint; gesso; cotton canvas; cotton and polyester threads; cotton batting; PVA; woven, commercial cotton fabric
Artist Statement:
My life is layered. The deep and dark places are in shadow where creativity begins, simmers, and swells; partially obscured by the regimen of everyday life, all in a constant swirl. Then the bridge appears, the path where creation crosses over to visible form. That which was shadow is now light, that which was light, is now unseen.
Photo By: Dan Kvitka
Dimensional Drift - Detail
Explorations
49” x 41”
Techniques: Painting, stamps, stencils, lettering, machine quilting, and various machine stitch embellishment including couching over 550 cord.
Materials: Traditionally prepared gesso canvas, acrylic paint, wool/rayon blend felt, various polyester threads, 550 parachute cord, nylon string.
Artist Statement:
"We shall not cease from exploration..."
-TS Eliot
This quilt explores a range of materials and pro cesses I've learned over a lifetime - bringing together one of my first artistic passions, acrylic paint on canvas, with the craft of quilting. It is an expression of the internal rumination or "circling" of my life both in studio and at home.
Photo By: Sam Garnett
Submerge
55” x28.5”
Techniques: Acrylic painting, stitched, quilted
Materials: Cotton Canvas, gesso, acrylic paint, various threads, UVLS varnish, commercial polyester backing
Artist Statement:
Summers in the above ground pool; Dad fights filter system
Wade rocks and freeze in fast streams where I can see fish
Swim murky green lakes with squishy bottoms
Naked in the hot sun along big rivers silent and swift
Paddle with the love of my life over swarms of jellyfish
Roar Northern Coast where even I dare not swim, turning our feet bright pink
Infant sons underwater in weightless joy swimming together
Body surf Maui and dive to hear the whales sing
Water . Love . Rebirth
Photographer: Sam Garnett
Submerge - Detail
Fault Line - DETAIL
60 x 36 inches
Techniques: Acrylic painted, metal leafing, stitching
Materials: Canvas, gesso, acrylic paint, polyester interfacing, metal leaf, varnish, polyester thread, commercial cotton backing
Artist Statement:
Fault Line is about relationships suffering broken communication and trust are repaired over time to become stronger, more beautiful, and beyond monetary value.
Photographer: Sam Garnett