Embroidered Collage

These three concepts are where I'm going to develop my artwork.  I didn't get this idea at QSDS, exactly, but one line of thought was prompted by a quilt I saw at Quilt National which had four sections, but it wasn't just quarters, each was a little off in shape and the overlaid each other a bit and you could see a bit of background fabric.  I was also inspired by some of the twists on traditional geometries to do exciting things with color, texture, and pattern.  The show that had two to five works from each artist also started me thinking because I asked myself "How do I want to be known as an artist?" after seeing the related works and hearing some of the other artists comments about them.

Fields of Texture and Pattern - Think the color field paintings like Rothko or Klein, but instead of color as a subject it will be either texture or pattern.  I won't feel like I need to have a focal point or necessarily much contrast.  I can just develop the idea and stretch it out.  The background of City Garden Silence might qualify and I would group Kambaba Jasper here as well.

Cross-overs with Traditional Embroidery - This is the most experimental concept of the three and the one I had before QSDS.  I want to take basic counted cross-stitch and use it in Footstep collages like any other elements, painting over it partially, glueing it down, and otherwise horrifying the traditional embroiderer in me that says all handwork must be valued and cherished.  I have some pieces in my purse that I've been working on that I'll show you and start out with.  I'd also like to extend into Hardanger and pulled thread as time goes by.  You could consider City Garden Silence and Exhalation as first steps on this path, but not true examples of what I am considering.

Modular Artworks - This is the primary idea, where I expect to spend most of my time.  I began with the concept that I could create 6" artworks in not-quite quarters.  Use squarish shapes of roughly 3 inches per side of different textures, such as one fabric with embroidery on Peltex, one painted on watercolor paper, one lightweight decorative paper, and then a square of the bare canvas itself.  But they would overlap and not quite fit and be interesting. 

And then the idea grew.  I could do that with more squares with Footsteps.  And then I began looking at materials and thinking how I could use the 3" squares to sketch out tons of ideas, experimental bits I could incorporate.  I thought about how little fabric it could take and how much better the work would be if I made bunches of squarish pieces and combined them later, sometimes into even larger configurations.  The idea appeals and satisfies me and I keep thinking of new iterations, such as having some sections of a larger work be 3x6 or 6x6, etcetera.  I have to actually do at least one before I can be sure, but I don't think it will disappoint. 

And if I really can concentrate on these three areas - which still gives me a lot of freedom - it helps me eliminate as not productive a whole bunch of other ideas I'd been considering.  Oh, I imagine I'll do the odd miscellaneous piece, just because, but that will be because it truly calls to me, not because I don't know where I'm going.  We'll see how this works...