Monday, September 12, 2016

Fabric Collage




Untitled #1 - 14" x 14" - Dye painted cotton, appliquéd and kantha stitched


In October Tom Dimond and I will be part of an exhibition at the Upstairs Artspace in Tryon, NC.  The show is a couple exhibition featuring 3 couples where each partner is an artist.  The opening is Saturday October 22, 2016 and will close December 2, 2016.  More information will be presented later.






Untitled #2 - 14" x 14" - Dye painted cotton, appliquéd and kantha stitched



Each artist will have approximately 10 works and I plan to exhibit both textiles and paintings.  The pieces pictured will be part of the exhibition and will be matted, framed and under glass as I find small fabric pieces show very nicely this way.






Untitled #3 - 14" x 14" - Dye painted cotton, appliquéd and kantha stitched


Most people are familiar with the use of the term collage in reference to paper but from my point of view when fabric is stitched to another layer of fabric that is also collage.  In the work presented here pieces of fabric were first composed and machine stitched to a larger piece of fabric and then hand stitched using a running stitch or kantha stitched (the same) with embroidery thread.  I do use a thin layer of Theramore batting between the image fabric and a very open weave fabric for the back so it is easy to stitch.  The fabric you see as the image was hand dyed, hand painted and monoprinted with thickened dye.

While I have made some large work with lots of hand stitching, I find I prefer these smaller sizes.  They are easier to handle as I can hold them in my lap and of course they work up more quickly.  There is also the issue of my right hand which becomes painful after too many hours of this type of work.  

I love seeing this work along side my new paintings.  They support each other and make for an interesting show.