Iceland Goes Through: the art of conversation

Iceland Goes Through

- 1950s woven cotton upholstery, 60s gingham dress, 60s curtains, 

80s paisley upholstery

... one of several textiles I've laid out during phone conversations with friends.  In these works, the present moment is considered as much a material as the fabric; there is a natural interweaving of dialogues--internal and external, fabrics and friendship. During this particular conversation, a friend who is an avid soccer fan was telling me about the rise of Iceland, the Cinderella team in the Euro 2016 tournament.  As she recounted each win, she would say 

"...and so, Iceland goes through."  

Hat Brim/Peine del Viento

Hat Brim/Peine del Viento
- 1990s black velvet hat brim and various scraps, 1920s-present

      

Point of departure-- a hat brim I cut out in the nineties for a project never completed.

...thinking of Eduardo Chillida's sculpture, Peine del Viento (Comb of the Wind).

Seaside painting by Nicolas de Stael

                                                                                                                                                     

The Red Shirt

             



The Red Shirt
-1970s cotton shirt, 2000s Gap chinos, various scraps on burlap

The old barn behind our house.

Lapstrake, Ticking, and Rachel Carey George/Gee's Bend quilt

                                 



Lapstrake
- Gap jeans c.2000, early 20th c velvet, 1970s velour pants, silk, wool, cheesecloth, burlap

                                                                                                                                                                 














Ticking
- early 20th c mattress ticking, wood toothpicks, cotton string, tea-dyed burlap

                                         








Ticking removed from cotton boll stuffed mattress.

Gee's Bend/ Rachel Carey George quilt

The use of old clothing and household items in my work is directly inspired by the Gee's Bend quilt makers, a group of African American women living in close-knit geographically isolated communities of Alabama.  Their work, originally made of whatever salvageable materials were available, represents an important cultural and visual contribution to the history of 20th c African American art.  In need of warmth, and with no time to fuss over intricate patterns and piecework, the Gee's Bend artists created a non-traditional aesthetic vision which incorporates the idiosyncrasies and past lives of recycled goods.  In this quilt by Rachel Carey George (1909-2011)--made of wool trousers, jeans, and mattress ticking--the faded ghost prints of pockets become compositional elements in the overall design.

Tidepool

Tidepool
-1970s disco jacket, 70s polyester mens pants, 70s velour womens pants, 60s dress

                                         

Clyfford Still painting: "PH-241", 1949
which I saw recently at the MFAH.
Photo credit: Clyfford Still Museum Denver via MFAH website 

Other scraps include my grandmother's 1960's dress and my mother's 1970's cotton velour pants

Materials and memory

Bird's nest pillow cover made with assorted scraps

Oriented strand board

Apartment courtyard, Milan,1983


....looking at my work through the lens of my architectural experiences,
in the use of materials, and the memories of places I've lived.