New Work - Silk Mill #1

Silk Mill #1

I am delighted to share with you another new work, Silk Mill #1, 42”h x 44”w.  It is part of my architectural set of art quilts, The Structures, and the beginning of a new series based on the former Ashley and Bailey Silk  Mill in Columbia, PA. 

The mill was built in 1899 and was a working silk mill, and later a garment factory, until the 1970s when it was abandoned.  It became a rather spectacular ruin, open to the elements and with vegetation growing throughout it.  I took a lot of pictures of it just before it underwent renovation that transformed a portion of it into a tourist destination, The Turkey Hill Experience.  I posted them earlier here and here. 

Silk Mill #1, Detail 1

As a prelude to this series, I did three small, framed Studies, which were exhibited last fall at the Marietta Art House.  I’ve got the large versions of #2 and #3 in progress, and am open to seeing how far this series takes me.  I’ve got a lot of powerful and compelling images to work with, and I’m really enjoying the process of bringing them to life.  As a homage to the original purpose of the building, I’m trying to use a lot of silk fabrics as I’m working.

Silk Mill #1, Detail 2

For Silk Mill #1, I had my image burned into a Thermofax screen, which I used to print onto both white and hand-painted cotton fabric.  I also had the image digitally printed on to silk yardage, which I cut up and used in the patchwork and for the borders. 

Long term readers, and those who followed the links back, will noticed that years have passed since I first embarked on this project; further proof, as if it were needed, that art-making is not always a linear progression.  I’ve been mulling over these images, off and on, while I completed my Watt & Shand works, and began the Flora and Fauna series, and worked on various botanical art quilts that demanded my time and attention for various reasons.  But at last the time is right for this one to become further realized, and I am enjoying it very much.