April 25, 2016

New Work - The Longest Day

The Longest Day, by Sue Reno
The Longest Day
I am happy to share my latest work, The Longest Day. It's a celebration of the summer solstice, with an emphasis on observing it near the Susquehanna River.  It joins the other works in my ongoing series The River.

The Longest Day, detail 1,  by Sue Reno
The Longest Day, detail 1
 The center panel, which was made independently and attached to the supporting quilt, is made from luxurious silks and wools.  It is needlefelted, hand embroidered, and heavily hand beaded.  There's a lot of textural richness there that could only be achieved through textiles. I greatly enjoyed the process of stitching and beading it, slowly over a period of time.
The Longest Day, detail 2,  by Sue Reno
The Longest Day, detail 2
 The supporting quilt features cyanotype prints, from photos I took of the Veterans Memorial Bridge in Columbia, PA.  They are framed by patchwork made primarily from Mysore silks.
The Longest Day, detail 3,  by Sue Reno
The Longest Day, detail 3
 The composition is framed again by digital prints of the same bridge.  The entire piece is heavily machine stitched.
The Longest Day, detail 4,  by Sue Reno
The Longest Day, detail 4
It's a complex piece, with a lot of interplay between the various visual and textural elements. The size is 77" high by 49" wide.  I'm thrilled with how well it all came together--now the challenge is to find a good venue to display it.

You can track this work back as a work in progress by clicking on The Longest Day under Labels in the right sidebar. 

As always, thanks for reading and commenting.

3 comments:

Eleanor Levie said...

So interesting to see you apply cyanotype to non-organic. The allusions to river and bridge make for an exciting juxtaposition. Inspiring, as always!

Unknown said...

A very interesting and beautiful piece. Congratulations.

Sue Reno said...

Thank you Eleanor and Coby--I appreciate the support!