New Work - In Dreams I Found Utopia

In Dreams I Found Utopia

I am happy to share my latest work, In Dreams I Found Utopia. It's part of my ongoing series The River that features my interpretations of experiences and observations, both real and imagined, of life along the river. To date they have all been about the Susquehanna because that has been my proximal point of reference. In Dreams I Found Utopia has a very specific point of reference, a section of the Northwest Lancaster River Trail that's a favorite bike riding locale.

In Dreams I Found Utopia, detail 1

I've spent a lot of my life closely observing the the natural world along the Susquehanna, and yes, it really does show up in my dreams. In this work, it serves as an allegory for a world where all is in balance and beauty abounds.

In Dreams I Found Utopia, detail 2

This work is 67"high by 53" wide. It features a needlefelted river panel, and a wet cyanotype print of leaves from native trees. The supporting piecework is all assembled from leftover strips of previous quilts.

In Dreams I Found Utopia, detail 3

There is a lot of detailed work in this piece, from the tiny pebbled stitching in the leaves panel, to intricate hand beadwork in the river panel.

In Dreams I Found Utopia, detail 4

This one was a pure pleasure to make that went together quickly (by my standards). I hope you enjoy viewing it.

You can track this one back as a work in progress by clicking here, or clicking on the tag below or on the right sidebar.

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Art Quilting Studio Article

 I'm honored that my work is featured in the current issue, Autumn 2019, of Art Quilting Studio Magazine. The article, Stitching the Natural World, shows three of my large art quilts, and includes a basic tutorial on some of the techniques I used to create them.

It's a large, quality publication, packed full of beautiful quilts and engaging commentary. I am very pleased to be able to share my work with their readership.

In Dreams I Found Utopia, part 4

I outlined the leaves on the wet cyan panel, and added the leaf veining as accurately as the process allows for. I then had the spaces between the leaves to deal with. I chose to "pebble" the spaces, using adjacent small circles as fill. Every time I choose this I know I will come to regret it, as it is a very painstaking and time consuming way to stitch. There is no denying, however, how awesome it looks, so it was worth it.

I like to paint the backs for my works, because it's fun and freeing and it makes me happy as I'm working on them. I spread a bit piece of cotton sateen on the driveway and had fun splashing and swirling textile paints around.

Here's the back after drying in the sun, being rinsed out, dried again, and ironed.

I layered up the top, the batting, and the back and did another round of quilting on the entire works. The needlefelted panel was added last, on top of the supporting quilt.

Up next, the big reveal!

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SAQA Journal Featured Artist

I am excited to share that I am the featured artist in the current edition of the SAQA Journal (Vol. 29 No. 3). It's a six page (!) spread with tons of images. Cindy Grisdela has done an absolutely amazing job of capturing what it is do and why I do it.

SAQA is the Studio Art Quilting Associates, a non-profit organization. "SAQA now has over 3,600 members: artists, teachers, collectors, gallery owners, museum curators and corporate sponsors. With access to our museum-quality exhibition program, SAQA members challenge the boundaries of art and change perceptions about contemporary fiber art." 

If you had told me many years ago when I first joined the organization that this is where I'd be today I doubt I would have believed it. But I have benefited greatly from my membership, both in terms of interacting with my peers and in exhibition opportunities. I currently have work in two SAQA Global Exhibitions, Metamorphosis and Season after Season, where my work is traveling to venues I would be hard pressed to access on my own.

I'm feeling extremely grateful, and very motivated to go in my studio and work even harder on my next big project. 

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In Dreams I Found Utopia, WIP part 3

Having completed the needlefelted river panel, it was time to start thinking about the overall composition of this work. My process in general is to components up on the design wall and audition fabrics for the supporting quilt. I work quickly on this part, pulling fabrics and pinning them in place. I try to set aside time without distractions so I can focus and make good decisions. I then leave it up for a few days of study, and may do some tweaking, but in general the initial composition is what I go with.

I often make strip sets in particular colorways to go with my panels. For this quilt I tried a different approach. I have a bin of leftover bits of strips from previous quilts, and I rummaged around in there to find pieces that would work. It was a really interesting challenge to arrange and incorporate all the disparate bits; but of course they were not all that disparate because my sensibilities had informed them all. And using parts from other quilts helped tie this particular one into my body of work..

And while that was going on, I did a round of quilting on the wet cyanotype panel. It was all very exciting and I was working long hours obsessively.

Up next: pebbles and the backing.

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In Dreams I Found Utopia, WIP part 2

This work includes a river component and I began that part, as I often do, with a needlefelted base. What you see here is the first step, a piece of wool/rayon felt with strands of wool roving beginning to be incorporated into it.

I got really immersed in the process and forgot to take pictures, so next up is the panel when it's almost completed. I've added lots more roving, some bits of silk and wool fabric, and done some felting from the reverse.
Sometimes my rivers are very abstract, but this panel represent a very specific portion of the Susquehanna, in Lancaster County, PA. I was spending a lot of time biking on the Northwest Lancaster County River Trail, and there's a portion just west of the Decatur St. access where the trail is a bit higher than the land on both sides. So when the river rises up over its banks, or there's a lot of snow melt and/or rain, there are pockets on the side opposite the river where the water accumulates around the bases of the trees. That's what's represented on the bottom of this panel. On the top is the view of the York County side, with rolling hills and woodlands.

I enjoy hand beadwork, it's a very meditative process, and I wanted to spend some more time with this piece. So I picked an assortment of glass seed and bugle beads and dove in.

I'd like to think my cat was being extra affectionate here, but in reality it was too cold to be outside and he was bored, so he amused himself by being in the way.

The beads add definition to the banks of the river, and sparkle to the sunlit ripples on the water.

Up next, working through the design and layout of the quilt.

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In Dreams I Found Utopia, New Work in Progress

Time for a new work in progress! This will be the chronicle of the last quilt I finished before I packed up my studio in anticipation of moving. I really had to push to get it done, and documenting fell by the wayside. So I'm sharing the steps involved now.

I started with leaves I had collected as they fell last autumn and then preserved with glycerin. I wanted a way to extend the wet cyanotype printmaking season. I also was in the mood to try printing a big panel, as opposed to my mainstay of 9 x 12 and 16 x 20 inch panels. I treated a nice big piece of my favorite cotton sateen with the cyanotype chemicals and waited for a somewhat sunny day, as the days grew ever shorter.

I detailed the setup and printing of these images back in December, in this blog post. I'm reprising a bit of it here, partly to catch us all up, but mostly because I am still in love with these images of the print during exposure after being left out overnight. The weather dipped below freezing and everything got so beautifully frosty.

Here's the print after exposure, before rinsing and finishing. It's hard to quantify the difference the frost made; I think it was subtle but still significant.

Here's the finished print. I fell madly in love with it, and pushed other things further down on the schedule so I could work on it while my love was hot and fresh.

Up next, time to add a river.

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Back on Track

 I am making progress with organizing my life in my new home. I have reached the point where I spent a bit of time actually stitching in the studio.

 Quite frankly, it felt a bit odd. It's been a long time, and setting up the machine, etc., took a bit of cognitive attention rather than just being routine.

The studio is nearly complete at this point. I still have to figure out how to make my design wall in this space, so for the moment I just clipped up a flannel sheet to pin things onto. This is an as-yet unnamed project I was working on when I shut down the studio back in June. Now that it's up on the wall I have something to look at and ruminate over.

This is far and away the nicest studio space and configuration I've ever had. In other studio incarnations, I was coping with limitations and making things work regardless. Here, I've got my dream space, or close enough, and all my carefully curated stuff readily accessible. It's almost intimidating. I'm dealing with a combination of imposter syndrome and a disinclination to make a big creative mess. The cure for that is to get to work, so I'm trying to wind down the moving-in chores so I can focus on art again.

To that end, I emptied the last of the boxes, found a recycling center, and got them out of here. That was a big relief.

 And I'm finally back on my bike, in my happy place. I'm near a leg of the Montour trail, which is a converted railroad bed. This section winds through suburbia, so it's not a wild ride, but it is nice and flat, and that's what I need while I regain conditioning. And it has all the familiar wild plants I know and love all along it.

 And I found a few local farmer's markets, not grand in scale but with good vendors that have what I crave, like Red Haven peaches. And while it feels odd not to have my own flowers to cut, a bouquet from the market makes me happy.

And there are food trucks, like this one where I got an amazing lobster roll.

So bit by bit, I am building my new normal. It feels good.