New JWST artwork in progress

I'm excited to be working on new artwork to commemorate the upcoming launch of the James Webb Space Telescope! The long-awaited launch will be this fall, and once the telescope is deployed and operational it will open up a world of wonder and amazing scientific discovery.

I began with the basic and beautiful hexagon shape, that makes up the mirror and coincidentally is a mainstay of traditional quiltmaking. I pieced small silk hexagons into the configuration that I will further embellish to represent the telescope's mirror. I also basted and prepped a whole bunch of larger cloth hexagons, which I clipped together in sets to prep them for hand stitching.

Hand stitching these into 7 hexagon groups, traditionally used as "flowers", is very time intensive and requires meticulously small and precisely placed stitches. It's enjoyable, though, in a meditative way, and after a few weeks of focused stitching I had accumulated this big bowl of hexagons. They will be further combined and stitched as the design progresses.

I also stocked up on some yardage of luscious black silk noil, a rainbow of wool/rayon felts, and some heavier pure wool cutouts. I have some serious galaxy-making to do! 
 

Luminosity

Here is the first JWST quilt I made in 2016, Luminosity, 60" x 74",  following the James Webb Space Telescope Artist Event that I was privileged to be a part of at NASA Goddard Space Center. You can see it on my website at: https://suereno.com/luminosity You can see all the artwork in the original project at: https://jwst.nasa.gov/content/features/jwstArt/ And you can read all about my visit, tour, and the creation of the work (in reverse chronological order) here on my blog my clicking the JWST link in the header, or go here:  http://suereno.blogspot.com/search/label/James%20Webb%20Space%20Telescope

There is LOTS more to come, please stay tuned and follow along on this journey with me!