Heat Index on Tour

 

Heat Index

A quick and exciting update about Heat Index, currently on tour as part of the SAQA Global Exhibit "Light the World". It will be on display at the following venues this spring and summer: 

• SAQA Global Exhibit, Light the World, AQS Quilt Week, Branson, MO, March 22 - 25, 2023

• SAQA Global Exhibit, Light the World, AQS Quilt Week, Paducah, KY, April 26 - 29, 2023

• SAQA Global Exhibit, Light the World, Brigham City Museum of Art & History, Brigham City, Utah, June 1 - September 30, 2023

• The exhibit theme: Light is our primary tool for perceiving and understanding the world around us. Without light there is no vision. Light allows us to appreciate the world through shape and form and evokes emotions. Common qualities of light are intensity, quality, color, direction, distribution, texture and movement. Artists were encouraged to explore how light creates and transforms their art. 

Heat Index, detail

I made these prints in August, when a combination of record high temperatures and humidity had me checking each day for the predicted heat index, an indicator of how unbearable outdoor activity would be. They were an experiment in combining wet process cyanotype with solar dye printing, and have a bit of an apocalyptic edge to their beauty. The patchwork of silks adds to the shimmer and intensity.

Wet cyanotype/solar dye prints on cotton, silk fabrics, stitching.

Size: 54"h x 51"w

As always, I am very grateful SAQA, which has allowed me to exhibit my works in a wide and impressive variety of venues.

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Heat Index acceptance for Light the World exhibit

 I am honored and delighted to announce that Heat Index was one of 41 pieces selected for the SAQA Global Exhibition Light the World by juror Jan Myers-Newbury. 

Heat Index

Light the World is scheduled to debut at the European Patchwork Meeting, Sainte-Marie-Aux-Mines, France in September 2021. Further venues are TBA.

Heat Index, detail 1

My statement for the work: The UV rays of the sun are critical to my cyanotype and solar dye print process. I made these prints in August, when a combination of relentless sunshine, record temperatures, and high humidity had me checking each day for the predicted heat index, an indicator of just how unbearable outdoor activity would be. I used leaves from plants that were flourishing despite the heat, and the color palette captures the intensity of the heat and light. The prismatic patchwork reflects the small bits of shadow found among the foliage.

Heat Index, detail 2

New Work - Heat Index

Heat Index

I am pleased to share my latest work, Heat Index. It's constructed using four of the prints I made in this past summer's wet cyanotype frenzy, combined with silk patchwork. The size is 54" high x 51" wide.

Heat Index, detail 1

I talked about the basic construction of this work in blog posts Part 1 and Part 2. The plants used are (clockwise) Queen Anne's lace flowers, tulip poplar leaves, red maple leaves, and tall blue lettuce leaves. Tall blue lettuce is an elegant wild plant, Lactuca biennis, typically found in disturbed landscapes.

Heat Index, detail 2

The leaf prints are heavily stitched, to add detail and texture. The silk patchwork is also heavily stitched, and reflects light in beautiful and subtle ways.

Heat Index, detail 3

I made this work in response to the abnormal/new normal weather patterns I experienced in Pennsylvania this summer, with torrential downpours, soupy humidity, and high temperatures contributing to an almost daily high heat index warning.

Heat Index, detail 4

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Heat Index - Work in Progress, part 2

 The task lighting over the needle on my sewing machine is so nice and bright it washes out photos I try and take at night. But that's a good thing! I can see clearly where I'm going as I freemotion quilt. This is a wet cyanotype/solarfast print of some Queen Anne's lace flowers. I was doing the first round of quilting on them, as I designed and constructed the top for my latest work, Heat Index.

 Above are parts of it pinned up on a design wall. The silks shown in the last post have been strip pieced, cut up, and are being sewn together in sections, framing the panels. The prints are so gorgeous and complex I wanted to keep the sashing relatively simple so as to enhance but not distract.

 While all of this was going on, I prepped a piece of fabric for the backing. The back isn't normally visible when the work is on display, but I consider it part and parcel of the work, and I makes me happy to have something interesting back there as I spend hours and hours quilting it. So I as I often do, I put a big piece of cotton sateen on my driveway and poured textile paints over it in a semi-random fashion.

 I then misted it with the hose, to let the colors move and blend. As the fabric dries in the sun, the paint continues to move about.

That fabulous crackle in the finished backing fabric is the imprint of all the surface cracks in the driveway.

Up next, the big reveal! As always, thanks for reading and commenting.

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Heat Index - New Work in Progress

 In the latter part of the summer I experimented with combining the wet cyanotype process with SolarFast printing. The experiments were both fun and successful. I documented the process in making the maple leaf print here, and the tall blue lettuce print here.

 I picked two other prints from those two sessions to use in a new work, Heat Index.

 After picking the prints, my next step was to pull fabrics to use in patchwork to frame them. I used silks in three colorways. Included in the blue set were cyanotypes that were extras when working on the Watt and Shand series and the Silk Mill quilts. (See both here.) They were made from my digital photos that I printed on transparencies for exposure.

 The green set and especially the red set include silks that are "shot" (the warp and the weft threads are different colors) and ones with interesting textures. It brings me great joy to work with these fabulous textiles.

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