To Dye For

In the small hills outside Kyoto -you walk along the suburban areas near Ohara Japan.  This was a sweet gal who with one assistant produced some very modern and edgy designs on cloth.  The method used was called Katazome.  There are so many interesting variations on cloth and design you could spend a lifetime perfecting techniques.  The Japanese have perfected so much of the dying techniques that to go and see this was an amazing privilege. I am currently working on using discharge dying to make a new piece.  I am also trying a small piece of dying shibori- I did not have luck with the dye and the soda ash technique I used so  need to go back and try it again.  I might attempt the Katazome technique at a later date.

Poet's Forest

This is the final piece of hand stitched fiber art that is the poets commissioned piece.   Here is what he stated upon seeing this piece " an image of ressurection, renewal, reinhabitation after what some people call destruction or disaster. I believe these two words exemplify the anthropocentric view that most humans have of Earth Phenomena"  


 This is imagery which portrays my view of the part of Long Island called the Pine Barrens- it undergoes deforestation through forest fires and then constantly renews itself.  I feel I captured what he desired in this piece and I am pleased with the results. The piece was actually  by a poem by Tom Stock titled " Soil Meditation" so that the final art piece became a very personal tribute to this author.
Tom has worked tirelessly to preserve and pay tribute to the Long Island Pine Barrens and has studied the area as a poet and a naturalist.  I am thrilled that this fiber art piece will now be part of his collection among other  art he has purchased.

Holding the Coral Reef in Your Hands

Sometimes I walk along the beaches and I think about the absolute beauty of what is so hidden from us.  The world that we don't see if filled with fish and living coral as beautiful as one could only imagine.  I love to snorkel in the Caribbean, but also so lucky to be able to live near the beach.  I made this silk fiber bowl from 100 percent silk fiber and strengthened by a stabilizer.  I then was able to add small yarns and pieces of thread to the coral reef and also small little limpet shells that I gathered off the beaches of Barbados.  I can hold the memory of those days in my hands now and it takes me back to the beaches that I so love.

This is my studio today before I put all my fabric back in order- sometimes it all gets quite ahead of me.  Love this little studio of mine- a quiet place to reflect and work on all my art pieces.  Spending the rest of tonight getting things back into shape.

The Black Fish

This is one of my favorite studies of a collage fish.   This was made when I came back from Kyoto.  I hand pieced all the small bits of cloth and then I machine stitched the back of the piece to get the movement to flow through this.  I tend to think that most of my art studies of fish have taken on a personality of there own.

Hair

I am in a state of quandary about hair.  This is a bowl I made completely sewn and fabricated out of the hair of a alpaca.  I sewed and stabilized the hair and then embellished the bowl with golden threads.


  Hair is a dichotomy.  People adore and cherish it.  Many men without it feel not as attractive.   Women with long and lustrous locks of hair are valued in society,   Then if we were to find spare hair lying about on the corner of a room, we are disgusted and horrified.  I don't understand this.  How can one value hair and be so disgusted by it at the same time.  If we find a single hair in our food- we assume it has defiled the entire plate and insist it be thrown away.   I wanted to make a piece of art that would question this dichotomy of love and hate .  I hope I accomplished what I set out to do.

Geisha

I am amazed by the art and beauty of the geisha and maiko of Japan. From the make-up to the way they dress has always fascinated me. I got to see these women and they are so beautiful in their unique ways.
I wonder about the identity and the sense of self. They virtually hide behind the make-up. The nape of the back of the neck is considered very sensual and the only flesh that is really exposed in their world.
So many women in so many cultures hide their real identity through their make-up and clothing. Why is that?
I work with the antique pieces of their clothes..reworking, re-fashioning, making art out of it all,trying to bring a sense of purpose and dignity to what they had in their past.
I hold the pieces in my hands and think to myself "where has this cloth been, what young girl was wearing this, did she dance to music at an emperors court, or did she suffer at the hands of someone wearing this cloth."
I always pay a sense of honor to the cloth and its original story.