'Forest Flowers 3' in VISDA Current Threads 2015: Garden Tapestry Exhibition

"Forest Flowers 3"

Here is my entry in the VISDA Current Threads 2015: Garden Tapestry exhibition.

Triptychs were accepted as long as each panel fit the specified size.

The first step in the making process was to dye a well worn bed sheet with a number of different coloured earth dyes.

Small torn squares of cloth were wrapped around different sized beans and secured.

The bundles were dyed with earth dyes.

Stitching on these squares became my portable sewing project for a couple of weeks.

Two more bed sheets were dyed with earth dyes.

Different fabric paint colours were trialed on the first bed sheet.

Another layer was added with motifs screen printed with fabric paint.

The hand stitched squares were pinned then moved around to find the right placement.

The three bed sheets were torn into strips, layered and the small squares pinned on the top sheet again. 

I decided it needed more squares.

Once their placement was confirmed the small squares were hand stitched in place.

It was a most enjoyable project to work on.

"Forest Flowers 3" is about the role mycorrhizal fungi play in the wellbeing of a forest ecosystem. 

The screen printed motifs are drawings of computer generated models of the fungi's growth patterns.  

Mushrooms are the fungi's flowers and they are the stitched and appliqued pieces of cloth.

The viewpoint is one where the viewer is in the soil looking up, much like an earthworm's view of the world. The idea is we humans need to shift our way of seeing the natural world if we are to become less invasive and destructive.

New Work - 'Forest Flowers'

I am working on a new work for a Surface Design Association exhibition. It involves a number of different steps and techniques.

Random dyeing the ground cloth.

All of the fabric is worn bed sheets.

Dyeing for an all-over mottled colour.

Another sheet dyed to get a more randomly patterned effect.

Sampling different fabric paints to screen print motifs onto the dyed ground.

Resist dyeing. I tied different sized seeds in the centre of torn squares of cloth. 

The tied thread acted as a resist when dyed.

Hand stitching the resist dyed squares.

I keep track of time spent making the work.

Sun Printing With Setacolor

The conditions were right: no wind, sunny, fresh leaves falling fast.

It was the right time to sun-print.

I lay an old door on the grass and covered it with plastic.

I had a collection of leaves I had picked up on my morning walk.

Three Setacolor transparent greens were mixed and thinned with water.

I laid a wet bed sheet down on the plastic and painted it.

Next the leaves were placed on the wet paint....

...and left for the sun to do its work.

Name on the bed sheet.

I like to think Maude is happy with what has been done to her bed sheet.

Back to Spring Cleaning

The last bit of machine sewing resulted in a satisfying number of empty spools.

I do enjoy using my stash of resources.

I sent a swatch sample to the SDA Swatch Collection.

It is a piece of bed-sheet that was wrapped around a maple tree for over a year. I stitched it with the colours I observed on the tree during the February new moon.

Then I  went back to getting my studio in order.

 It was only while following this urge to clean up that it hit me  - I have spring-fever.

Amber, our son's girlfriend, gave me this delicious yarn last Christmas. She bought it in a Melbourne market cause it looked like me, she said.

Hand spun, hand dyed, chunky Australian merino wool by Hawthorne Cottage - hawthornecottage.com.au

I wound it into a ball and put it out to wait for it to tell me what it wants to be.

While cleaning up I came across this piece of light-weight silk. 

It said it wanted to be with Amber's yarn.

Now they sit there together - waiting.

Quiet Zone - World of Threads Festival

More great work in the Quiet Zone exhibition.

Dominique Arlot, Black and White 1

Gesso and acrylic paint on old sheets.

With hand and machine stitching.

Catherine Dormor talks about her work resulting from her PHD studies.

Catherine talks about her work to Articulation.

Ingrid Lincoln, Joe Lewis, Catherine Dormor

Dawne Rudman, Festival Chair and Curator, Gareth Bate, Festival Curator.
These 2 did an amazing job pulling off such a huge event with overwhelming success.

'Home' Installed With 'Continuum' in Oakville

With this 2nd installation of my graduation work 'Home' I was unable to suspend the frame from the ceiling. I had to modify the work to fit the challenging space in the Oakville Town Hall.

I used 2 of the 4 sheets to make a bed.

And added a plain pillow with a treat.

This installation was also different in that the stitching on both sheets is complete. One year of each tree's biological processes has been recorded chromatically on cloth.

I put the book documenting the process on a chair beside the bed.

Two different installations of the same work responding to two different spaces.

Stitching Completed on the Tree Cloths

I have stitched the last band on each of the 4 tree cloths.

Each cloth documents the growth of the tree over one year.

The cloth is a chromatic record of biological processes.

The colours and their sequence are different on each cloth.

Tree Colour Studies

I continue my tree colour studies each new moon day of the month.
Here is a leaf on the maple tree in July. The chlorophyll has started to withdraw.

 

Here is the same leaf a month later showing very little change. We must have had a cold night back in July.


The arbutus is back to peeling its bark.

There has been no change in the colour of the Douglas-fir branches so I looked at its rough bark.

I also looked at the cedar's bark.
I am stitching these colours in a band across the tree cloths.