How Do You Handle Design Challenges?

Imagine being given a photo of Italian art to use as design inspiration.....how would you handle it?  Would you use the imagery as it is - a realistic portrayal? Would you take pieces or elements of the photo and go from there? How about colours....or size? So many choices, so many decisions!

 

A few months back I was invited to create a piece of textile art based on "The Annunciation" by Fra Angelico......as a group of artists we were each given a different art work to use as a "jumping off point" for our own work. I'm not sure what images the others were given but since the exhibition is at the Italian Cultural Centre in Vancouver, I imagine the art was all Italian.....haha!

Have you ever taken part in something similar? How did you approach this? What ideas and decisions were you faced with? Sometimes it's easier to work within parameters than being given free rein. I began by turning the art into a rough portrait format and thinking how I could place the figures, I also loved the multicoloured wings of Gabriel.

After some reflection I realized that I really had never used figures or people in my work and I didn't want to start doing so......amidst all the design work I wanted to explore how this piece might be come a beginning for a new series. I had taken masses of photos during my recent walk on the Camino de Santiago and had some great interior shots of the cathedrals I had visited:

So then I started to focus on the building part of the artwork - the figures appear to be in a "cloister" which is generally "a covered walk in a convent, monastery, college, or cathedral, typically with a wall on one side and a colonnade open to a quadrangle on the other". It was beginning to make sense for me...look up to the soaring arches of the space above>

I wasn't sure about the columns, so those were eliminated. I was working at simplifying the design to some very basic shapes.

 

I'm  looking now with the idea of construction - how am I going to put it all together? As my career began as a traditional quilter, I'm familiar with a wide variety of piecing methods so I decided a "stack, slash, shuffle" method was the best choice. the widths of the sections would be the same but I could work with different lengths and thereby achieve a variety of rectangles and get some visual interest going....

The fabric had been chosen a while back, luscious hand dyed vintage linen with wonderful drape to it - a little on the heavy side but I knew the texture and thread count would be perfect.

Construction began and went smoothly - put together in less than a day.

 

I had pulled out a dozen or more threads for the quilting but in the end only used four - I thought some metallic would be good but changed my mind. 
And so "In the Cloister" heads off for the exhibition shortly and the shapes, imagery and design will be considered for the future, perhaps this winter would be a good time to begin!

In the Cloister

I hope you'll join me at the Exhibition Opening - September 12th at 7pm. at the Italian Cultural Centre in Vancouver.

 

Inspiration to Design

I have often looked at art or art quilts and wondered how the maker has come through the design process. What was the beginning of the concept, where did the ideas come from and how have they changed over the works execution?
I've worked in the art field for many years and the path we work along from the first glimmer in our mind's eye to a "resolved" piece is often a long and winding road. Over the past couple years I've been working with a technique that involves strong linear design within a piecing and stitching method. I didn't invent it but I have taken it on as a form that I want to fully explore as part of a series of work.
My first piece was this one:

Window#1

I used my own fabric that I had printed and enjoyed this new process that I was exploring.

Since then I've made two more pieces that I'm happy with and that have done well in shows:

Window # 2

 

Remote Viewing

The next piece I didn't like at all, it was a little bit too pink for my taste:

 I tried some selective dyeing but it turned too brown......so it hit the trash!

In looking inspiration for my next piece, I had taken some pictures from my kayak of the rocky outcroppings by the waters edge:

I played with the image in PhotoShop using different colour combinations and loved this one: 

So it became my inspiration for the quilt I'm currently working on.....there's a heck of a lot of quilting to do! Here's a sneak preview with a close up shot: 

I'm loving it! And that is a quick summary of the evolution of one of my latest pieces. 

Now if you've been wondering why I haven't posted in quite a while, here's my excuse: 

Meet Cullen Sean, born September 19th! I'm loving this!