Layers of Meaning

Ardyth Davis - Fiber Constructions

Ardyth Davis has been included in the Quilt National at least six times and won their Award of Excellence in 1985, but Davis does not call her work "quilts", but rather goes for the more general term: "fiber constructions". Davis work features lush color and sensual textures, which come together to create a surface that is hypnotic and inviting.

Davis begining was in graphic design. A segment of Davis' artist statement reads: "I like color, particularly all the subtle gradations obtained when mixing and intermixing dyes and paints. I work with color gradations instead of color patterns because my primary interest is in texture, which is s likely to be obscured by patterning.
I began to make pleated silk quilts as a way of integrating color and texture in a larger format, one that would be faster to execute than knotting. The surface of my work has become more complex over the years, and my current work has a tightly pleated and manipulated surface, sometimes with stitching lines added before the pleating process."

image: detail; Reef 2/ Blue; Painted, Pleated, Stitched Silk by Ardyth Davis