Layers of Meaning
commentary on design, fiber art, & modern embroidery from Serena Fenton
In late September 2004, a Columbus, Ohio fiber artist, Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson, received a MacArthur Fellows Grant. These grants provide $500,000 to "talented individuals who have shown extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked capacity for self-direction."
"Aminah Robinson uses fabric, needlepoint, paint, ink, charcoal, clay, and found objects to create signature works on canvas and in three-dimensional construction. Folk artist, storyteller, and visual historian, Robinson celebrates and memorializes the neighborhood of her childhood Poindexter Village in Columbus, Ohio, and her journeys to and from her home. In drawings, paintings, sculpture, puppetry, and music boxes, she reflects on themes of family and ancestry, and on the grandeur of simple objects and everyday tasks. Her works are both freestanding monuments and fractional components of an ongoing odyssey. Robinson is a master of assemblage; her elegant collages are Homeric in content, quantity, and scale (some canvases are 20 feet or larger) and many of her exhibited pieces are works-in-progress, several years in the making." 2004 MacArthur Fellows Biography
The Columbus Enquirer newspaper describes Robinson's work, "The RagGonNon for the Freedom Center is on a long table in the basement. She rolls it up on both ends to work on its intricate surface. "There's a lot of work to do," she says, shaking her head. "It's a lot of work to do in a year." She's not sure how long this portion is. She has never seen it unraveled. When the other half of the piece was about to go to the Columbus Museum of Art, curators brought it to a large room at the museum to unfurl and see in its entirety."
Robinson doesn't limit her work to strictly fiber. Capital University has a collage on fig leaf by Robinson. That same collection also includes a Figure Study Triptych, done in watercolor and ink. From her constant creativity, Robinson has also illustrated several children's books, including Elijah's Angel: A Story for Chanukah and Christmas, The Shaking Bag and A Street Called Home.
There's a new magazine, espopus, that breaks the mold for what a magazine could and should be. "Esopus is a twice-yearly arts magazine featuring fresh, unmediated perspectives on the contemporary cultural landscape from artists, writers, filmmakers, playwrights, photographers, architects, designers, musicians, and other creative professionals. It includes long-form artists’ projects, critical writing, fiction, interviews, and, in each issue, a CD of specially commissioned music."
The New York Times has an article describing the vision behind Esopus It's this vision that makes the magazine worth contemplation. One man decided to create a magazine that did not fit neatly into the established boundaries of what a magazine could be. "I'm really frustrated with the level of mediation that seems to shroud all artistic activity," he said, dipping a French fry into some mayo. "Popular music now ends up contextualized by car and sneaker commercials. The mixing and melding of advertising in magazines is pretty disturbing as well. I wanted to create some unfiltered space." (NYTimes) The current issue includes a popup house sculpture, several posters and a CD, along with articles ranging from fairy tales to artworks created with photochromatic ink.
The name? "The Esopus Foundation takes its name and example from the Esopus Creek, located in New York's Catskill mountains. It begins as a small stream and meanders north, then southeast, then northeast until it empties into the Hudson River. In the 19th century it was a powerful force that carved canyons along its course, but in the 1930's its current was intersected by the construction of the Ashokan Reservoir, which stores much of New York City's water supply. The part of the stream that runs below this filtering system is often brackish and slow-moving; but but above the reservoir, the Esopus is still vibrant: a pure dynamic space in which diverse elements flow and meld together."
From what I could tell, there is no fiber art in this journal. What there is though is a profound lesson in pushing the boundaries and making the impossible happen, if you have the vision.
Kay Kahn creates quilted vessels that combine fiber, drawing, 3 dimensional space and line in symbolic containers. Thirteen Moons Gallery writes about Kahn's work: "The grid, stitched into all of her vessels, suggests order and mapping of an archeological site. Kay says 'The landscape conjures a visual stream of consciousness, things that I relate to each element…. the landscape as a place that holds secrets and hidden histories.'" Click on the images to see details of each piece.
In 2003, FiberScene for an exhibition of Kahn's vessels, described her work: "Kay Kahn's work recalls ancient Greek faience. Her multi-layered images create a traveling landscape. Memories of childhood, wandering thoughts and fleeting moments grace the surface of her vessels."
The construction of Kahn's work is highlighted in a Simply Quilts episode, " By heavily stitching the fabric, Kay forms stiff panels that she "sculpts" into three-dimensional objects. Kay describes her technique as 'stitching with a lot of layers.'" There is also an image of the artist on this site.
Hibberd McGrath Gallery has more images in large format.
Embroiderers in search of new stitches now have an illustrated online stitch dictionary that they can turn to for inspiration. standard stitches are there, illustrated with high quality graphics and solid directions. There are also some more unusual stitches, such as the Tęte de Boeuf and some fun combinations, such as the Tęte de Boeuf + Sheaf Stitch. A number of the stitches include beaded variations.
The site, Pretty Impressive Stuff, is the creation of Rissa Peace Root. Rissa's also home page includes links to a number of other needlework articles and resources that Rissa has put online: Blackwork, Crewel, Punch Needle, Redwork, Shadow Work, Stumpwork, Tassel-making, and more. A great resource for days when your energy is high and inspiration is low.
IQF is America's largest commercial quilting conference. Karey Bresenhan, founder of the show, has posted photos of the winning quilts on her site, quilts.com . If you scroll down the list, there are categories for art quilts, both large and small. Many of the grand prize winners are also whole cloth art quilts. These are works which are painted and then quilted.
More on the vibrating shuttle: I located an old Singer instruction book, Machine Sewing A Treatise On The Care And Use Of Family Sewing Machines (revised 1938). This book is a fascinating trove of arcane knowledge. I was most attracted by the explanations of how several of the antique attachments work. (The book has 10 pages on the Ruffler and its uses). The series of drawings (below) illustrate how the vibrating shuttle works. The bobbin actually shoots through a loop of thread, alongside the needle. When the bobbin is in the extreme position, the bobbin thread is pulled up to complete the stitch and then the bobbin returns to its starting location.
The books details another early technology, the single thread looper machine. This machine had no bobbin at all, just the main spool of thread. A piece below would pull the thread down and fashion an interlocking loop (not unlike crocheting) for each stitch.
If you are fascinated by old books or old machines, this book appears to be still available through many of the web-based used services. Price ranges from $20.00 to $150.00, depending on your source.