The contents of a trash can spilled on to the floor being used as the inspiration for an art quilt is a little unusual. Yet that’s exactly how “Opulence – Asymmetrical Green Circle” (43”W x 46”T or 109,5 cm x 117 cm) began. I emptied out my trash can onto the floor at the school where I was teaching (a dangerous prospect when teaching 7th graders!) Rather than making a mess for the custodian, it actually had an educational purpose. The lesson was about how future archaeologists might view our culture by examining the remains of what we had left behind. The kids came up with some innovative ideas, such as the plastic sandwich bags might have been portable breathing devices, given that the air was so polluted back then. Another cool idea that was a used pen might be a combination writing and hunting device.
The lesson had been so much fun that I decided to use the experience as inspiration for the image for this art quilt. The traditional, industrial green school trash can is represented by the big, green circle in the upper right. All of the myriad, colorful shapes are a composite of what might be disposed of on any given day in a classroom. I wanted it to look as if the trash can had accidently been spilled and the contents had billowed out on to the floor.
This detail photo gives some of the sense of the sideways motion of how the pieces could have slid out of a trash can. I spoke before in a previous posting about how my turning under the edges when I hand appliqued became “consistently inconsistent”, and these pieces show that imprecise stitching. I did extensive hand quilting with dark green thread, but looking at this photo, I think if I were doing the piece now, I would have made more of an effort to have the background quilting support and mimic outlines of the appliqued shapes rather than just filling up the background. The actual quilting was done by Mrs. Henry Herschberger, an Amish woman who did hand quilting for artists that Nancy Crow had recommended. Mrs. Herschberger expertly did the quilting on lines that I had drawn in pencil, so it’s not her fault that my quilting did not work so well in this composition. An interesting note, she charged by the number of spools of thread that she used in the quilting.
In this central area of the quilt, the circular quilting does repeat some of the circular, appliqued shapes in that area. The fabrics that I liked to use at the time also are well represented here. Of course, I used a number of solid colors, but then I would choose small print ginghams whose motifs stood out from the background. I liked prints that had at least 3 colors in them, as that allowed me to then to have several solid colors to use around the prints to help tie the composition together, color-wise. As I look at this photo, I notice how easy it is to naturally make images out of the shapes that are there, such as the pointed green triangle with the black circle above it in the middle of the photo, when isolated like this, looks like a clown’s hat with a black pom-pom. Certainly not my intention, but I think that it’s natural for people to see images in geometric shapes.
This piece is actually one of two that used the same shapes. The story of the symmetrical version will be ina future posting, but I thought you might like to hear about this one first, since it more aptly depicts the concept of the spilled trash can inspiration.
What’s your most unusual inspiration for a piece of art work. How did you execute that idea and did it end up looking much like the original concept?
Why not leave a comment as to your thoughts on this posting. Please take a minute, fill out the form below or by clicking on the “comments/no comments link” at the top of the posting, and then share your ideas with the rest of us. We all grow when we share our thoughts and impressions, so why not join our growing community of those who appreciate art quilts and textile arts. We’d love to hear from you!… and PLEASE tell like minded souls about this blog! The more readers and contributors, the more I write.
You can see more of my art work on my web site at www.fiberfantasies.com (be patient as it loads; it’s worth it), my healing work at www.hearthealing.net and can find me on Google + , Facebook (for Transition Portals) Facebook (for Fiber Fantasies), and Twitter.
To find out how to buy my art work, please check out “How to Buy my Art Work” in the “Pages” section to the right of this blog.