As children, we learned about our world through exploration and play. Our creative pursuits as adults should be no different. Often, in creating textile artworks, we’re so focussed on getting a perfect end result that we lose sight of how important it is to follow our instincts and make the process our own. While we might learn the rudiments of an artistic technique by following someone else’s pattern, true satisfaction comes from taking that technique, pushing its limits, and putting our own spin on it. But how do we do that?
Most of us, when we began our fibre art journey, started by following patterns and in the learning process gained some valuable skills. That was the case for me when I learned traditional quilting. Over time, through experimentation with shapes and colours, I was able to break the rules and push the boundaries of what textiles could do. I also had a little nudge from the goddess of art.
It happened in 2008 when I was working on a small abstract art quilt [below left, combining a variety of textiles, including cheesecloth, and stitching them to a background fabric. The goddess of art smiled and, when the quilt was rotated, the cheesecloth shape seemed almost human [below right]. Intrigued by the challenge of how I might achieve a more faithful rendering of a figure, I learned very quickly that dry cheesecloth has a mind of its own and stubbornly resists all attempts to force it to retain a specific shape. That led to experimentation with different gel mediums to wet the fibres so I could sculpt them into the desired shape.
Click on the image to enlarge it.
Click on the image to enlarge it.
All images by Mary Pal, unless otherwise noted.
