Friday 24 February 2012

Archi-texture

Today is reveal day for our third challenge over at the International Quilt Challenge Blog and for the first time I am actually at home for the reveal.  The title of the challenge was 'Archi-texture' and I reproduce here the post I put up on the blog this morning.



 I'll start from the end which is the piece I've reached by today's reveal date.  At the moment it's  called Archi-texture I as I've forgotten the name of the building that inspired it but it is all about decaying surfaces and is only one of the directions this challenge took my thoughts.

After enjoying the process of the Pojagi in the last challenge I was keen to carry on exploring layers and the idea of looking through. On a train journey from Cornwall I had plenty of time to let my mind wander and notes I made at the time include suggestions of monoprinting on cotton; building up layers of print on top; sponging; painting over stitched, quilted fabric, discharging, painting again; scribbled stitching.  As the train slowly approached London we passed a Macdonalds' with its iconic arched logo and that turned a light on.  Having recently seen Karen Turner's work I thought about layering fabrics over a textured basecloth and cutting the arches through to reveal the texture below.  I think that would have been a fun way to go but when I got home and started looking at my photos of texture and architecture I found an image I had taken in Leicester near the New Walk Museum of a very decaying building.




As you can now see the image at the top caught my imagination and I decided to explore that with surface design on fabric.

Using my own printed , dyed and discharged fabrics I cut and bonded the pieces to batting layering one or two sheers with text on them below the dyed net curtaining that forms the 3 neutral columns.  My free machining/quilting skills are distinctly lacking but I used a variety of stitching to describe the cracks that you might see as a building deteriorates.  The 'quilt' is A3 size and there is no binding, the backing was turned through and the edge closed with top stitching all round.

I have to admit to several influences while I was working on this piece including the work of Shelley Rhodes that I saw at Alexandra Palace last year and work by Mary Hettmansberger that had featured in Quilting Arts magazine.  Having linked to Mary's work here I wonder now whether that is what drew me to my photograph although I took the photo about 5 years ago.  Subconsciously the colours may have been a strong factor in remembering that image of the building.  Another piece of work that got me very interested was a piece hanging at the Beetroot Gallery in their open exhibiton.


This is 'Traces' by Lesley Bohanna and I love the texture she has brought to the surface with mediums and printing.  The piece is very tactile with layers produced by added mediums, fabrics, printing and stitch. As far as I can tell from Google Lesley is a member of Dewbury Art Club. While preparing the fabrics for my own piece I applied some acrylic texture medium to the fabric before printing but I want to go back and play more along these lines. 

The beauty of this challenge, as with the preceding ones, is that it has opened my mind up to so many possibilities and so many ways to interpret the texture in architecture and I could, and hopefully will, carry on exploring for many months to come.  I am hoping that the next challenge will lead naturally into related areas of work and I still have to come back to thinking about how pojagi and archi-texture can come together.

PS if you can't enlarge the images by clicking on them go and have a look at them on the International Quilt Challenge blog.

13 comments:

Ro Bruhn said...

Beautiful work Julie. I love the first one, there's so much texture and detail in the piece.

Clare Wassermann said...

what a fascinating post. Your photos and fabrics work so well - very inspiring

Heather said...

I love your interpretation of the theme Julie - so many lovely textures. I can quite see how you were inspired by your photos and the stunning piece you saw in the Beetroot Gallery, but you have made it your own.

ju-north said...

Great interpretation Julie!

imac said...

And a great mind as well - my sweet.

Julie said...

Ro and Heather, thank you both so much. I am really pleased with my piece and would love to explore it further. Thank you for taking the time to leave me your thoughts :-)

Anonymous said...

Great post Julie, I love this architecture translated to fiber, and the printing effects are terrific. xox corrine

Maggi said...

Love the piece Julie and it is even better in real life. Glad you did the show and tell with it today. Congratulations on getting you diversity quilt included. Grace would have been so pleased. Hope you got home safely and not too tired.

Annabel said...

Great piece of work Julie - I love the way you've interpreted the theme and think your colours and textures are rich and interesting. Congratulations on reaching the reveal date on time too.

Dot said...

Julie - your piece is stunning. You have a real flair for color and composition - wish I could reach through the screen and feel the textures.

Linda Vincent said...

This is all brilliant Julie...I loved reading about your influences and the way you achieved your final piece (which is wonderful). Your architecture photos are fab ...what an eye for detail you have.
XX

Alex said...

That was fascinating! I love hearing about how ideas and inspirations come together to form the finished piece and your description really informed my understanding of the final piece.

Unknown said...

this entire post is inspiring! sort of the direction I'm going in. using hand-dyed fabrics. Thanks for posting this.
XOXO