Lucina Lighting the Way, 2013, 24” x 24”

Quilt for Change  recently asked me to submit a piece for their Light, Hope, and Opportunity Challenge.  The project raises awareness about the Solar Sisters program, where African women entrepreneurs are given loans to start their own businesses.  They buy inexpensive rechargeable solar lights to sell in their communities.  This means fewer costly and dangerous kerosene lanterns in African villages.  What a great cause!  The exhibition will start in Geneva next month, and hopefully travel to the US.

I have been thinking about burning the edges of a piece for a while, and this seemed like an excellent opportunity.

Here is my artist statement for the piece:

Lucina Lighting the Way

Lucina was the Roman goddess of light and childbirth:  she who brings children into the light.  Here, the pregnant goddess holds a golden orb.  The lively color scheme and bright shapes evoke a hopeful spring.  This quilt is a tribute to modern-day Lucinas, our Solar Sisters, who are bringing safe, affordable, solar-powered light to their friends and neighbors.  The singed edges are a reminder of the dangers of kerosene lanterns, which maim and kill users across Africa each year.  Hand-dyed, and printed linen, painted silk, layered and machine stitched.  Techniques include cutwork with a burned-edge finish.

detail:

‘Lucina Lighting the Way,’ detail

Sans Samaras, 2013, 12” x 12”

Sans Samaras is hand-dyed, discharged and over-dyed silk dupion, hand-printed, layered, stitched and stretched on a frame.  With felted wool embellishment.  This piece is part of the Studio Art Quilt Associates 2013 benefit auction.  The online auction begins Monday, September 9.   Click here for details.

Click here for info on how to get to The Drawing Studio.  Events are free and open to the public.  The show runs through April 27, hope you can stop by and see it.

Here is a sneak peak of the show….

Maelstrom, 2013, 32” x 18”
Hand-dyed, printed fabric, layered, stitched, cut and mounted on dyed and stitched fabric.

Zen I

Zen I, 2013.  Hand-painted, screen- printed silk with felted wool, layered, stitched, cut and stretched on a frame.  26” x 14.”  See this work at The Drawing Studio in Tucson through April 27.

Zen I, detail

OF THE 

THERMOFAX SCREEN PRINTING TECHNIQUE

Did you ever wonder how a thermofax screen works?  How to make one from your own photo?  How to incorporate them into your art quilts?  What is the difference between thermofax and silkscreens?  Where can you get them locally? Get answers to all your questions and try the technique for yourself.

Saturday, March 9, 2013

1:00 -2:00 pm and 2:00-3:00

Seating is limited.  Please RSVP to

mary@maryvaneecke.com or 520-444-7149

At my studio, 2000 S. Hermosa, near Starr Pass and I-10.  Go west on 22nd St., left on Greasewood, right on San Juan Terrace, left on Hermosa.  Follow the path through the gate to studio in back of the house.

detail, ‘Off the Wall’ showing images printed with the thermofax screen.

Ready for class with materials to embed into papers.

Brought them home to dry.  Stuck them on my doorwall (this is called ‘restraint drying’ in paper-making lingo).  They looked great. Went to bed dreaming of lovely translucent handmade papers embedded with maple seeds.

Woke up to find that the papers made with thicker abaca fibers had molded.  Horrors!  The uncooked seeds had some residual spores on them which ‘bloomed’ overnight (duh!).  Arrrrgh.  Treated them with hydrogen peroxide, which helped to bleach the mold.  They look okay now, but I can’t put moldy papers (or seeds, for that matter) in this piece.

The kozo (translucent papers) embedded with the seeds look great…can’t use ‘em, but they look great nonetheless.

Translucent paper embedded with maple seeds.

Handmade paper embedded with silk fibers and maple seeds.

The papers I made without the seeds are archival.  They don’t have anything to do with samaras or samarium, but they sure look purty.

Abaca and iris paper embedded with raffia and thread.

Now to explore silk ‘paper’-making.  Thanks to my friend Mary Lee Erdman, I have just the reference book I need.  I will leave the maple seeds out of it….

A boxful of samaras, or maple seeds.

I have thought quite a bit about my options for the Radical Elements piece since I posted ‘The List’ of possible materials.  My research has taken some interesting turns, including making some aerodynamic origami (check out the video here–the cats love it, but I don’t think it is going to make the final cut.).  Two or three options are ‘percolating’ in my brain about how to go with this project.  They are not necessarily mutually exclusive, but I am thinking of them as distinct at this point.

One way is go is with a play on the word Samarium.  I choose this element because of my samaras series and my use of maple seed (maple seed = winged tree fruit = samara) imagery in my work.  With this option, I could, for instance, make handmade papers from maple seeds, and use techniques borrowed from my textile work (screen printing, foil, etc.) to make a paper samaras quilt.  I like this option, though I know nothing about papermaking.  A paper piece like this that ‘references’ a quilt could be really beautiful.  It also seems a bit simplistic–if not boring–to just use papers instead of fabric, layer them and stitch with raffia or something similar, and call it done.  Issues I must consider are the archival properties of handmade paper, durability, and hanging issues.

Another way to go is to borrow materials from the ways samarium is useful (with none of the maple seed imagery).  That would be in nuclear fuel rods (they have a gorgeous blue glow), audio equipment (headphones and Fender guitars), cancer treatment (both curative and palliative), the motion picture industry, and magnets.  This option has all kinds of possibilities.  Backlighting with blue LED lights…stitching with guitar strings, film strips, and IV lines….Cds layered on steel with magnet ‘stitches’…to name just a few.  With this option, I have to think about power, archival issues, and test magnet strengths, etc.  Also, I would like the final work to be beautiful, on some level, and avoid a messy, disjointed conglomeration.

Another option that is ‘percolating’ would involve an interactive component.

I reconnected with a high school friend who studied paper engineering.  Several online connections will send me springtime samaras, and another harvested a fall crop for me in Washington state.  There is more research to be done.  In the meantime, I am enrolled in a one-day papermaking class with Catherine Nash.  Should be fun…

I will keep you posted.  What do you think?