Everything Old is New Again

Category: Everything Old is New Again

This series is inspired by antique imagery, which is reinvented in fabric.

Who Are You Wearing?

Posted on March 27, 2023 by Mary Vaneecke

I created this in response to a call for art to the members of Art Cloth Network by the Kemerer Museum of Decorative Arts in Bethlehem, PA. The show’s theme is “Luxury and Industry.”

I was able to research the silk industry in America (yes, really!), the role of women and child laborers, and union organizing by the mighty Mother Jones. Online searches for images of ‘child labor textile industry’ revealed nearly identical photos, taken a hundred years apart in the US (then) and overseas (now).

That got me thinking….

As I made the piece, news organizations reported on the use of immigrant children who are applying for official status in the US in dangerous working conditions. And the loosening by states of child labor protection laws.

Everything old is new again.

“Who Are You Wearing?” by Mary Vaneecke, 24″ x 24″ 2023

detail, “Who Are You Wearing?” by Mary Vaneecke

Materials: Vintage unfinished crazy quilt block, layered with vintage kimono scraps, hand-printed ribbon, collaged photographs printed on silk organza, antique glass buttons. Hand and machine stitch.

Frozen in Time II

Posted on August 29, 2016September 3, 2018 by Mary Vaneecke

Frozen in Time II is a translucent art quilt that incorporates many hand-worked and underappreciated vintage crochet pieces layered between hand-dyed sheer fabrics. It hangs away from the wall to allow for shadow play behind the piece. Rust-dyed and machine stitched. This was included in the Visions Art Museum show, Iterpretations: Conversations exhibition. Photo by Jack Kulawik.

Frozen in Time II is perhaps an elegy for lost arts and loved ones.

Frozen in Time II, 50'' x 34'' by Mary Vaneecke — Frozen in Time II, 50” x 34” by Mary Vaneecke

Frozen in Time I

Posted on August 27, 2016August 28, 2016 by Mary Vaneecke

Frozen in Time I, with detail. (Photo by Jack Kulawik). This new art quilt combines new hand-dyed silk fabrics with vintage handworked crochet (makers unknown). Rust dyed, layered and stitched on eco-felt.

This piece continues a new series utilizing under-appreciated handwork of unknown makers.

Frozen in Time I by Mary Vaneecke. 43.5'' x 34.5'' 2016. — *Frozen in Time I* by Mary Vaneecke. 43.5” x 34.5” 2016.

Frozen in Time I by Mary Vaneecke detail — Frozen in Time I, detail. By Mary Vaneecke

Frozen in Time III

Posted on August 23, 2016September 3, 2018 by Mary Vaneecke

This art quilt, Frozen in Time III, is hand-dyed, rust-dyed silk fabrics, layered with vintage hand-worked textiles and stitched. 24” x 33”

Northern Lights

Posted on August 23, 2016September 3, 2018 by Mary Vaneecke

Northern Lights, a vintage linen napkin (maker unknown), has been painstakingly folded, stitched, and hand-dyed in a mandala-type design.

Northern Lights, by Mary Vaneecke. 18'' x 18'' Hand-dyed vintage linen napkin, layered and stitched. Stretched on a frame. — Northern Lights, by Mary Vaneecke. 18” x 18” Hand-dyed vintage linen napkin, layered and stitched. Stretched on a frame.

Elegy for the Beautiful Son

Posted on March 9, 2016May 14, 2017 by Mary Vaneecke

The Beautiful Son, hand-dyed, hand-worked liturgical linen (maker unknown), layered and quilted with the names of African American boys and men killed at the hands of police, and burned. — Elegy for the Beautiful Son, hand-dyed, hand-worked liturgical linen (maker unknown), layered and quilted with the names of African American boys and men killed at the hands of police, then burned. 36” x 33”. It is part of the Sacred Threads 2017 exhibition.

Elegy for the Beautiful Son by Mary Vaneecke. — Elegy for the Beautiful Son by Mary Vaneecke, detail.

Abuela Reads the Headlines

Posted on November 5, 2015July 10, 2018 by Mary Vaneecke

Abuela Reads the Headlines , 2015

Abuela is Spanish for grandmother. I imagine her in her barrio (neighborhood) garden in my hometown, Tucson, surrounded by an ocotillo (a living, cactus-type) fence. She has her handwork and the blessed Virgin of Guadalupe nearby, with a grandchild at her knee. Abuela scans the headlines about America’s current immigration policy, and weeps.

Materials: vintage handworked textiles (makers unknown), felted wool, embellishing (480 jewelry spikes), cotton and cotton-silk fabric, dyeing, discharging, silk sari ‘yarn,’ window screen, acrylic felt, embellishments (milagros and crystal rosary), synthetic organza.

Techniques: dyeing, heat and chemical burning, wet felting, hand stitching, couching, machine stitch, discharging, devore, dyeing, cutting.

Abuela Reads the Headlines, 55''h x 84'' — Abuela Reads the Headlines, 55”h x 84”

We Came to America

Posted on November 4, 2015October 11, 2018 by Mary Vaneecke

We Came to America

My paternal grandparents, Firmin and Lucie VanEecke, lived the great American Dream. I have long let a quilt in their honor ‘percolate’ in the back of my mind. They met and married in Belgium between the World Wars and came here in 1923 by ship, as millions of immigrants have done throughout our history. World War I decimated Belgium, and they sought a better life here while feeling the separation and loss of loved ones left behind, most of whom they never saw again. Lucie and Firmin flourished in the US, had five children, nine grandchildren, and many great-grandchildren. This work features hand-dyed vintage lace textiles, copies of their last letters home (in Flemish), and their wedding portrait. The piece is quilted with the phrase We Came to America in the languages of many other immigrants who came to America. In a private collection.

Abuela’s Garden – SOLD

Posted on November 3, 2015December 9, 2016 by Mary Vaneecke

Abuela’s Garden, 2015

The Barrio Viejo (old neighborhood) of my hometown is home to many Mexican immigrants. Their distinctive gardens are often surrounded by an ocotillo fence, a living fence made of a cactus-like plant. The gardens will contain flowers like marigolds and sunflowers, and foods that remind residents of home. Neighbors share seeds and cuttings, and other fruits of their labor. What a lovely metaphor for migration and transplantation.

Materials include hand-dyed and painted handmade textiles (makers unknown), felted wool ropes, new fabrics, silk sari ‘yarn,’ window screen, felt, and machine stitch. In a private collection. ABUELA'S GARDEN copy

Weaving Traditions

Posted on August 26, 2015July 14, 2017 by Mary Vaneecke

Woven Traditions I (top) and II (bottom). 49” x 30”.

This piece is inspired by the basket weaving patterns of the indigenous peoples along the Santa Cruz river, where I live in Arizona. Techniques include katano shibori, discharge, dyeing, burning, trapunto, and machine stitch.

My Mother is a Fish

Posted on April 20, 2011August 7, 2011 by Mary Vaneecke

24” x 24” The title of this piece comes from the William Faulkner novel, As I Lay Dying. A 14th Century Mongolian platter inspired the work. It is a wholecloth quilt, meaning the top layer is a single piece of fabric. The design comes entirely from dark blue thread on white fabric. My Mother is a Fish has been exhibited widely and was published in an article in the October-November issue of Quilting Arts Magazine.

Homage

Posted on April 18, 2011August 7, 2011 by Mary Vaneecke

Inspired by Susan McCord’s 1880s applique masterpiece, the Vine Quilt, the original has 3000 pieced leaves running up and down 13 rows. I wanted to create an homage to the original, recreating it with contemporary techniques. I quilted pairs of fanciful feather variations and then colored each one with pencil. A fixative was then painted onto the fabric. This piece was a winner of the 2010 Handiquilter Longarm Quilting Award in Paducah, KY.

America Surrounded

Posted on April 18, 2011July 12, 2012 by Mary Vaneecke

70” x 65” This piece is my re-interpretation of the traditional Revolutionary War-era quilt block, Burgoyne Surrounded. I updated it by replacing the traditional square grid with a triangular grid and using paint, printing, and discharging techniques instead of traditional piecing. Made from cotton fabrics, discharged, painted and screen printed, layered with felt and machine stitched.

Fragment – SOLD

Posted on April 17, 2011February 9, 2012 by Mary Vaneecke

38”x 32” This piece is inspired by an ancient Egyptian fragment of carved and painted stone. It depicts a wetland teeming with life. Techniques include discharged and torn fabric, layered, machine stitched, and hand painted. The gray area is exposed and painted batting. Embellished with silk ribbon. SOLD