On the Path

On the Path ~ 26.5x10.5 inches

I created this small quilt over the last few days, from one of my favorite pieces of ecodyed recycled raw silk from mid last year.  The mordant here was alum, but I can't remember whether I presoaked the fabric in alum, put alum water or a chunk of aluminum in the pot, or wrapped the silk/leaves around an aluminum pipe.

So this gets added to my inventory of pieces to show at Yarn in Eureka in April.

I'm considering submitting some of my recent ecodyed hand stitched work to a show back east called Small Stories, being curated by Joetta Maue, embroiderer extraordinare.  Joetta's work, and the work of many other artists doing hand stitching and/or embroidery, is very narrative.  Each piece tells a story, albeit perhaps just a tiny slice of life.

So I've been thinking about my work in the context of narrative art, and I feel that mine isn't, for the most part.  I really don't know.  Much of my machine-quilted work is abstract, and something about each piece evokes a thought or a feeling or an essence, or is an abstraction of something figurative.

My hand stitched pieces seem more like snapshots of moments in time, and maybe these are narrative, then.  Again, I'm just not sure.

This new piece, On the Path, might tell a story about walking on a woodland path and seeing these beautiful leaves beneath my feet.  The title also suggests to me my own sense of being on both spiritual and creative paths that are evolving and emerging one day at a time.  Perhaps that's also narrative.

I'm curious to know what you think about narrative art, and whether you consider your own art in this context.

Have a great week.