When Colors Collide

The pieces in this show all start with color and texture on cloth. Five of the pieces, “Skyscape Mosaic”, “Cloudscape Tiles”, “Red Sky at Night”, “Dawn’s Early Light”, and “Shadow Dance” are snow-dyed. This is a technique using the prepared fabric placed in a container with snow and/or ice packed on top and the dyes poured into the snow which then releases the dye into the fabric as it melts. This creates a layered effect and, depending on the particular colors used, can result in both sharp intensely defined areas of pattern as well as softer more diffuse ones. Different types of snow and ice produce different effects.

The other three pieces, “Twelve Moons”, “Galactic Interstice”, and “Back Fences” contain complex cloth. Complex cloth is a term used by textile artists to refer to cloth that has had multiple processes and/or layers applied to it. This might be a piece that is dyed and then overdyed. Another option is to use a resist in one or more of the layers of dye. A resist is anything that causes the fabric to “resist” the dye. It can be as simple as having very wet or very dry fabric, a chemical resist such as wax or gutta or a mechanical such as rope, wooden or plexiglass shapes and clamps.

Most of the time, I build on what comes out in the cloth. I like for the cloth to tell me what it wants. For instance, when I first dyed the fabric that became “Back Fences”, it wasn’t until the fabric had been rinsed and dried that I looked at it and saw barbed wire and then knew what direction I wanted to go. It can be hard knowing when to stop and not go too far. I want my pieces to be colorful and complex, yet subtle.

Choosing to wrap my pieces onto canvas and then frame or mount the canvases is a new style of presentation for me and I hope you have enjoyed seeing fiber shown in this way.