COMPOSITIONAL CONVERSATION: Stage 10 - Paula Swett

Welcome to week Ten of COMPOSITIONAL CONVERSATION. I have been out of town and found myself unable to log on to my email so it was really fun this morning to download the image files from Paula Swett and see how she has handled our project piece. Following one of my favorite mottos, "Why wait?". Here is Paula's final version of our piece.

Stage Ten: by Paula Swett


Paula's Comments

I received an email stating Gayle had shipped the project. While I was waiting from Sat. to Mon. for the package to arrive I reviewed everyone's composition and conversation with the project (I now call the project "CC"). I also reread Terry's initial remarks and rules for the project.

I decided to write some rules for myself that would help me to respond to the project.

1. I will not look at the postings again until after I finish working with the piece. It will distract me and influence my dialogue.

2. I will remember not to take everything off and start all over (original rule).

3. I will keep digital camera and computer at my side to document my dialogue.

4. I will create some working rules when I open the piece.

5. Do not break any of the above rules ( Ha Ha)


The project arrived on Mond. evening. I invited a friend over to witness the opening of the long awaited package. (feels like an exciting Xmas gift). I opened the box and first glanced through the bag of extra parts and looked them all over. Many pieces were familiar as they had appeared in earlier compositions. My professional life was in social work. In fact groups were my specialty thus I hate for anyone to feel left out and now my mind is already scheming "Maybe I can work these pieces into my conversation".

I opened the project and hung in a horizontal format on my design wall. I photographed the piece, rotating several times and finally decided which layout spoke to me.

New orientation of project as done by Gayle Vickery Prichard.

WOW!!!!! I see much has happened since Marcia's changes. There is so much going on that I stand way back from the piece and just keep saying "oh my" and "oh my goodness". Translating my expressions means "where do I begin" and "what can I say" and "I can't wait to start". Intuitively I jump right in and attack the middle section. I audition some of the beautiful pieced work from Beth. I need to warm this area up and help integrate this middle into the rest of the piece. I then put a section of Rebecca's green shape along side the red shape in the left unit.


Second stage of Paula's exploration.


I now removed my two added pieces. After looking at these quick additions/auditions I soon realized that I must have a framework for this conversation. I will be quiet and still observe, document and LISTEN to what I see in the piece presented to me. After listening I can dialogue with this piece. This is important for my compositional process as I could jump all over the place. Tomorrow I will devise a sort of road map to maintain focus.

I spent much of my night arranging/rearranging planning during sleep time. This is good in that I know I am engaged with the piece and excited.

I wake up and want to hutr anyone who gets in my way of running upstairs to the studio. Seeing the piece first thing in the morning is invigorating.

Observations - Day 2

1. THE WHISPER GAME and HARD TO BELIEVE I AM ARTISTS #10!!!!!!!!!!
As a young child I used to play the whisper game also called the telephone game. The leader would whisper a sentence to the person beside her and this whisper would continue around the circle. By the time the sentence returned to the leader the original sentence was immensely changed.

I am artist #10 and a lot has changed since Terry whispered this project to all of us. I know some of the early artists' work has disappeared. I have watched how once the work is shipped to the next person that voices have disappeared. There are 4 more artists after me who will also possibly change my work. I speak of this issue of loss and change not in judgment of good or bad, but to acknowledge. Many of the large shapes have rounded edges. There is a large black shape in high horizon on the right side. There are 3 sections with the right and left sections containing several colors (bright and mostly primary, except for the cold grey/pinstripe section). Smaller shapes --- x's, ovals, small rectangles and markings drawn all over with crayons or ????

ROAD MAP FOR COMPOSING

• Keep the large shapes and remove all small pieces that do not add to the piece.

• Figure out a way to transition left side to right side of composition.

• Resolve the grey/pinstripe area and make the entire composition converse

• Keep in mind color (color distribution throughout the piece, value and really talk to the X's maybe more and in different sizes and colors probably best in groupings

• Remember the negative spaces

• Really like the challenge of the high horizon

And on and on in the composition game my mind goes but will put the brakes on now.

I begin by putting the green remnant shape of Rebecca's work snug with the large red shape on the left side. (needs more happening over here) this addition looks like the "shape to nowhere" so I move it to the top of the red shape. A strong vertical shape that goes edge to edge will give strength to this side. I also removed some small rectangle pieces and the face and pants.

Stepping back from those moves I am reminded of how just one move and the piece is out of balance.



Third stage of Paula's exploration.



Fourth stage of Paula's exploration.


I know this is the beginning of the struggles. I am glad I am documenting this work. In my studio I intuitively compose and do not speak out loud to myself about my compositional considerations.

I now audition a shape from the traveling bag of pieces and place part of the surface designed fabric coming out of the large shape of red on the right. I am again concerned about how to connect the left side to the right and to work in a continuous high horizon. Well, that shape didn't work at all, very distracting and not at all pleasing to my eye.

I know that I must resolve this high horizon now because I want that idea to work and that it will be an important part to resolve. I cut a red shape with arc that created the line to the other side and horizon. I added varying sizes of x's for color, value, movement and repetition of shape.



Fifth stage of Paula's exploration.


At this point I sit quietly with what I have done so far. I realize once more each move makes a lot of noise. I turn my attention to the bl/grey/pinstripe area. This is the first time I notice the upper right corner of this section has a chunk cut out of the blue background and the black does not reach the edge. I resolve that issue by using the yellow/green color (felt that I needed to add that color to the piece anyhow) to replace the blue grey and a new crisper white and black stripe. (Much time spent deciding on width of stripe and pressing exterior edge into slight curvilinear edge.)



Sixth stage of Paula's exploration.


I now go back to the left side realizing the green shape that is not extended to the edge and it needs to go off the edge. I pieced an addition to that. I now am disturbed by the x/s and spend some time refining color, size and placement. The pale yellow rectangle that float on the red piece (left side) are replaced with a rectangle shape revealing the underlying violet.

Final version (same as first image).


I must say this has been a great exercise for me to really listen to myself as I work.

Thanks again for the opportunity to engage with a wonderful group of talented artists.


Thank you Paula. You make an interesting observation regarding the use of design elements and principles when the artists has internalized those guidelines. How do we listen to our own creative self in the privacy of our studios?

More about Paula.

Mini Artist Profile - Paula Swett

Artist Statement

I credit my mother and two grandmothers for giving me the passion for and gift of handwork. I learned from them to knit and sew, to create clothes and quilts. However, what was created went beyond the material process. I was woven into an intergenerational community of creative women who's contagious passion to express continue to be a common thread in my life.




My work is a personal narrative, weaving imprinted images retrieved from childhood, with my life's journey and current events. My work expresses a glimpse of life, a momentary look or a non objective impression. I work intuitively reacting to the creative inspiration and to the mediums I use. An intimate dialogue is created between the experience and the designed surfaces that result.




My voice is boundless. When I create my work, I use photographs, journal pages, sketches, and the thoughts from life's passages and everyda musings.




I use many methods in my work including improvisational cutting, piecing, layering, stitching and dying to name a few.




Paula Swett is a studio artist. She lives in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. She has been working with her own hand dyed textiles creating art quilts since the early 90's. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally.

Paula earned a B.S.W. from the University of Vermont. She has studied with many of the leading fiber artists for the past 10 years. Paula has taught art, art quilting, owned an art gallery for many years and continues to support the arts in her area.

You can reach Paula at: paula@magpienet.biz

The participating artists are: Rebecca Howdeshell, Beth Carney, Shelley Baird, Gayle Vickery Pritchard , Judi Hurwitt, Leslie Bixel, Fulvia Luciano, Marcia DeCamp, Marina Kamenskaya, Paula Swett, Valerie Goodwin, Kathy Loomis, Leslie Riley, and Terry Jarrard-Dimond.

CCOMPOSITIONAL CONVERSATION: Stage 9 - Gayle Vickery Prichard

COMPOSITIONAL CONVERSATION is back from a 'week off' and what a fun return! Gayle Vickery Pritchard is our artist this week and she, like several of our previous artists, has really put herself into this project. Now how in the world did she do it? Read on and find out.

Journal Entry


10-13-09 Compositional Conversation Comments by Gayle

Although I received the package a week ago, knowing I wasn't going to work on it until this week, I refrained from opening the quilt to look at it. I didn't want to start thinking about it until I was ready to work on it. I did clear space on one wall of my small studio to create a mental workplace. I also printed out the eight stages to date on Sunday to look at the choices people had made, study the orientation, and think about what I liked and didn't like about each stage.

After looking at the pictures of the various stages, my trusty inner voice came into play. Last night I dreamed about the work, and woke up to make notes in my journal. (See photo). As a life long journal keeper, I think when I am problem-solving, it continues into my sleep state, as I often wake up with fresh ideas and solutions. That is what happened to me last night, so I went with it, as I have learned to trust this part of myself over the years.

I still had one errand to do this morning before I could begin working, so once again, I refrained from hanging the quilt on my work wall. All the way to the post office, my mind began the conversation started in my sleep. Like many of the artists in this process, I thought I might begin by dismantling or playing around with the composition, trying this and that, gradually putting it back together. When I got home, I hung the piece up, having already decided that I needed to begin working on it as I would any of my own pieces. As I wrote in my journal, I was going to "meet the piece where it is now and talk." This is what I proceeded to do.

I liked the horizontal orientation, and hung it that way on my wall. As I do in my own work, I grabbed a marking tool, and began making marks. I had thought about doing some discharge, but the tests I did on the background fabrics gave questionable results.

Discharge Results

Marking on my work allows me to vent my pent-up feelings of anticipation as I begin work, and to "enter" the piece to work. I generally begin my own work this way, even though the marks and the narrative text often end up hidden in the final composition.

Although I liked the color, especially the new blue, I felt the vertical yellow area with the black strip beside it in the previous incarnation of the piece broke the piece into two distinct pieces. I also felt the yellow area was too wide, so in the end, I just removed it, and everything that was attached to it. This left the previous grayed-out blue background fabric that had been covered with the brighter blue. I decided just to work with it, and focus on integrating the right side with the left side. I drew over some of my previous marks with a black fabric pen, but did not heat set it, so those marks, too, would be removable.


This detail shows some of the marks made by Gayle.

After moving the printed fabric shapes around, and cutting some of the scraps into more oval shapes, I cut out the shapes I had dreamed about, quasi-"X" shapes with soft corners that reminded me of some of the shapes of the reverse appliqued African kuba cloths I have around my house. I allowed extra seam allowances on the edges, so they are cut a bit larger than they would be finished. I added these because I really wanted some more already-placed geometric shapes, and cut through some of the fabrics to create more "X" shapes for reverse applique.

Finally, I added some black and white commercial fabrics to direct the eye and create more of a focal point in the piece. Had I had more of the hand manipulated fabric that had previously been cut into the boomerang shape, I would have cut more of the oval shapes, but there wasn't any more, so I didn't. I added some more black fabric pen markings around those, as well, which I also did not heat set.


Detail showing additional marks and commercial printed fabric.

When starting a piece, my process is often to mark the piece, enter the space, and interact with the surface. Compositional Conversations was no different. My only thought was whether to make my marks removable or permanent. Since my own work is collage, I never worry about what is underneath anything else. If I don't like it somehow, I can cover it up later, but it will still be a part of the piece. I don't agonize over my own work, I just do it, place something, respond, keep working in the moment.

The biggest challenge for me was working with all solid fabrics cut into geometric shapes. Beautiful as they are, my own work is always about something, usually my expression of very tangible events in my life. It was fun responding to the beauty of the colors as they talked with each other on my wall. Although I admit to some trepidation about how others might respond to my removed pieces, marks on the surface and cut holes, I decided in the end that working in my own voice was the only honest way to approach this piece.


Thank you Gayle for an interesting commentary and insight into a way of working I am not familiar with.


MINI ARTIST PROFILE - Gayle Vickery Pritchard

Gayle standing next to I Hear Voices In My Head


Gayle Vickery Pritchard is a well-known fiber artist whose career has spanned some 25 years. In addition, she is an independent curator, lecturer, teacher and publisher writer. Gayle studied art at the College of Wooster, Paul Valery University in France, the Surface Desighn Symposium in Columbus, Ohio, and the Cleveland Institute of Art. Her work has been widely exhibited in galleries and museums across the United States and in Denmark, Japan, and Australia. Highlight exhibitions include the Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio Designer Craftsmen and Visions, an international fiber exhibition in San Diego. Commissions include the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Quilt, the Smithsonian Craft Archives, and the opening of the Peter Lewis Building, desined by Frank Gehry, in Cleveland, Ohio. She is featured in the 1997 Encyclopedia of Living Artists, and was named Teacher of the Year finalist by Professional Quilter Magazine. Her work has been widely published, including these books: Quilts of the Ohio Western Reserve (Ricky Clark, Ohio University Press), Crafting Personal Shrines (Carol Owne, Lark Books) and The Art Quilt (Robert Shaw, Hugh Lauter Levin). In addition to numerous magazine articles, Pritchard is the author of the newly released book, Uncommon Threads: Ohio's Art Quilt Revolution (Ohio University Press, December 2006). She is currently completing a second book, a biography of artist Susan Shie of Wooster, Ohio.

She can be contacted at http://www.gaylepritchardart.com or http://www.gaylepritchard.etsy.com/ She keeps a blog at http://www.gaylepritchard.blogspot.com/.


Gayle with For Sadie Jane


We invite you to leave comments for Gayle and the other artists who has contributed to this project.

VIDEO COMPOSITIONAL CONVERSATION 1-9

You are invited to enjoy the newest version of our Compositional Conversation video as created by Fulvia Luciano.

Tomorrow we will be updating the project with Stage #10 by Paula Swett.

COMPOSITIONAL CONVERSATION: Stage Eight - Marcia DeCamp

Stage Eight

I decided to follow my motto of 'WHY WAIT' and present Stage Eight of COMPOSITIONAL CONVERSATION by Marcia DeCamp first thing. Like previous participants of our project, Marcia dove right into the project and has put her stamp on the work.

MARCIA'S COMMENTS:

It's been great fun watching the composition change as each artist worked with it, and it was exciting to receive the package in the mail and unfold the project. I've noticed other studio kitties in previous posts, and our resident kitty "Inspector Suki" was immediately at the ready to guard the unused fabric pieces that came in the baggie -- or at least to settle in on them for a nap.



Inspector Suki

Not seeing how Fulvia completed her turn with the composition before I started, I wondered if I would pick the same orientation as she intended - and it turns out I did. As I studied it, I felt that it looked like there was a centered composition sitting on the larger background and that the background fabric wasn't engaged in any way.


Stage Six: Fulvia Luciano

Prior to getting the package, I had imagined that I would spend my time with the project by trying out shapes of fabrics in pleasing colors that I could add to the composition, hopefully providing some new excitement or a jumping-off point for the next stage. I didn't imagine heading off in new directions -- honest! - but that's what happened.

Since the lovely blue/gray background piece didn't seem to be engaging the other fabrics, I decided to try to pump up the background and to provide a stronger color structure. So here comes some royal blue, some purple, and more red to go with the piece of black - enough of it to totally cover the base background fabric. And let's try a horizontal orientation while we're at it.



New Background

Then I added a strip of light limey yellow and started trying out some of the elements from the current composition and some of the pieces from the scrap baggie. My thought at this point was to provide some large foreground and background shapes that would provide some more spaces for interaction in the next stages.

I decided to coordinate more red shapes to balance Terry's red shape. I wanted to incorporate some of Shelly's painted pieces for their color and texture, and wished the colors of Beth's pieced strips would have worked with the backgrounds I picked.



Developing Composition


Less of the small elements made it feel less disjointed.



More Refined Composition

Now -- A strip of textured black from the scrap baggie is added so the black fabric along the bottom almost appears to weave. The light strip needs to be more limey than yellow. And -- how much red is too much red?



Composition With More Red


And, as Fulvia said, at this point in the process it would be fun to just continue trying out different iterations. And although it's hard to quit without refining the red shapes and before reaching a final resolution, I will stop here.


In conclusion, I was surprised how easy it was to just jump in and make major changes to the project. Obviously, we all bring our own experiences and sense of style to our work on the piece, and I think my preference for bold shapes and saturated colors has come out. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens in each of the next stages!

FINAL VERSION IS PICTURED AT TOP


Artist Profile: Marcia DeCamp



Marcia DeCamp with JET TRAILS #6 at 2008
Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center's Quilts=Art=Quilts


I was formerly a Professor of Business Technology at a two-year community college and then established and managed a successful computer consulting company. But I wanted to explore a different type of creative challenge in 2000 when I purchased a sewing machine and took my first quilting classes. While I initially took traditional quilting classes, I soon began studying with Nancy Crow. That choice has immersed me in improvisational quilt making ever since.



Jet Trails #8


I love working with abstract designs and strong geometric patterns and predominately use machine piecing and machine quilting. My feelings for the Southwest are often reflected in the color palettes of my quilts. I use cotton fabrics, some commercial, along with my hand-dyed and discharged pieces.



Broken Squares 2009- Exhibited in SAQA's Musings exhibition



My husband, Bill, and I live on a 50-acre country property near Rochester, New York. We have designed, created and maintained extensive ornamental and vegetable gardens. In 2007, we completed a 25 x 35 foot timber frame addition to create a wonderful state-of-the-art studio.

Thank you Marcia. The project is next in the studio of Gayle Vickery Prichard.

**I will be away during the coming week and will not be able to answer your emails but I encourage you to comment on the progress of the project and support these adventuresome artists.

COMPOSITIONAL CONVERSATION: Stage Seven - Fulvia Luciano

The Compositional Conversation piece continues to develop and travel from artist to artist and each version continues to be a surprise and in some way, a reflection of the artist of that stage. One of the aspects I have found most interesting is the variety of approaches I hear described. This is not surprising to me but it is especially interesting as "the studio experience" is the main driving force in my own work and I know that over time we all develop ways of working that are very specific to our own personalities and techniques.

This week's artist is Fulvia Luciano whose work focuses on surface design. Fulvia is the creator of our video and has shared with us a few of the compositions she auditioned.






Fulvia Luciano's Comments

I have enjoyed the challenge of being part of a group process that has been completely new and foreign to me. Funny how what I thought would be difficult or of concern, never was. By that I mean that I had imagined all along that "touching" someone else's parts (stay tuned for more on that choice of words) would be unthinkable and probably not something I could execute. Fear not - I touched, I cut, I moved!

As it turns out, I unpacked and pinned up on my design wall the project as Leslie sent it to me. I let it hang there for a few hours and kept observing it to try and understand it in the flesh, as opposed to what I had been seeing on the blog, like all of you. This confirmed my very first reaction: that I liked the vertical orientation of the piece, its colour, shape and size, and that my favorite shape was the one with which Terry launched this, but also that there was just too much going on, not all of which I could understand or follow visually. On any day, I subscribe to the 'less is more' style so I had to edit, edit, edit the work. In looking at the piece as it had come to me, I kept thinking of Ray Bradbury's writings or some other fantastic plot whereby the component parts were on a joyous trip at the shore...I liked very much the olive-puce colour of that long shape next to the red piece but my brain kept calling it 'a stomach' or a 'world wrestling federation belt' and that thought continued to get in my way and I could work with it successfully as it was presented. There was only one thing to do: photograph the piece and then remove everything and start over, and that's what I did.

I knew I wanted to keep the background colour, the red shape, the black and blue fabrics, but after that, it was all up for grabs for me. Something else I did not expect was that I did not have the urge to add an element of my own creation: in fact, I kept editing and working with what had already been offered to see if I could meet the challenge. The video shows you some of the many iterations, incarnations I considered. I realized that what kept me trying more and more things was not just that perhaps they were all bad - which is entirely possible --but, rather, the fact that since I was not to finalize the piece, well, then this was an open-ended/endless stage. I absolutely could have continued to go on and on and...you get the drift. In the end, that was the second surprise: that I could only go on and on trying different arrangements for so long before the excitement/interest left me and it became a seemingly endless exercise. I guess that is not that odd considering I am one of many along the way.

Now Marcia gets to try her hand at this and I am just o.k. with the shape it is in at this point. I realize, as I write this, that it is reminiscent of Munari's fantastical machines. "Le Macchine di Munari" was a book that I read as a child but I had not thought about it until just now. From the publisher:

Artist, writer, product designer, architect, graphic designer, illustrator, educator, and philosopher Bruno Munari created an enormously successful and utterly charming book in 1942 called Le Macchine di Munari. It contains instructions for building the most fantastical of mechanical structures, including a machine for taming alarm clocks, a lizard-driven engine for tired tortoises, a mechanism for sniffing artificial flowers, a humiliator for mosquitoes, a machine for playing the pipe even when you are not home, a machine for seeing the dawn before anyone else, and a tail wager for dogs.

Look it up on any of the large online book sellers.

Thank you for letting me play!

Personal bit:

Some years ago I started playing with fabric and paint. At the time, I did not know how to sew at all so I started teaching myself and practicing, practicing, practicing. My work has evolved over the years and it always incorporates a few, favorite elements: paint, dye, drawing, photographs, text, and stitch. I live in my head and in my heart, where I carry my homeland, Venezuela, and I show that love by letting it flow through my fingers as they do the work. I like simple, direct, succinct conversations - textile and otherwise - so I am going to have to leave you now ...Thank you for this opportunity.


Heartland - Fulvia Luciano




Detail - Heartland - Fulvia Luciano



Detail - Heartland - Fulvia Luciano

Check your June/July 2008 issue of Quilting Arts Magazine for an article on Fulvia or click HERE for a PDF version of the article.

COMPOSITIONAL CONVERSATION: Stage Six- Leslie Bixel

Wow! Stage Six. We are moving right along and elements of the work are beginning to shift around. Leslie Bixel has given us a through report on her thinking process and how she has contributed to the work. If you didn't see the new Video or the CC Grid from this past weekend, please visit the previous post. I will be updating both of those as the weeks pass. Leslie has a lot to say so let's get going.

Leslie's Observations on the Project

So we are now officially in the messy middle of our conversation. And it does seem very different than what I had expected. I can't just drop a colorful bon mot and expect to move the conversation along. I need to acknowledge the other voices in the room and respond with something appropriate. I feel pressure to resolve the piece even though we just started getting into the meat of the conversation.

Because aesthetic choice is so personal, I realize that someone else's compositional choices may not be the same as mine. I therefore want to be very careful to evaluate the composition I receive on formal elements, and look for areas of potential adjustment or enhancement. I also understand that as artist number 5 of 14, I'm not likely to resolve everything, maybe not anything. So instead, I want to take the opportunity to move the piece along and keep the conversation flowing.

Design Process Notes

First Impressions:

I opened up the package on Wednesday morning. Wow, a total re-design!!! A bit disorienting. I need to get re-acquainted with the piece. Which way is up? Interesting addition of some sienna colored bits to move the eye around. What happened to the first figure? Oh there it is. Now it's a spark plug. Fun. I like the sense of spontaneity and whimsy. But I'm not sure what to tackle first. The piece feels "finished", so in order to contribute, I will likely need to deconstruct something. What will it be?


Still undecided about the orientation, I hung it on my design wall horizontally, in order to have a clear view for considering compositional elements from the other side of the room.

The large yellow rectangle of complex cloth, while beautiful, is very bossy. I feel the need to cut it up, and use its power in a more subtle and controlled way.

I sent a message to the group asking if it would be OK to cut stuff up. They said yes.

First approach a false start with color:

Itching to make my mark on the piece, I dove directly into my stash, and started auditioning colors for new figures. I always start with color. To me color is central to any work of art I make, and since color is often the focus of my work, I had assumed this is where I could safely contribute to the piece.

If I couldn't cut down the complex cloth, maybe I could balance it with some acid greens.



Maybe a figure in a plumy purple, or an ocean blue?



I left it on the design wall for 3 days until I could make time to work again in the studio. Which means I had a lot of time to think about the piece before diving in.

The art class in my head

As I went about meeting other commitments over those three days, I thought about this piece frequently. I even dreamed about it. As time passed, more and more details of the piece revealed themselves to me. It was frustrating not being able to get to the studio, but I was getting something out of reflecting on the work pinned to my design wall. Sitting at my office desk one afternoon, I wrote up a very analytical mini-critique to the compositional elements of the piece.

Color Palette:
From a strictly formal viewpoint, the palette of this piece has yet to be defined, and currently lacks an internal logic, with warm and cool, and multiple values in competition within the space. The red is an extremely strong element, as is the acid yellow, and both want to come forward as figures above everything else.

The line work is a mix of both linear and curved. Still roughing in, the current state of line work lacks a unified sensibility or dominant gesture. The large rectangular fabrics do not have distinctly defined shapes, and do not seem to have been cut with intention.

Figure/Ground:
This new composition has a couple of islands. Not clear that the grey pieced element can stand on its own as a figure. Things are floating, not connected, and there is no repeated shape other than rectangles. The ground is still a single color and does not contribute to defining the space, nor is the current composition create a strong sense of layers or depth.

The current composition reads as two figures. The central figure dominates the composition from the middle, the secondary figure wants to pull you to the edge of the piece, but is not strong enough to do so. The strong yellow element at the very edge unexpectedly disappears, and has the effect of making the mouse grey background more square.

Balance:
The current composition is balanced so that it reads from most orientations fairly equally, possibly leaning towards a portrait (vertical) orientation.

Rhythm:
The only repeated elements, the small sienna rectangles move the eye around the piece. The two yellow fabrics play off each other.

Proportion:
The yellow fabrics create very large figures, and end up dominating the composition.


A Plan Emerges

After thinking about all the design elements of the piece for several days, I decided my objective would be to create a stable ground that allows figures to float above and interact with each other in a jazzy sort of Stuart Davis way.

Studio Day 1:
Structuring the ground
I took off the big yellow fabric to get a good look at the other elements.



I liked the idea of using the strong linear elements to organize the space into distinct areas across the piece. I took everything off the background, but kept some elements pinned together to preserve their current relationship. I roughed in linear elements to proportion the space in a pleasing way.



I restored a design passage I really loved in a previous composition by using the big red element in relation ship to the ocher amoeba-like element to add yet another vertical component.


Time to play with color
So now I had some structure. Time to work on color. In order to push the background even further to the cool side, I decided i wanted to add blue elements to the space. I had another reason for choosing blue. I wanted to include something that both speaks to the environment where I live looking out at the Pacific ocean, and that could contribute a spiritual element of calm comfort in the design.



I used two shades of solid blue fabric and the existing black element to color block the space. After I roughed it in, I carefully cut the shapes to the blocks (blue and black) with focus on the line work at the edges of the shapes. I got the right hand side of the piece looking OK to my eye, but the line work on the blue element to the left felt too hard and straight.

I decided to sleep on it and see if I could do better in the morning.

Studio Day 2:

At first glance, I realize I have been letting the urge to resolve things influence me. My goal was to provide structure and support to the artists ahead of me in the project. So, rather than perfecting the blue shape on the left, I decide to remove the element entirely.

Now the piece feels wide open and unfinished again, and I feel pleased about making room for others. I see about 10 things I want to change, but again push aside the pressure to resolve, and resist and changes that require a sharp blade or scissors.

I feel like I have moved the piece forward and achieved my objective of stabilizing the background by unifying the color palette with cool tones, creating rhythm and structure across the space with the use of vertically placed linear elements, and defining distinct spaces through the use of color blocking on the right side of the piece.


Time to play with figure placement

The Red & Ochre figures now appear quite static marching along with the vertical elements of the background.



I decide to place them oriented horizontally by rotating them 90 degrees. Ahhhhh. Much better.



Meanwhile, I have thought about the shapes I would like to see added as figures. I knew I would cut into the complex cloth I had put aside if I was going to get it to work without overpowering the composition. I wanted curved, organic shapes with a gesture capturing the human arm's motion. I used a chalk marker to draw a sweeping curve, and a boomerang.

I played with positioning the curved shape , first on the left, then on the right.





I responded to the way the curve interacted with the line created by the color fields.

Finally, I added my boomerang in relation to the two strong figures on the right of the composition. I placed it to echo the curve on the left, to build a bridge across the vertical element.

Happy at this added bit of whimsy, I pinned everything in place.


Intentionally Imperfect and Unresolved

Here is my "final" composition. Intentionally unresolved and open to more input, but also speaking to my own compositional sense of rhythm, proportion, balance & gesture.


Leslie Bixel - Stage Six


Leslie Bixel Mini-Artist Profile:


Leslie Bix working with "Desert Life" on wall. This quilt is 73" x 72" and was made in 2008.


About 10 years ago I made a switch from oil painting to quilting. Since then I have been exploring various fiber techniques, mastering the craft of sewing, building a body of work, and searching for my own voice. Color is my emotional touchstone and is a consistent theme across all my artwork, regardless of media. In recent years I have created several color experiments using commercial printed fabrics, ordered by the gridded structure of traditional quilts. My sense of composition has been greatly enhanced by studying under Nancy Crow, and she has inspired me to move forward with more abstract and contemoporary work. In 2007 I began dying all my own fabrics. Currently I am involved in a series of pieces that reflect the organic forms and subtle colors of the pristine redwood forest surrounding my Northern California home.



Detail: Desert Life

To read more about Leslie's life and work as an artist please visit her blog: O-I-Quilt.

The participating artists are: Rebecca Howdeshell, Beth Carney, Shelley Baird, Gayle Vickery Pritchard , Judi Hurwitt, Leslie Bixel, Fulvia Luciano, Marcia DeCamp, Marina Kamenskaya, Paula Swett, Valerie Goodwin, Kathy Loomis, Leslie Riley, and Terry Jarrard-Dimond.

COMPOSITIONAL CONVERSATION: STAGE FIVE; Judi Hurwitt

The first four versions of our project have all been interesting. Each artist has worked with the composition in a thoughtful way, interjecting their personal vision into the piece. The composition has become more complex and challenging as it has passed through the hands of the first four artists. I had been thinking that soon, someone would be forced to rearrange something because space was becoming limited.

Several of the artists wrote me inquiring about possible changes they might do to the piece: could an already existing element be reshaped, or could you do a surface design process on someone else's contribution etc. As these issues were resolved I received the following email from Shelley Brenner Baird that I thought was interesting. Shelley wrote, "I find these questions really interesting because for me the project really does have distinct phases and what seems to be the middle phase is a lot harder than the initial phase where we were mapping out space, and using up a lot of it. That leaves editing and altering as the next logical step. I would be happy to see my stuff cut up, drawn on, sewed on, or added to!! For my way of working the first phase was really hard for me. "

I agree with Shelley, it's becoming more difficult. This weeks artist, Judi Hurwitt, has really broken things open by doing an overall reorganization of the piece.

Judi Hurwitt's Comments

I'll just say this right up front - I knew even before the Conversation piece arrived in my hands that I wanted to dismantle it. I'm like a little kid that way. I learn, in part, by deconstructing something and then reconstructing. I knew that putting it back together so that it looked exactly as it had before would never satisfy me - I was going to rearrange every element I could, leave off what I couldn't use, and hope no one hated me for doing it.

The boldness of this plan, of taking apart someone else's work and reinterpreting it, made me shake in my shoes. Me, a complete unknown. Who do I think I am?

But I wanted to remain open to all possibilities. I even contacted Terry - an probably scared the tar out of her - and asked if the background fabric could be altered, painted, overdyed or replaced. And secretly, of course, I wondered what I believe we're all wondering: will I be the first one to take the scissors to someone else's work?

These questions gave me some sleepless nights.

When the quilt top did arrive, I donned my leather work gloves to guard against the many pins Shelley had kindly warned of, pulled it out of its box and spread it out on my work table.

The first thing that occurred to me was that the piece wanted to be ironed and de-fuzzed. There were some minor wrinkles, and some of the elements were, as could be expected, fraying a little.

I took each element off, carefully pressed and de-linted it, set it aside and went on to the next. I pressed each piece. I love the aroma of a hot iron touching clean cotton. What charmed me most about ironing the Conversation was how much I learned about Terry, Rebecca, Beth and Shelley in the process.

I learned that Terry was bravely willing to dive into the deep end of the pool with the color choices she made to launch our project. Her red shape against her background of gunmetal blue felt like a bold declaration of joyousness achieved through contrast. Rebecca had to have worked like a demon to create the shape she contributed to the conversation...each edge was so very carefully turned under and then supported with a matching paper lining. Beth also used a lining to support her stripes, which - I got a huge kick out of learning - she stitched with powder blue sparkly thread in what looked like the bobbin. Her hand-dyed fabrics and the meticulous pressing open of her seams spoke to me of talent and a strong studio discipline. And the fabrics that Shelley added - well I just fell in love with both pieces, but particularly her focal piece, the large rectangle of yellow/green painted fabric she dyed and painted. This fabric sang to me and helped inform the way the quilt top was finally reassembled.

The first piece I repositioned on the background was a large black shape that Beth had added. It had been folded and when I opened it up to iron it, I noticed that one long edge has subtle curving arcs cut into it that meet in the middle like a widow's peak. I wasn't sure if that had been intentional, but it fascinated me and I wanted to celebrate that edge, if I could.

The second piece to go back was Shelley's focal fabric, right on top of the black. I wanted that fabric to pop against its background and didn't want to cover too much of it, but I also wanted to make it relate to the other pieces around it. To accomplish that, I laid Rebecca's mustardy-green shape within the boundaries of Shelly's fabric, asking each piece to converse with one another.

I positioned Rebecca's shape so that on it's left side it mimics and blends with the painted circles and curves of Shelley's piece, and on the right side, it emphasizes the gentle curve of the black element. The interaction of the three is gorgeous and looks for all the world like a Matiesse-esque female form.



At this point everything was still clumped together in the center and there was no tension to break the happy homogeneity. In response, I brought back some of Beth's stripes of hand-dyed fabrics and, to help draw the eye and give interest to the whole piece, I angled them inward, as Beth herself had originally done.

Terry's bold red element was next positioned to reinforce and balance the reds in Shelley's piece. And to help balance the entire quilt top while adding a much-needed horizontal element, I stretched Shelley's second piece, a long, angled shape with a lovely frayed edge, across the top. I got a kick out of the way, the angle of the stripe and the angle of the print on the fabric were almost exactly the same when I slipped it under Beth's stripe. Everything just seemed to fall into place naturally.


Stripe Detail.

At this point I stopped and photographed the piece.


I really loved the wonky angles and the fact that, in spite of those angles, all of the pieces still seemed to be harmonizing with one another.

At this point, I was looking at my biggest challenge: how would I add elements of my own to the piece which would support and elevate it without adding too much visual chaos?

I decided that the best way I could contribute to the Conversation from this point was to think smaller. I had already changed the direction of the conversation; it didn't now need me to overwhelm it with a large element of my own making. It was asking for a more delicate touch from me (and if you've seen my work, you know that "delicate" is a relative term for me - I crave chaotic color and texture).

The stripes seemed to need more of a connection to the other elements, so I popped them off the background using three small vertical red elements from my stash (white muslin strips, painted with thinned liquid acrylics and scrunched into a Dixie cup to dry) whcih also helped to draw more of the red component into that quadrant of the quilt. I used a little repetitive design theory and added two more of the small dyed/painted pieces, placed horizontally onto Terry's red element. At that point, I felt it was time to stop before I went too far. This is the piece I sent on to Leslie...


Stage Five Completed

Despite the many straight pins, there was only one injury and when it happened, I was more worried about bleeding on the work than I was about the fact that I really was bleeding. I may have even cried for Mama for a minute or ten but didn't hear that from me, understand?



War Wound


This has been an exhilarating experience for me. It's the first time in my career that I was asked to participate in something like this. I feel incredibly honored to have been asked to work along side so much talent and experience. I started this project with the faint but persistent worry that I might freeze solid when the piece arrived and not be able to see my way forward. However, because I was first able to closely examine all of the components of the quilt, I found myself inspired and energized by their beauty and craftsmanship and fully prepared to make my proud contribution.

Thank you for this opportunity, Terry.

Mini Artist Profile


Judi Hurwitt

I am a 45 year-old paper and textile artist based in Houston, Texas.

My work is a reflection not only of the contemporary world I see around me, but also of my upbringing in the late sixties and seventies. I strive to represent my voice and views through careful manipulation of textures, colors and materials in a balanced design. My mediums of choice are varied and can include anything from fragile, hand-painted threads to metal and stone.


Fabric Collage


My personal aesthetic has always tended towards the linear-straight, clean lines, simple geometric shapes, bold blocks of color. My spirit, however, is somewhat chaotic and irrepressible. Through my art, I strive to express these two traits in a cohesive fashion by combining linear, geometric elements with unexpected materials, bold color palettes and energetic thread work.

My primary focus is on paper but a recent obsession has sent me on what has been, so far, a joyful and exhilarating journey into textiles.

Terry's Comments

Well I think we can all see that Judi had a blast and really dug into this project. Thank you for your energetic description of your process. Good job! Now the piece heads out west to Leslie Bixel, a wonderful person of many talents and accomplishments. See you next week with Compositional Conversation: Stage Six.