Discussion 6: Fiber

In week 6 we looked at artists that use fibrous materials to create art with techniques like sewing and crocheting. The artist I enjoyed most in this discussion Anna Von Mertens. From a distance, a lot of her sewn pieces resemble field paintings and the "zip" paintings of Barnett Newman (see his painting Vir heroicus sublimins). However when looking at the detail, there is incredible line work sewn into these fields that take on the energy of a de Kooning. Violent and flowing in every direction. A lot of her work seems to deal with destruction and creation such as her pieces Tank Shrapnel and Black and White.

Above is Tank Shrapnel

I personally have not dealt a lot with sewing and fibrous materials. However there was this one time I had my grandmother teach me how to make a quilt. We did it one step at a time, and she explained everything and had me do all the cutting and sewing, and finally the quilting. It was quite an experience and for my first quilt, it came out pretty darn good.

There's a picture of what the overall pattern is. It basically repeats like that two more times in the upwards direction. And yes, the fabric does have a cat pattern on it.

And here is a detail of my actual quilting work (which is the thread that binds all of the material together). And a close up of the kitty-cats.

-Jason