Last year at this time, I was channeling worry and frustration about our political scene into my artwork, a thematic departure from my usual work. An avid consumer of print and digital news in the form of the Sunday New York Times and other media, I found myself cleaning ink brushes on home page sections and suddenly, a new idea took root. Using ink and brush work on important stories in the first section of the newspaper, I accumulated papers from two weeks in March and two weeks in April, generating the name for this piece.
These were mounted on white or my own patterned fabric using polymer medium, then stitched. Because I wanted to be able to ship these large scale works to an exhibition, I made sure they folded in accordion style. Back and front are reversible. The whole project was cathartic.
Two Weeks in March and April is three reversible sections. Each section measures 84”h x 23”. They may be hung against a wall, or from the ceiling in center of room
My artist statement submitted to International Fiber Arts VIII, Sebastopol Center for the Arts, Summer 2017, to which the piece was accepted, says the following: As artists, many of us are asking the question, how can I continue doing creative work with the upheaval of the latest election cycle? Normally, my own work is not narrative, but on Inauguration Day, I tempered my nervousness with painting, with flinging dye paint at the fabric. I incorporated the most iconic New York Times pages from two weeks in March and April into altered, stitched works. Then I did my usual “thing”, altering the surfaces by painting, monoprinting and more. Creating while monitoring, acknowledging, celebrating when we can- this is the mindful creative life.
Ironically, this approach led me to an entirely new body of work, my Tarp series that had components in the making for several years. Sometimes discomfort leads to creativity and movement.