Monday 16 January 2017

Hepworth inspired stone quilts

Version 1
CQ, the contemporary group of the British Quilters' Guild had a call out for A3 sized pieces inspired by a favourite artist for their new suitcase collection.  
As I love art and the size was not painful, it seemed a good thing to do, although choosing an artist took me ages - who actually is my favourite artist? I like the work of so many.  Should I choose someone instantly recognisable or go for a contemporary artist no-one would have heard of or, or, or...  Too much choice.  So I prevaricated, until one day I opened an old sketchbook and found a photo of a sculpture by Barbara Hepworth and thought it would make a great starting point for a quilt.  It was a piece I had seen at the Hepworth late 2015 and it reminded me of the many drawings I was making of stones.  I liked the idea of choosing Barbara Hepworth - well known, but not too well known and also a female artist as the majority people have heard of are men.  
I had got very excited when I saw her sculptures for the first time at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park of shapes with holes, especially as I was making images of people with holes at that time.
Computer drawings
From my initial drawings I tried out some colour combinations on the computer to fit in with some ideas I was working with.
Trying out the fabrics
I had some left over fabric from another piece, which was breakdown printed, discharged out some colour and added some gorgeous kimono silk I had purchased from Susan Briscoe.  
Quilting pattern sketch
I liked the way the colours were working but couldn't decide on the quilting pattern, so did a number of sketches.  I liked one, R preferred another. 
Another quilting pattern sketch

In the end, I made a second, smaller version for the SAQA Suitcase Collection, so got to try out two quilting patterns.  Which one do you prefer?

Version 2


4 comments:

irene macwilliam said...

I prefer the circular pattern, I like the variations in size of the negative space, to me it accentuates the stone design. For the CQ suitcase I too chose a female artist, Bridget Riley, fitted in with my ongoing striped pieces

Gillian Cooper said...

Bridget Riley definitely fits with your work, Irene - what a great choice. I saw some of her work in Edinburgh a few weeks ago. I find it hard to look at with all the vibrating lines.

Unknown said...

I prefer Version 2 because the 'stones' seem to float above the background and because the background looks more arty and less quilty : )

Gillian Cooper said...

Thanks Lesley. I wonder if the 'floaty' effect is because it is a bigger piece - I used the same technique on both of them.
Good to see split vote here too!

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