Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Hellooooooo Houston!




Journal Quilt 2008 17" x 22" are up in Houston which means I can now share my entry that was juried in with you! Out of nearly 200; only 36 were taken & you can believe me; I feel incredibly honored by my entries inclusion.

The theme was 'Elements'. I chose water and did an interpretation of recycling to save our wonderous wetlands. Here's my artist statement:

This quilt was inspired by my passion to conserve our natural wetlands. The materials used consist of recycled flower bouquet wrappers that are plastic. I won’t go into detail about the irony of wrapping something natural and beautiful like flowers in something that will ultimately destroy what is natural and beautiful like our wildlife. The flamingoes themselves are plastic drink stirrers. The buttons are plastic as well as some of the filaments in the decorative yarns.

I created this piece one Sunday morning with my 15 year old daughter Ellen. I had taken the fabric and cut it up and inverted the colors to give the best contrast and ‘pop’ the design. I then laid the flamingoes down & played with the ‘organic’ placement of the decorative fibers. I wanted to go with beads (my other passion) but Ellen assured me that what it needed was some of her beloved plastic button collection. So while she bent over the work table intent on placement and color of the buttons; I was able to stand there and be intent on watching her, in the soft morning light, hair strands falling gently following the curve of her face.

What will we be leaving our children? Something lasting or something shiny and plastic that will ultimately fail and pale by comparison to the beauty and grandeur that is the natural world?

16 comments:

  1. Beautiful piece and great artist statement to match. Well done and congratulations.

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  2. Wow! Do I love this!! All that lime green - and those blues! Nice composition, too.

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  3. WOW! That is amazingly beautiful!

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  4. This has great color and is very beautiful. Congrats on getting in!

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  5. That is really beautiful! Congratulations, Stacy!

    ~Emily

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  6. That's awesome, Stacy! Lovely colors -- and the organic path of the buttons is a nice break from the geometric shapes.

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  7. Anonymous4:03 PM

    Stacy, it is truly a work of art. I'll bet it's even better up close. You're very talented.

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  8. GORGEOUS! I also am on the journey to make our world a little better for the next generations. This is one of the best uses of color contrast I have ever seen. Also love the artist statement. I can visualize you and your daughter working on this. Charish the moment. Not surprised it made it into Houston.

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  9. Your quilt is fantastic.
    The colors, the message and the use of embellishments to enhance the quilt.
    K

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  10. That is truly beautiful, Stacy!

    Almost makes me want to go to Houston to see it in person. :)

    (Too much to do this weekend, plus I don't really care for Houston. ::shrug::)

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  11. Stacy, the quilt is amazing. What talent you have - and your daughter for the buttons.
    How much of the work do you do by machine, and how much by hand?

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  12. Hey Dragonsally! Thank you! Most of my work is by machine. Unless I'm beading; that is all done by hand. In this piece, only the two small circles surrounding the two lone buttons were done by hand with hallographic thread.

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  13. This is a lovely piece. I can see why it was accepted. Cynthia St Charles

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  14. Congratulations Stacy. Your interest in preserving the environment is beautifully displayed in this work. It is very engaging both to the eye and the mind.

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  15. This is a really stunning piece. I love all the elements of it! Great job!

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  16. Very clever piece, both in terms of color & composition and concept. You've managed to marry complexity and simplicity.

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