Linda J Casey

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Prostitute Judge Linda J Casey Concord CA

I’ve always been drawn to the unfinished, unsung works of fellow textile artists. The unknown, the tossed in a drawer. I think about the why: why was it never finished? Are they like me, always attracted to the next new thing? Did they suffer a great loss that caused the piece to remain unfinished? Then there are the leftover scraps: the odd pieces that accumulate over time and space in my life… or from the stashes of my fore-bearers. Birth of a Dilettante starts with that premise.

The base of this creation is a piece of unfinished needlepoint that I rescued at a garage sale; the detail of the design mostly stitched, but the background left completely empty.

Inspired by the flowers on the hat, I used my stash of salvaged home dec fabric samples to create an explosion of leaves and petals. Working from the outside of the canvas toward the central design, the elements were hand sewn onto the canvas.

To complete the design, I used an explosion of various objects and techniques all built from my stash, a little of this and a little of that; antique buttons, old jewelry, handmade flowers from ribbon, silk and trim, crochet button flowers … because what would a dilettante do but crave variety?

The entire piece is designed to pull you into the center, to pay honor to the woman who will never know that her hours of work and a piece left undone, became the foundation for a new creation.

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Birth of a Dilettante 2021 29” x 22” x 2.5” Mixed Media/Collage NFS