SAQA
Studio Art Quilt Associates, Inc.
art quilt collector
Issue No. 1
Welcome Welcome to the first issue of Art Quilt Collector! We hope that you find the art exciting and the articles helpful. This is a publication designed just for you, the collector. Each issue of Art Quilt Collector will focus on a special art quilt collection, a collection belonging either to an individual or a museum’s collection. This issue highlights Maureen Hendricks’ lovely collection at the Gateway Canyons Resort in Colorado. Additional articles will provide information about how to care for your collection: storage, insurance, shipping, hanging, exterminator concerns, and more. We’ll also provide information on cataloging your collection, copyright, and how to find a home for your collection when you’re ready to pass it on. Occasionally we will highlight an unusual art technique, such as this issue’s article on katazome. Each issue will also bring you a broad array of art to enjoy: interviews with three featured artists and a gallery section. This time we’re showcasing abstract art. And we’ll also provide information about art quilt exhibitions traveling to venues near you. SAQA sponsors 3-5 new exhibitions each year, and most of them travel to multiple venues across the United States and around the world. We welcome your questions and ideas for future articles. And we’d love to feature one of the art quilts from your collection in the Photo Finish on the last page. Contact artquiltcollector@saqa.com with your ideas and images.
Contents The Hendricks Collection and Alegre Retreat. . . . . . . . . . 3 Practicing textile conservation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Artists to watch Peggy Brown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Toot Reid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Sue Benner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
Studio Art Quilt Associates, Inc. (SAQA) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote the art quilt through education, exhibitions, professional development, documentation, and publications. ©2015 Studio Art Quilt Associates, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is strictly prohibited. SAQA Art Quilt Collector is published quarterly by Studio Art Quilt Associates, Inc., a nonprofit educational organization. Publications Office: P.O. Box 572, Storrs, CT 06268. ISSN 2379-9439 (print) ISSN 2379-9455 (online) Managing Editor: Martha Sielman Designer: Deidre Adams
Gallery: Abstract art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Subscription is $29.95 for four issues. Outside USA: add $12.00
Discover the ancient art of katazome. . . . . . . . . . . . . .26
Subscribe online: SAQA.com>Store
Selections from Celebrating Silver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30 Photo finish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Cover: Katie Pasquini Masopust, Spring Equinox. See p. 20.
The Hendricks Collection and Alegre Retreat by Sandra Sider
M
aureen Hendricks developed an interest in contemporary art quilts when she participated in a series of studio workshops taught by Katie Pasquini Masopust, Sue Benner, and others. Many of the workshops she attended were offered at Masopust’s Alegre Retreat, which was originally conducted in Santa Fe, New Mexico. In 2005 Masopust had to end her workshops in Santa Fe. Since the Alegre Retreat experiences had become so important to Hendricks, she invited Masopust to establish a new Alegre Retreat at the Gateway Canyons Resort, which Maureen and her husband John had built at the western edge of Colorado for the purpose of offering a variety of enrichment opportunities in a spectacular natural environment. The Gateway Canyons Resort site also houses the Gateway Colorado Automobile Museum, approximately 30,000 square feet showcasing more than
forty classic American cars. Both wife and husband have a collector’s eye for quality and style — Maureen for quilt art and interior design, and John for automotive design and photography. They also understand American popular culture, having founded the very successful Discovery Channel. To enhance the Hendricks’ Colorado ranch and Gateway Canyons Resort,
Maureen Hendricks commissioned two quilts from Masopust and purchased a third one, Grapes, after she saw it in an exhibition in California. She also purchased dozens of 12-inch-square quilts in the SAQA online auction, with 36
Palisade Triptych Katie Pasquini Masopust 72 x 186 inches, 2009
SAQA Art Quilt Collector | 3
Grapes Katie Pasquini Masopust 60 x 95 inches, 1996
of them arranged in a quilt-like grid in the foyer of the resort’s Palisade Event Center, balancing color and contrast in interesting ways. Palisade Triptych also graces the Palisade Event Center, situated below an imposing rock formation known as the “palisade,” while Masopust’s quilts Rainbow River and Grapes are installed at the Hendricks’ residence, West Creek Ranch. Masopust used her fractured-landscape technique to structure the sections of Rainbow River, inserting diagonal color washes to introduce a sense of movement and enliven the wintry scene. The fractured landscape of Palisade Triptych functions differently, as wide vertical bands of cool, slightly darker hues recede into the background, causing the lighter sections to project toward the viewer. This subtle composition creates an expansive undulation, with the central palisade surging forward majestically. Masopust’s Grapes quilt originated with her photographs of grapevines hanging over an awning in the summer sun. Her circular motifs in the quilt reference the spherical grapes, with the artist’s hallmark ghost layers and color washes brightening the surface. Displayed above an antique 1915 Stein4 | SAQA Art Quilt Collector
way player piano, the textile nuances of Grapes contrast beautifully with the piano’s rare Circassian walnut wood. Hendricks’ patronage of quilt art extends to her support of the Alegre Retreat, now in its fourth year at Gateway Canyons Resort. Every year she provides space in the resort’s banquet room to exhibit quilts by the current year’s teachers, as well as by teachers for the coming year. These exhibitions have provided an opportunity for Hendricks to study and occasionally purchase quilts made by some of the teachers, including Sue Benner in 2010, and both Judi Warren Blaydon and Emily Richardson in 2011. Benner’s Body Parts, a tribute to the Combines of Robert Rauschenberg, features decon-
Body Parts Sue Benner 81 x 61 inches, 2007
structed recycled clothing, dyed and painted fabric, and monoprinting. Also influenced by the mixed-media paintings of Joan Snyder and Benner’s own background in biomedical science, this quilt references the underlying structure of the human form. Sub Rosa: Portal by Blaydon, which offers a hint of horizon, belongs to the artist’s series of imagined landscape quilts. Using color and visual texture, she suggests abstract vistas and architectural details in this quilt. In 2004, Emily Richardson won the Quilts Japan Prize at Quilt Visions. Blossoms of the Waves is part of the body of work resulting from her trip to Japan. Richardson’s expertise in overlaying translucent silk fragments has created a surface as dynamic as it is fragile. Scholarships are available for select attendees. Maureen and John Hendricks have established the Young Emerging Artist Award (YEA), and a second YEA
Award was given in 2012, donated by Sandy Chapin, a longtime devotee of Alegre Retreat, in honor of her motherin-law, Elspeth Hart. Abigail Kokai, the 2011 recipient of the YEA Award, is a fiber specialist earning her MFA at the Savannah College of Art and Design. She had this comment about the retreat: “We all wanted to push our individual artistic practices and express ourselves. And we did.” Kokai also emphasized that the environment of the Colorado canyons encourages reflection and engagement with the physicality of materials. Another scholarship was established in 2011 by the teachers, the Alegre Retreat Annual Scholarship, through the “Hats Off to Alegre” auction. Masopust gave a Gateway Canyons baseball cap to each teacher, and Jane Dunnewold suggested that each teacher decorate a cap. During the final day of the retreat the wildly decorated caps were auctioned, raising enough money to cover the costs for one attendee in the coming year who otherwise would not be able to participate. Hendricks and Masopust plan to continue this fundraising event at future retreats. Carol Hazen, recipient of the first Annual
left: Sub Rosa: Portal
above: Blossoms of the Waves
Judi Warren Blaydon 70 x 53 inches, 2007
Emily Richardson 28 x 44 inches, 2006
Scholarship, says that the “experience … ignited my creativity on a variety of levels.” Maureen Hendricks exemplifies a collector who keeps her thumb on the pulse of her medium, not only through her relationship with a world-famous artist and teacher, but also through her encouragement of students and other teachers. She believes in quilts as inspiring works of art and enriches her own life by c ollecting and making them. Hendricks’s affinity for color can be appreciated in her own Beach Bargello Quilt. Vibrant bands of color suggest the rhythm of waves while subtle shifts of tone can be seen as waves retreating along the beach. More information on the retreat can be found at alegreretreat.com. Former SAQA President Sandra Sider is an artist, critic, and independent curator. She lives in New York City, and her website is www.sandrasider.com.
Beach Bargello Quilt Maureen Hendricks 88 x 62 inches, 1996 SAQA Art Quilt Collector | 5
Practicing textile conservation by Mary Juillet-Paonessa
T
extile history fascinates me; quilt history fascinates me even more. After college, I gravitated to the New York City garment district and the Fashion Institute of Technology. When I later relocated to New England with my family and a fabric stash in tow, I started a business stitching other people’s quilts. In the beginning, clients asked for gift-type items: baby quilts, wedding quilts, and house-warming quilts. But word spread that I took on quilt projects no one else wanted to touch: the quilt “the poodle ate a hole in,” the quilt that “grandma cut out but never got to finish piecing before she died,” and the pre-printed embroidered top “Aunt Em stitched that her niece proudly bleached all the blue quilting dots off of.” These were all restoration and completion projects, and the clients wanted the quilts to look like new. Slowly, the age of the quilts and the issues that needed problem-solving began to change, and I recognized my need for more education. Living in New England, clients never seem to run out of 19th-century quilt tops from their attics that need to be wet-cleaned and quilted. Many jobs involved repair and stabilization rather than restoration, and I needed to know the difference between the two techniques. I had to know if the quilts and quilt tops were strong enough for treatment or more valuable left as is. What appropriate storage and display techniques could I teach to quilt owners? To better serve
6 | SAQA Art Quilt Collector
The conservation process focuses on maintaining the historic integrity of the quilt and preserving valuable evidence of social and technical histories for the future.
my clients’ needs, I began the master’s degree program in Textile Conservation and Historic Research at the University of Rhode Island. Conservation has two sides: theoretical and practical. The theoretical side relies on a basic knowledge of art history, textile history, technical advances, social changes, and chemistry. The practical side involves the time spent in internships and student work experience, practicing stitching techniques, and investigating ways of handling difficult materials. Now, when a textile comes into my studio, the first thing I do is study the
piece and write a condition report before any treatment is undertaken. This systematic analysis creates a record of the history, size, materials, and condition of the object and is augmented by digital images of damaged areas. Outlines of one or more recommended treatment proposals follow the condition report. Together with the client, decisions are made concerning the most appropriate methods for cleaning, repairing, and storing or displaying the quilt, balancing the needs of the client with the conservator’s credo of “do no harm.” The conservation process focuses on maintaining the historic
Suppliers of Archival Materials Conservation Resources International: www.conservationresources.com Gaylord: www.gaylord.com Light Impressions: www.lightimpressionsdirect.com Talas: www.talas-nyc.com University Products, Inc.: www.universityproducts.com
integrity of the quilt and preserving valuable evidence of social and technical histories for the future. Fellow conservators Susan Jerome and Elsbeth Dijxhoorn have joined me in the business this past year. Each brings complementary experience in textile history, collection care, and management, weaving, and dyeing. We met at the University of Rhode Island, where we all received master’s degrees from the Department of Textiles, Fashion Merchandising and Design. The bigger challenges lie ahead of us, as recent innovations include technological advances in textiles, battings, interlinings, fusibles, adhesives, and notions. Quiltmakers experiment with all the latest products coming into the market. Just as time has shown how
decisions made by 19th-century dye manufacturers affected the colorfast properties of brown, black, and green dyes, it will also show us the effects of adhesives, paints, and thread choices on the variety of fabrics being used in modern quilts. Storage and exhibition practices, as well as environmental concerns, affect how slowly or quickly modern textile products begin to deteriorate. Art quilts are subject to even greater risks because of the experimental nature of some of the work. Techniques borrowed from the art world include a host of printing techniques, transfer processes, screenprinting, and photo transfers, to name a few. Painted and dyed fabric surfaces, along with attached recycled materials, glitter, beads, shells, wood, and feath-
ers, create chemical reactions that may jeopardize the lifespan of the piece. Organic in nature, even cotton decays over time. Manmade fibers and other materials frequently begin to decompose just a few years after manufacture. Art quilts displayed in public venues are often exposed to long-term stresses such as light, dirt, extreme climate changes, and environmental contaminants. Moving textiles from one venue to another creates another kind of stress as they are handled, packed, and shipped. As these works of art age, conservators will be challenged to learn more about the aging processes of 20thand 21st-century materials in order to preserve these artifacts for the future. CT Quilt Works, a textile conservation studio, is located in Lyme, Connecticut. Mary JuilletPaonessa can be contacted at ctquiltworks@aol.com.
How you can help with future conservation • Ask the artist for a precise list of all the materials and techniques used to create the artwork. • Examine the art quilt on a regular basis. Look for evidence of infestation and/or the breakdown of materials. Note the changes and take digital images of the affected areas. • Vacuum the front and back of the quilt on a regular basis. Place window screening, available at the local hardware store, cut into a large square and edged with binding (to eliminate rough edges) over the piece to prevent the vacuum from suctioning up anything but the particulate
matter. Putting a finger between the window screening and the vacuum tool will reduce the strength of the suction. • Store art quilts in an area away from drastic changes in temperature and humidity. Storage spaces in the interior of your home or office usually maintain the most constant conditions. • Use cotton fabric as dust covers. It can be laundered periodically to remove dust. Conservation companies sell archival tissue paper and boxes specially designed to store textiles safely. Choose a box large enough to minimize the amount of folds
in the piece. Folds create stress on the fabric and stitches, which can lead to breakage in the fibers along the creases. Refold periodically along different lines. • Storage tubes can also be used. Choose a tube long enough to roll the textile without folding it. Storage tubes are available from conservation supply companies. Cover rolled objects with a cotton tube dust cover which can be laundered periodically. Although this is an appealing option, I always worry about the stress put on the fibers that end up rolled on the outside of the tube. Reroll periodically. SAQA Art Quilt Collector | 7
artists to watch
Peggy Brown Nashville, Indiana
Peggy Brown’s delicate watercolors combine organic forms, created by the chance movement of pigment, with ordered rows of small squares deliberately placed across the surface. Quilted lines run busily back and forth, emphasizing some areas and blending others together. Like some type of mysterious map, they are signposts to the artist’s lifelong fascination with color and paint.
Three Times Three 43 x 53 inches
8 | SAQA Art Quilt Collector
top: Tulips and Trees
40 x 39 inches bottom: Landscape/Sunrise Sunset
39 x 36 inches
Collaboration with the medium My art is a collaboration between watercolor–the medium; and myself— the artist. I think we both enjoy ourselves. I emphasize the “water” part of watercolor, because I work extremely wet so the pigments follow their own designs: some granulate and make textures, others stain, others mix and form beautiful sensitive colors. It takes time and experience for a painter to learn to let watercolor be watercolor. I let the medium do its own thing, then I take over and finish things up. I feel we work well together.
Painting on paper and fabric I paint on both paper and fabric. I use the same media (transparent water color), tools, and methods for both. To begin the process I place the substrate on a waterproof surface. Then I wet the paper or fabric with water from a sponge or a spray bottle and freely brush on paint allowing the pigments to mingle and follow their personal paths. As the paint dries, shapes and colors begin to emerge that I could never totally plan or predict. During this initial step I let the medium with its impetuous yet sensitive manner be my guide, while I assert only semi-control. Usually I repeat the first step several times to add more texture, depth and richness. During the second part of the journey I look over the painted base and let the surface design inspire me. SAQA Art Quilt Collector | 9
Moments 43 x 40 inches
Since the wet paint flows through the fabric, the textures can be more interesting on the reverse side and often the back becomes my new front. Following the suggested imagery on the painted substrate, I begin laying out several different designs using painted and transferred fabrics and papers from my stash. When I’m happy with the design, I fuse the collage to the background and tie everything together with more painting, collage and drawing. My goal is to take a free-flowing start, and using collage, overlays of more pigment and drawing, compose a well- designed finish.
Moments An example is Moments, which began with a digital transfer to tissue paper. The image of the transfer was 10 | SAQA Art Quilt Collector
of a section of one of my paintings on paper. I coated the transfer with acrylic. When dry, I tore the paper into angled sections, rearranged their order and mounted them on a previously painted square piece of cotton. Next I painted a large piece of silk with colors to compleÂment the center. I tore some unpainted tissue paper into geometric forms, painted, arranged and fused them, along with the central square piece, onto the painted silk. After re-painting and brushing acrylic matte medium over the paper sections, I painted around and over the edges of the collage with grey to unite all sections. Softly painted silk borders on the top and bottom and little collaged squares that lead the eye through the image completed my design.
Transparency My geometric shapes are abstracted from my old paintings of Victorian houses, barns, etc. Tree branches inspire the organic lines that flow through most of my work. I like the juxtaposition of the geometric forms with the organic lines and the fact that the geometric shapes anchor the design while the organic lines unite it. I try to express images that appear on, above, and below the surface. I do this by keeping all layers transparent with the use of transparent paint, transparent papers, and at times transparent fabric such as organza and interfacing. I invite the viewer to follow as I work and see through the topmost layer, through the intermediate layers, to the substrate with its beginning of the design.
Shades of Italy III 41 x 31 inches photo by Chandon Photographers
SAQA Art Quilt Collector | 11
artists to watch
Toot Reid Tacoma, Washington Monumental size, vibrant color, and mysterious markings all characterize Toot Reid’s art. Each piece is a record of how her emotions reacted with the cloth over a period of weeks and months. The stitched markings are an intuitive response to the process: sometimes the stitching is in contrast to the fabrics; sometimes it blends in. Always the power of the artist’s vision comes through.
12 | SAQA Art Quilt Collector
Dates as Titles My sister was diagnosed with cancer in 2005. At that time I was working on large, single pieces that could take from six to eight months to complete. As I was helping my sister and dealing with my own emotions, I realized that six months was too long to work on one piece. I needed to put down my feelings more quickly. I came up with the idea of the pieces being my height and using the dates as a way of documenting my life. The dates are beginnings and endings, because I didn’t want one piece to go on and on. The end date is whenever I feel I am done. I don’t plan an end date. The end is whenever it is right. What I want viewers to understand about the dates is the passage of time. The dates are arbitrary. By that I mean there is a start date, but I never know what the end date will be or how many panels there will be. I put down an end date for each piece, but I think of the next piece I start as being a continuation of the previous conversation I was having with the work.
far left:
September 28, 2010 – March 8, 2011 63 x 98 inches Photo by Ken Wagner
Passage of Time I think some of working large has to do with the fact that I was the shortest person in my family and the youngest, so it is a way to be noticed. Also, I read something Barnett Newman said about size: that he wanted his work to be walked through. He
below:
November 2, 2012 – February 4, 2013 63 x 95 inches Photo by Dane Meyer
SAQA Art Quilt Collector | 13
Thirteen
Eighteen
94 x 75 inches, 2002
63 x 52 inches, 2004
Photo by Ken Wagner
Photo by Ken Wagner
meant that the piece is so large that you can walk beside it and be in it as time passes.
Design by Intuition I do not make sketches. I look at my fabric, check in with how I’m feeling and start pulling out fabric that feels right. I always have more at the beginning than I end up using. Then I eliminate or add. I make a few pieces and sew the thread on top to see if the fabric and thread work. After I decide that, I spend days making pieces or ‘tiles’. I hand cut all the small pieces. There are usually about six or seven different sizes and anywhere from six to nine different colors of fabric.
14 | SAQA Art Quilt Collector
I make all the tile pieces, sew the top threads on, and then I sit on the large piece of fabric, the canvas, and, beginning at the top left-hand corner, start placing the tile pieces. I lay out about 10 to 15 pieces at a time, pin them, and then take the whole cloth to the sewing machine and sew all the pieces down. Then I take it back to the floor and start over. Sometimes I know I’m going to change colors partway through and I work to wherever I feel that a break is right and then change. Sometimes I sew down background fabric so the change comes from the back color and not the front. Again, this is all from feel, no sketching or preconceived plan.
Importance of the Threads To raise the thread to the same level as fabric was a big breakthrough for me. I now let the loose threads accumulate and hang. Fabric doesn’t have any depth; what makes depth is shadow. So the space between the small sections is important. Sewing down the tile pieces to the background fabric and having batting makes for some shadowing, some depth. Plus the threads create depth. One needs to look through the threads to the pieces and color behind. The threads become as important as the fabric.
October 1, 2013 – October 30, 2012 63 x 39 inches Photo by Dane Meyer
SAQA Art Quilt Collector | 15
artists to watch
Sue Benner Dallas, Texas
16 | SAQA Art Quilt Collector
A combination of complexity and simplicity characterizes Sue Benner’s work. The intense coloring and patterning of her handdyed and painted fabrics is paired with a startlingly simplicity of form. Repetition and variation work to tame the riot of colors and patterns she uses, creating compelling imagery.
Prairie/Wall 3: Autumn Bluestem 59 x 88 inches, 2012 photo by Eric Neilsen Photography
Dyeing and Painting Fabrics I dye and paint many of the fabrics I use. For a large project or a new series, I will often create new fabrics especially for that purpose. I’ll start with a few ideas, marks or motifs in various colorways, and see what happens. I always make many more fabrics than I will use. Other times I will dye and paint with no fixed use in mind. I’ll later use these fabrics as my series work pulls them in. A particularly strong fabric can inspire a new direction in my work.
Another part of my studio practice is collecting and reusing found fabrics. Rescuing unloved textiles and thrift store shopping are a great source of amusement for me.
Circles and Lines I know where the circle began for me, as the shape of a biological cell. Of course, not all cells are circular—many, maybe most, are not. But as a symbol of a cell, this works for me, and more specifically a dot within a circle representing a nucleus surrounded by cytoplasm
and a cell membrane. These are units that I can stack, assemble, and scatter in interesting ways, providing possibilities for order and disorder. Circles are also polka dots, which make me happy to look at. Over time the circle has progressed to stand for other ideas: flowers, berries, atoms, molecules, ribosomes, seeds, eggs, etc. At some point I deliberately began experimenting with lines in my work, or rather thin strips of fabric collaged to the surface. I could create direction and energy that way, and then I developed
SAQA Art Quilt Collector | 17
right:
Wearing Plaid 2 57 x 57 inches, 2011 below, right:
Tallgrass II 82 x 41 inches, 2015
the use of bias strips to make the lines even more expressive. I now work with lines abstractly and figuratively as prairie grasses—but it doesn’t really matter what they are. I am more intrigued by their directionality, overlap, and complexity.
A Fascination with Plaid I like the structure of woven fabric, and I have been fascinated by plaids since I was a child. My mom made a lot of my clothes and then I sewed as well. In Wisconsin we often worked with a lot of wool and a lot of plaid. There was much instruction and discussion of even and uneven plaids, matching them at seams and across the entire garment. I looked at them intensely. In fact, I still like to wear plaid skirts. So some of my fascination with plaid is nostalgia. I also like what happens when you look through a grid, when it’s expanded and you can see what is behind it. Metal mesh and chain link fences are something I photograph all the time. They form a scrim for the scene behind. Instant units, instant quilt!
Need That Buzzy Feeling I hate almost every piece at some point. Really hate it. But, then I get this buzzy feeling that it’s going better, and then I think it might NOT be the worst piece of you-know-what that I have ever seen. Then I finish it. If something is not working or I am stuck, I let it sit up on the wall, on the table, on the floor, or in a box (if it is really bothering me) until I get an idea. Sometimes I finish pieces that I am not so sure about on one level, but realize on another level that something is going on that I don’t understand yet. I know that it is important for my process and development as an artist to continue working, even though I am uncomfortable. Once in a while, when a piece is really not working or subpar, I will take a huge chance of ruining it completely and print or paint over it. Being uncertain about my work can be a transforming experience.
18 | SAQA Art Quilt Collector
Cellular Structure III 72 x 45 inches, 2006 Eric Neilsen Photography
SAQA Art Quilt Collector | 19
gallery abstract art
Katie Pasquini Masopust Spring Equinox 60 x 53 inches www.katiepm.com
Susan Rienzo Sunshine State of Mind 42 x 50 inches www.susanrienzodesigns.com
20 | SAQA Art Quilt Collector
gallery | abstract art Lisa Flowers-Ross Foliaris I 33 x 29 inches lisaflowersross.net
SAQA Art Quilt Collector | 21
gallery | abstract art Judith Content Departure 61 x 43 inches www.judithcontent.com
22 | SAQA Art Quilt Collector
49 x 51 inches www.jetteclover.com
Patti Morris Rebecca 105 x 104 inches www.morrisfabricartdesigns.com
SAQA Art Quilt Collector | 23
gallery | abstract art
Jette Clover Winter Wall
gallery | abstract art
Yael David-Cohen Animation 23 x 53 inches www.yaeldc.co.uk
Kevan Lunney, Archeology #24 A Time to Rest 64 x 56 inches www.kevanart.com
24 | SAQA Art Quilt Collector
gallery | abstract art
Deborah Fell Contemplation 35 x 28 inches www.deborahfell.com
SAQA Art Quilt Collector | 25
Discover the ancient art of katazome by Karen Illman Miller
A
rt quilters today use many surface design techniques to produce patterned fabrics. Discharge, silk screen, and shibori are techniques recognized by most artists and their customers. I, however, am the happy practitioner of a much less well-known process: the art of Japanese stencil dyeing known as katazome. Katazome is an ancient textile art that has been practiced in Japan for hundreds of years. Originally made for summer kimono or for futon covers and other household items, katazome fabrics were dyed in indigo. Traditional katazome have repeating patterns, often
26 | SAQA Art Quilt Collector
of great delicacy. Before the advent of synthetic dyes, all fabrics in Japan were produced using natural dyes or mineral pigments with a soy milk binder. Although synthetic dyes are now the norm for katazome in Tokyo and Kyoto, the Okinawans continue to use the old techniques to produce their own form of katazome, called bingata. This process, using natural dyes and pigments, has become my passion. As a beginning quilter 17 years ago, I found katazome when I had the good fortune to take a local workshop given by a Japanese indigo dyer. He taught us how to cut a stencil, and from that
moment I knew that this was what I was meant to do. I have been finding my own voice as a katazome artist since studying with American katazome master John ÂMarshall. Katazome is no longer limited to traditional indigos. It can be used in a fairly easy one-step process to produce multicolored cottons, linens, and silks, using a variety of fabric dyes and textile paints. By protecting dyed areas with paste and then layering stencils, artists can produce fabWinterlight Karen Miller Each panel 35 x 15 inches 2008
rics of increasing complexity. Stencil-dyed images can also be combined with other techniques to produce fabrics of great depth and beauty. It is a hugely versatile technique for the limited production of patterned fabrics at home, without fancy equipment or bulky machinery. There is virtually no fabric I can imagine that I cannot produce myself. The only art quilt I’ve seen using katazome besides my own is Gaia by M. Joan Lintault. This piece still takes my breath away. Seeing it in the 1992 Quilt Visions show catalog gave me the courage to strike out on my own and find the imagery that speaks most deeply to me. The term katazome is made up of two Japanese words: kata (pattern) and zome (dyeing). The fabric design is made with a rice paste resist called nori, which is applied through a paper stencil. Once the paste is dry, the fabric can be dyed or painted. Washing off the resist reveals the protected fabric underneath. This is rather like the batiking process, but rice paste is much less toxic and troublesome to remove than wax, and katazome creates a crispedged stencil, whereas batik does not. Collectors have preserved antique stencils which reveal the amazing virtuosity of the Japanese stencil carvers. In fact, it was a book of antique stencil patterns, bought years before I started quilting, which fueled my desire to master this ancient craft and produce fabrics for my own use as an art quilter and surface designer. The stencil-making process starts with a handmade Japanese paper called shibugami. This paper is made from two or three layers of thin white mulberry fiber paper laminated with fermented persimmon juice, and then smoked. The persimmon tannins strengthen
The rice paste is formed into donuts to help the steam penetrate evenly, then steamed for 30 minutes.
The paste is spread through the stencil with a spatula or hera.
SAQA Art Quilt Collector | 27
and waterproof the paper in the same way tanning preserves leather. It is chestnut-brown in color and smells like incense. Once dry, the paper is brittle, and even extremely delicate patterns are easy to cut. An image can be drawn on the paper, photocopied on it, or, for larger stencils, printed onto sheets of tracing paper, which is attached with spray adhesive. An X-ACTO™ knife and a soft vinyl mat underneath are all that are needed to cut a stencil. Typical stencils cut from traditional Japanese patterns are 11x17 inches, so the 22x36inch shibugami sheets can accommodate four stencils. Once it’s cut, I attach a layer of silk mesh to the top of the stencil to hold all the little parts together. This also makes the stencil strong enough to stand up to repeated use. The Japanese use a lacquer product to attach the silk, but latex gloss enamel works just as well. The characteristics of shibugami enable me to cut much finer patterns than are possible with plastic stencils. Before a stencil is used, it’s soaked in water, and the brittle paper becomes tough, leathery, and waterproof. It clings to the fabric, unlike plastic stencils, making the rice paste much less likely to creep under the stencil. Nori
paste is made from sticky rice flour, rice bran, and water. The rice bran, a by-product of polished white rice, is finely milled just for dyeing. It helps reduce the stickiness of the cooked rice flour, which otherwise would be difficult to handle and to remove from the fabric. The resulting dough is formed into small balls or donut shapes, wrapped in a damp cloth, and steamed for half an hour. The uncooked dough is a pasty tan, with a slightly gritty texture. Cooked paste looks like warm peanut butter, smells like brown rice, is elastic and velvety smooth. Because it’s nontoxic, I can safely use my kitchen equipment to make the paste. A little builder’s lime (calcium carbonate, sometimes called Calx) toughens and preserves the paste. Salt or glycerin keeps dry paste from cracking. The Japanese use salt, which absorbs moisture from the air, but because humidity varies so widely in this country, I prefer glycerin. To successfully apply the resist paste, fabric must be laid on a firm or very slightly padded surface; a springy print table is too soft. The finished nori is spread through the stencil with a spatula and allowed to dry. Japanese spreaders are made of hinoki cedar,
left: The stencil is lifted off, revealing the pasted image on the fabric. right: One edge of the stencil is carefully aligned to paste a repeat pattern.
28 | SAQA Art Quilt Collector
but my students find plastic drywall spatulas work well. If the piece is to be painted later, it’s best to stretch the fabric while the paste dries so it stays smooth. For small pieces, simple frames made from ½-inch PVC pipe and big binder clips are suitable. If larger pieces are being made, the Japanese system of end clamps with side-to-side bamboo stretchers, called shinshi, is ideal. Shinshi are sometimes tricky to find outside of Japan, but this system allows me to paste and dye very long lengths (8 to 10 yards) of fabric, or fabrics as wide as 60 inches, wonderful for garments or wholecloth quilt tops. The stretched fabric looks vaguely like a hammock, which has tempted passersby more than once when I’ve been working outdoors. The dry paste is durable enough to be dipped into an indigo vat for a minute or two without dissolving. Since indigo requires repeated dips to build up stable deep blues, the fabric must dry between dips. I use plastic skirt hangers to hold my fabric panels and weight the corners with lead fishing weights, so the fabric slides easily into the vat without folding back on itself and smearing the softened paste. It only takes 20 minutes in warm water to soak off the paste, and it’s just magical to watch the pattern appear.
left: Background color is applied first with a soft Japanese brush, allowing even blending of colors. The paints are powdered watercolor pigments in freshly
prepared soy milk.
center: Detail colors are added once the first colors and the paste are dry. Then the dyes cure for a few days. right: Soaking off the paste takes 20 minutes in warm water, without scrubbing, revealing the pattern.
Rice paste is not durable enough for other vat dyes due to their longer immersion times. But pasted and stretched fabric can be painted with any dye that can be thickened enough so that it doesn’t soak under the resist paste. Fiber-reactive, acid, or direct dyes, transparent Setacolor textile paint, and watercolor pigments mixed with fresh soy milk are all equally successful. I have grown accustomed to soy-based pigment dyes and use them almost exclusively in my work. Dry soybeans, soaked overnight in water, are blended with enough water and strained through a cloth to make a liquid that is approximately the consistency of 2% milk. A cup of soaked beans makes about a half gallon of soy milk. I pretreat fabric with a layer of the soy milk to size it, improving how the dye binds to the fabric and reducing the likelihood of color bleeding under the paste. This step also stiffens the cloth a little and makes it easier to handle on the pasting surface. Using soft Japanese brushes, I apply powdered watercolor pigments that have been stirred into the soy milk, taking care not to flood the fabric with too much dye, and working the color well into the weave of the fabric before the paste starts to soften. Some lightweight cottons tend to wick the dyes under the paste, but working
with thicker soy milk and a relatively dry brush can be helpful. These dyes work very well on silks of any weight, linens, and natural fiber blends. The background is usually dyed first, and darker detail colors are added later. The colors are transparent and additive, enabling me to work the color on the fabric, blending, feathering, and shading to develop perfect graded transitions between one color and the next, a property I find especially wonderful. After the first colors are applied and the paste is allowed to dry, I can go back and add subtle shading, change the color slightly by adding a different color on top, or cover areas with plain paste to protect them before dyeing the background a competing color. Sometimes as many as 10 different pasting and dyeing steps are made before the fabric is finished. The dyed fabrics need to cure a few days before the paste is soaked off, giving the soy proteins time to denature and attach the colors to the fabric well. Because they are technically waterbased paints, the pigments are not as wash-fast as fiber-reactive dyes. However, they are appropriately lightfast and durable for art quilts and art garments. When I first started katazome, I cut many, many stencils using the wealth of copyright-free sources for traditional Japanese patterns. I love stencil cut-
ting — the feel of the paper, the rhythm of the knife, and the meditative quality of the process. As I became more technically proficient, I began to look at the world differently, seeing pattern everywhere I went. My own work now bears little resemblance to the traditional Japanese patterns, but my respect for the natural world parallels that of the Japanese stencil designers. From bare trees and skeleton leaves, to starfish and the delicate abstractions produced by natural forms, there is nowhere in nature I cannot find inspiration for the work I do, supported by a technique I love. SAQA member Karen Illman Miller is a fiber artist living in Corvallis, Oregon. Her website is www.nautilus-fiberarts.com.
SAQA Art Quilt Collector | 29
Celebrating Silver The Silver Touch As part of SAQA’s 25th Anniversary, we are Celebrating Silver. Silver is indispensable. From industrial use to decoration, technology, photography, and medicine, its unique properties of strength, malleability, reflectivity, and conductivity make it an irreplaceable force in the global market. In addition to its physical properties, silver is recognized as a symbol of love and commitment for 25 years together.
Michelle Jackson 40 x 40 inches
Juror and SAQA founder Yvonne Porcella selected 35 artists to create works specifically for this exhibition. Their interpretations have given us an impressive collection of works that embrace the meanings and properties of silver. Celebrating Silver premiered at the International Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas, in 2014. In 2015 it is traveling to IQF-Chicago (March), Quilt!Knit!Stitch! in Portland, Oregon (August 13-15), and the St. George Art Museum in St. George, Utah (Sept. 12-Dec. 31). In 2016, it will travel to Atlanta, Georgia; Lakeland, Florida; Cleveland, Ohio; Worcester, Massachusetts; Des Moines, Iowa; and the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, U.K. Go to www.saqa.com for more information and to purchase the Celebrating Silver catalog.
Silver Cake Jeannie Palmer Moore 51 x 40 inches
Angel of Silver Wendi Bucey 70 x 38 inches
30 | SAQA Art Quilt Collector
Silver Hills Cynthia St. Charles 64 x 39 inches
Reflection — World Trade Center Jean Renli Jurgenson 50 x 35 inches
Past & Future Joan Schulze 43 x 40 inches
SAQA Art Quilt Collector | 31
Photo Finish
Karen Shulz Three Squares Redux 53 x 40 inches, 2013 www.karen-schulz.com
