Under Pressure

Detail Under Pressure

Today I'm not feeling "Under Pressure" but thought I would share with you the piece that is title such.  I was invited to be a part of an international exhibition in Australia last year - November to be exact.  I was thrilled with being invited and looked forward to working on a piece for the exhibit.  As human nature - or at least my human nature - goes I put off and put off the making of this piece.  There were lots of "thinking" days, lots of "what if" days but nothing was being put on fabric.  As the deadline loomed it all came together -  in the nick of time.  On top of producing a quality piece of art I also had to write an Artists Statment - I worried about that for a long time and just as the artwork came together so did the Artist's Statement - in the nick of time.
I am very happy with this work and even more excited that the Exhibition will be touring Australia until early 2011.

Under Pressure
118” x 32”
Silk Broadcloth
Deconstructed Silk Screen, Painting with Thickened Dyes, Dye Wash, Mark making with Pen, Burning, Gold Leafing
The photo is a detail of the piece.


Artist's Statement

A fleeting idea, a glimpse of color, a smell or perhaps the touch of an appealing surface will set my soul off on another journey across expanse of white fabric.

Under Pressure began as a distinct attraction to the rich warm bronze and cool blue color combination. My next piece was begging me to incorporate the colors that spoke so strongly to me. As the bronze and blue colors combined with serendipitous textures layered down the length of cloth, images of rock buried deep in the earth began to emerge. The cloth began speaking to me of waiting, of patience, of time. I explored directions the fabric could go, yet not feel any of the directions calling me, so I continued to wait. I studied the layers developing on the fabric. I saw similarities of the formation of this cloth to the formation of precious metal or priceless jewels. Both depend on layers, time and pressure. Layers are dependent on what comes before; yet push the previous layer down. Never destroying the prior layers, but needing them for support. Only under pressure do precious metal and jewels develop. Time. Patience. Pressure. The creation of my fabrics is so similar! As I waited with the pressure of deadlines looming, images of gold veins, cracks and fissures came to mind. It was the direction the fabric was calling me to take.


So with Life - time and patience are needed to permit layers to build, pressure is needed to produce the desired results. View Under Pressure in the literal sense, but also figuratively. Precious results take time and patience. We depend on layers of learning, time to digest the lessons and the pressure of life in general, in order to create these precious results.