Some thoughts for new work

I’m starting to think about my next piece. Show season is coming up, and I need some work to submit for Convergence (deadline February 5, 2020) and Complexity (deadline March 15, 2020). Because those shows run concurrently, they need to be two separate pieces.

I also need to produce a new piece for the Complex Weavers Designing Fabrics Study Group, whose theme this year is “Texture”. My article isn’t due until October, but given how busy my schedule has been, better to get it out of the way sooner rather than later.

I looked at the prospectuses for the exhibit for constraints, which can be a source of inspiration. Complexity doesn’t have any constraints except for size, but the Symphony of the Mountains Mixed Media Exhibit had some interesting guidelines around themes:

Exploration of outside influences, changes in environment, harmony with nature, and the rhythm of natural cycles inspire the work for this mixed media fiber arts exhibit.

In addition, looking at the Designing Fabrics Study Group page on the Texture topic yielded (among other things) this intriguing snippet:

What then to do about color?

….Create a multi-dimensional experience: visuals showing one design, tactile another.

This raises an intriguing possibility: woven shibori to create crinkly texture (like a topographic map of the mountains?), combined with two painted wefts that gradually change colors along the length of the piece to give the impression of changing seasons. Combined with some sort of imagery, perhaps, though I don’t know what yet. Or I might just make it abstract – woven shibori provides enough patterning that adding more patterning on top of that might tip the whole thing into chaos.

Conceptually, not entirely unlike the work of Itchiku Kubota (below), except very, very different, and not nearly as complex or masterful. This is a simple, early exploration, not a masterwork.