Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, I finished my embroidery with traditional framing techniques, either working with a framer I trusted to do museum quality framing, or, after researching archival materials and learning techniques, doing the framing myself.
Given that we lived most often in remote areas where framers and supplies were not easily obtainable, and that the running back and forth to framers for consultations was time consuming, I started exploring frame-less presentation and finishing options for my embroidery.
I began to go “frame-less” in 1995 and 1996 with the three-dimensional book structure Bliss of Growth. It was exciting to discover that my lifetime of sewing and fabric skills merged beautifully with my embroidery to create “embroidered books.” The book-format offers an intimate relationship with the viewer, and also connects with the importance of books and reading throughout my life.
ACCEPTANCE © 1999
Created in 1998 and 1999, ACCEPTANCE is a synthesis of experiences, techniques and ideas that came together in multiple harmonies and contrasts—plus a dash of variety.
Embroidered book. Hand embroidery and machine & hand sewing. Split, Outline, and Backstitches.
Size 50 sewing silk on linen, cotton fabrics, cyanotype, ragboard. Imagery based on original plein air drawings.
Verse: Philippians 4:11
Open: ~ 15”w x 8 ½” h.
Each page: 5”w x 8 ½”h.
Closed: 5”w x 8 ½”h x ½”thick.
Retail price: $600, plus shipping, handling and insurance.
The aspen drawings are from July 8, 1991, created en plein air on Grand Mesa, near Land’s End. The series of four drawings in my small journal are simple graphite contours; I was fascinated with the starkness of the twisting forms at that elevation. Joe and Varda wandered through the grove and adjacent meadow while I captured the contours.
The outside of ACCEPTANCE is created with the cyanotype “sunprint” process. The white cotton fabric was treated with blueprint chemicals. For the imagery, I traced and enlarged the four aspen drawings, and repeated and manipulated the contours to create an 11” x 17” black-line composition. This was photocopied onto 11” x 17” clear acetate. In the sunprint process, the black-line acetate was placed on the treated fabric and exposed to the sun. When washed, the fabric turned blue except where the black contour lines hid the fabric from the sun.
BLISS OF GROWTH ©1996 & 1998
Each pair of pages includes the following: the embroidery; a small photograph of the original drawing on which the embroidery is based; a photocopy of the working design for the embroidery; and typed documentation.
Dimensions are:
Open for Display: 6″ h x 18″ diameter.
Unfolded flat for perusal: 21” x 8 ½” x ½”.
Stored in envelope: 13” x 5 ½” x 1 ½”.
Retail price: $1250, plus shipping, handling and insurance.
The stitched images are from drawings I executed between 1987 and 1991 while living in California and Utah.
The embroidery and the original construction were executed between January and May 1996.
The following materials and techniques were used to create Bliss of Growth:
hand embroidery, silk and cotton sewing and embroidery threads, silk, linen and cotton fabrics, hand & machine sewing, photocopies of the designs used to transfer lines for stitching, photographs of my original drawings on which the embroidered imagery is based, philatelic mounts, rag board.
Storage envelope: cotton fabric, hand and machine sewing, heritage linen lining, ribbon, cotton gloves. Display includes rotating lazy-susan, to facilitate touch-free viewing.
This particular book format with a small embroidery and information on each pair of pages was a prototype work for future, complex, long-term work dealing with the health odyssey I’ve been traveling since the early 1980s.
Bliss of Growth provided the opportunity to explore structural and material possibilities and problems before embarking on more complex work.
The structure and construction process of my second embroidered book, A MORNING PRAYER, grew out of learning from the Bliss of Growth structure and construction. I liked the second construction so much that I de-constructed Bliss of Growth (originally made with heavy folded paper) and applied A MORNING PRAYER construction concepts to the re-construction of Bliss of Growth. The use of fabric, acid-free board, and machine and hand sewing feels to me very comfortable, functional, intimate, and long-lasting.
Bliss of Growth has concurrent meanings which reflect my growth as an artist:
- the use and development of design processes in my own work and in my work as an art educator; and,
- the concept of the process or the experience as the goal, rather than a finished embroidery.
ACCEPTANCE: the aspen contours and sunprint contrasts never cease to intrigue.
ACCEPTANCE and BLISS OF GROWTH are two of several embroidered books currently available. Eventually I will have more works available through our website. In the meantime, if you are in the area, please click here to contact us to schedule an appointment to visit my studio-gallery.
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