work table : inspiration

This is my first week back full-time in the studio since mid-June, gasp! I was able to squeeze in a solid week here and there but it clearly wasn't enough. There is no time to waste! I've had several deadlines pop up suddenly, all good, but a tad confusing. One of my deadlines included preparing some print ready images of my foreclosure series. Seeing them all lined up made me realize how much more work I have left in this series to make. Which is a sad feeling in one respect but a good feeling knowing there is a focus in my work right now. And where am I going with the next piece?

Hmmm, perhaps the Deep South. I'm looking into the cotton growing/denim making regions of the US. The South has certainly had it's share of foreclosures. I'm orginally from the South, so it's been an interesting journey to see what has happened to the states I once called home which include Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia. What will this quilt will look like? Here are some of my inspirations right now, Japanese boro.

Image from Sri Threads.

Image from Sri Threads.

Image from Sri Threads.

Image from Sri Threads.

Image from Sri Threads.

Lots of great ideas lurking from the past, just calling out to be reinterpreted. I love being in this place in the process. Not sure what's next but excited to experiment.

Foreclosure : Las Vegas Boro, 2011.

I've just finished a new piece in my Foreclosure series, the first Boro inspired work. I've zoomed in on a six block area of a North Las Vegas neighborhood that will be included in my larger quilt piece.

Las Vegas Boro, 2011. Denim and wool on bleached linen.

Doing this gives me the chance to study in detail the backgrounds of these foreclosed properties.

Las Vegas Boro (detail), 2011.

The houses in this area were all built between 2003-4 and most have an average of three to five loans on the property in the six year span of ownership. If you think back to our parent's generation, this would have been unheard of. In addition to trading up, it seems there was a lot of refinancing going on to gain more equity out of the home. As we know, it ended badly.

Las Vegas Boro (detail), 2011.

The back panels represent different blocks with the small rectangles representing foreclosed lots. The darker and more distressed the rectangle, the more times the home has been given notice of default and the higher number of loans on the property.

Las Vegas Boro (detail), 2011.

As you can see there are quite a few per block. Many more to come ...

Inspiration : Japanese Boro

Lately I've been trying to dig up any info I can on Japanese boro. I first heard of Boro via The Silly Boodilly (thank you, Victoria!). Lately, she's been creating lots of boro-inspired quilts too.

Haba Boro, Sri Threads.

It has become a serious influence in my Foreclosure series as you can see by looking at the example below. There's my wool scrim! I actually found this image after I started my first quilt in the series.

Haba Kaya, Sri Threads.

Haba Kaya detail, Sri Threads.

Lately, I'm imagining little mini wall hangings that I can do concurrently since these quilts are taking forever to make! As I delve deeper into the story behind the foreclosures, I'm learning the many ways these homes have been lost: lost jobs, predatory lending, shady lending practices, etc. Oftentimes, homes are bought over and over again by banks, each time reappraising and over-inflating the value of the home.There are so many layers to the process and I want to find a way to show this in a larger scale so I can delve into more detail. Boro would be the perfect way to do this.

Boro, Sri Threads.

Boro, Sri Threads.

Boro, Sri Threads.

I love the blues, the patchwork and the history that surrounds these pieces. The good news is there are lots, lots more of this amazing eye candy at Sri Threads, a Brooklyn textile gallery that specializes in Japanese folk textiles (talk about a niche!) with a frequently updated blog that is definitely worth perusing. And a lot of these are for sale, some of them actually affordable. And here is one of their recent discoveries, boro sakabukuro or sake straining bags.

Stunning, no? They are so inspiring to me. I have so many new ideas just looking at these. Be sure to check out Sri Threads gallery and blog. I just read they are updating their online store January 12th. I'm hoping the sake straining bags will be up and I can afford just one!

I'm going to make a quilt ...

I'm going to make a quilt with my daughter's Kindergarten class! I've volunteered to work with the kids to make an art project for her school's annual auction. It's seems appropriate to do something with fabric so I thought a quilt might be fun. My dear friend, Ines, gave me a beautiful large duvet cover her mother made for her in Germany. I've been holding onto it until I could find a good use for it. The fabric is a beautiful gray with a hint of aubergine in it. I plan to use half for the kids and half for my art. For the quilt, I'm imagining something along the lines of a Japanese boro like this ...

Image from Fibercopia blog.

but with the kids helping by painting their own squares with potato printing. I was thinking about navy paint, but after I saw this image, now I'm imagining something with cream paint.

Image from ebay.

I would love to do a traditional japanese flour paste resist called Tsutsugaki but not sure if we can have that many steps in the process. I start working with the kids at the end of the month and I'll be sure to post some photos of the process as we work on it.

Image from Reference Library.

It won't be ready until February but it will be fun and will hopefully raise some money for my daughter's school at the auction. Wish us luck!