I am interested in translating movement to cloth. I take my inspiration from music and dance. This is a very broad subject so I needed to narrow my focus. My brush idea sprang to life while watching a Dale Chihuly video. He stands over his large paper and uses household brooms to apply his paint. What a wonderful way to apply movement and physical action to my artwork. I began using various brush marks that I make while listening to different types of music. I use commercial, found and hand crafted brushes. A few of them are shown above.
Here, you can see an example of these marks. In this piece, Continuum I, I was listening to the Bach Suites for cello. I placed the brush marks directly on the hand dyed fabric using black textile ink and a small wisk broom.
Another one of my favorite tools is soy wax, brushed on a 24" x 30" silk screen and also directly on the fabric.
The results after multiple layers of dye printing.
In my most recent work, I am exploring layering. One set of brush marks, made on one piece of fabric, inspired by one piece of music, and another set of brush marks, inspired by a different piece of music printed on a sheer fabric. This gives me the ability to combine multiple layers of brush marks and music. Like the notes on a music score, the possible combinations are endless. What is your creative rhythm and how do you get there?
