I Work With Intention by Barbara James

My work is informed by the lush landscapes and historic character of my home in the Lowcountry of coastal South Carolina. When I am thinking about a new piece, I look around and see many possibilities. Before beginning, I often take photographs and may even do some additional reading or interviewing about the subject of my piece.  I then start to work letting the materials guide me in an intuitive manner. 

 This year’s Art Cloth Network juried exhibit theme,” Intersections”, inspired me of make art works informed by the Rails to Trails Conservancy, a national system of connecting trails used for biking and walking. 

The Beaufort, South Carolina section of the trail is called the Spanish Moss Trail with 10 miles of trail that have repurposed the former Magnolia Rail Train Line, rich with history and local color.  I took photos of buildings and foliage along the path, a small portion of the railroad bed that can be seen intersecting it and sections of the new paved trail.

The selection of materials proved a challenge, but that came together when I found some artifacts and dove into my stash of vintage fabrics and trims. I determined that the materials needed a historic appearance that could to achieved by wrapping fabrics and vintage handwork around rusted objects found along the trail and in the foundry where the metal was smelted to build and repair the track. The fabrics and handwork were then tea dyed. 

 I worked in small sections and hand stitched the pieces together with scatter stitches and French knots. This not only connected the pieces, but added interest and helped tell the story. I mounted the piece on white cotton and continued to stitch in an intuitive manner.

Here is a photo of the completed piece.

                                                            Rails to Trails 1

                                                            18.5"W x 14"H

Here are some detail shots.

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Creation of Living Bricks: A 3-D Work

 On Christmas day 2022 a pipe froze flooding our newly remodeled condominium, leaving us homeless. I was devastated. Yet one week later on New Year’s Day as I walked along Church Street in historic Beaufort, South Carolina I came upon an old brick wall. It was alive with moss, lichen and tiny ferns, one brick so different from the next. I decided to make a fabric brick wall. I discovered some wooden jewelry/treasure boxes on line that were the size of bricks. I then covered the boxes in batting and hand dyed and painted fabrics. Embellishing each brick was fun using nylon netting, Tyvek, wool roving, cheesecloth with lots of stitching with embroidery floss. I then played with arranging the bricks to form the wall. 

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The Fabulous Gold Embroidery of Spain by Barbara James

On a trip to the Andalucia region of Southern Spain I was struck by the dazzling and intricate pure gold hand embroidery on garments. This opulent “gold work” is often used on the bull ring garments of the matadors and the vestments of the Roman Catholic church. The method employed by the embroiderers, to decorate these garments, is called couching. Precious gold treads are laid onto the surface of the fabric and then secured with silk embroidery thread in a satin stitch. These couched gold threads can cover larger motifs and backgrounds and makes quite an impact to the viewer. 

 
Embroidered pant leg on a matador's garment

                                    Two opulent pieces from the Roman Catholic church

 

A Special Find at the Austin Meeting by Barbara James

This year Art Cloth Network met for our annual meeting in Austin, Texas and I made a delightful discovery right outside the door of our hotel. Greeting me and my fellow members was a patch of prickly pear cactus and riding their backs was a very special insect in the natural dye world, the Cochineal. Cochineal is a tiny, white scale insect that sucks sap and lives exclusively on this type of cactus. Because of its lifecycle, it is very exclusive and does not spread to other areas, so here was the patch and it will stay put making it a rare find indeed.

                                 Here is the photo of the prickly pear I took in Austin, Texas

 

Why was I excited about this bug? The Cochineal scale insect is used to produce a valuable red dye that is still used in some parts of the world. When you squish one of these insects in your hand it stains it red or purple depending on the acidity of your skin. The dye industry will use an acid or a base to fine tune the desired color.

 

 A dye master in Oaxaca, Mexico shows red colors produced by the Cochineal Insect

Oaxaca, Mexico still grows and harvests the insects and the gorgeous red color is greatly treasured. Here in the US, we have a variety of the insect that produces a red color, but it is often not as vibrant as that found in Mexico. Did I squish a bug to discover the depth of red color? No, I did not have the heart, but photographed it instead and am also offering in this blog photos from a trip to Oaxaca five years ago where I first encountered the insect. 

The reds in these rugs was made using the natural Cochineal 

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