21 November 2013

paperworks

Doing that album cover art donation for UAS and then taking Lori's workshop right after really got a creative ball rolling!

I've spent the last few weeks working on paper.  Really enjoying the textures, the way the surface takes colour, the torn edges, and also the small size of these works.  With great originality and specificity I refer to this series as my paperworks.

paperworks

I imagine they'll need to be framed to show them... I've rarely framed work so that will be part of the experiment too.

paperworks

Below are some of them pinned up in the hallway for curing, which takes a week or two.  Acrylic dries fast, but also needs to cure or else the surfaces will stick to one another if they are stored for even a short time.

paperworks

These small pieces have been great fun, but now I'm starting to think about working large again...


3 comments:

Russell Mang said...

Hi...it's been interesting to follow your paperworks 'trail'. VERY interesting to see stitching in paper but, in some ways, not surprised. Paper is such a durable ground on which to work...in my U of R days i had the good fortune to have Don McVeigh for a drawing teacher. He was noted for his large scale W/C paintings...i remember listening to him describe how he used an old electric shaver to grind in white areas of a W/C painting!

As for myself, i tried working on canvas, MDF panels, etc but found myself returning to that first love...paper!

Great stuff - looking forward to seeing what comes next.
Russell

P.D. Crumbaker said...

Ah, these are so interesting. There is something about marks made with stitch, that connects. I suppose, as in all things, our responses to art are highly individualized. I can't see a mark made with stitch without thinking of the long line of women who, in solitude and in gatherings both small and large, moved needles in and out of cloth, sometimes out of necessity, sometimes for the pure pleasure of it all. Needle in, needle out.

Verna Vogel said...

Thanks to both of you for your comments on my work.

Russell - that electric shaver thing sounds pretty cool! And, yes, ahhhhh paper... my first 3000 hours were focussed on figurative work done on paper, exploring all sorts of media and techniques. After that initial love affair, I have worked almost exclusively on canvas and wood panels for many years. It is very interesting to re-visit paper, to remember that love.

P.D. - I like your take on the history of stitching. My parents are immigrants, and I never knew my grandparents or any extended family when I was growing up because we were isolated by poverty and other factors. My mom made wedding and bridesmaid dresses when I was a child; I remember the beautiful, precious fabrics she used. Now I too live far away from my family, and sometimes I lament what I perceive as a lack of history in my life - but voila! in my stitching is a connection to history. Thank you for that reminder.

Using very plain and humble materials - raw canvas, old torn-up clothing, even bits of junk picked up at the edges of construction sites! and now paper too - I make things of lasting beauty.

Hmmmm....

:)
V