The lacemaker
One of the fun things about attending a conference is gathering ideas for new avenues of exploration. One of my fellow artists were entranced by the idea of interpreting a work of art and seeing just how different and exciting we could make it.
Although I have been spending a lot of quality/$ at the dentist, I did manage to get some art work completed. Tackling a challenge tends to distract the mind from physical ailments to some extent.
My fellow artist selected the photo “The Lacemaker” by Vermeer. We both had color copies of the painting to work from. I studied the photo for several weeks trying to come up with an idea that was not just a literal translation from painting to fiber–it would have been easy enough for me to do so but my name is not Vermeer and I wanted the work to read as mine.
I traced around the major shapes in the painting–the crouched upper torso, the face, the hands and a portion of the desk or cabinet and then enlarged them by eye. I then selected fabrics in the general hue and tone of the painting but deliberately chose patterned fabrics rather than solids.
The pieces were cut, hand-appliqued, then stitched by machine.
Next came the cutting apart and mixing up of the pieces. I tried several arrangements until I found one that seemed balanced and that I liked.
These pieces were sewn together; I quilted it in straight lines and backed it so that the edges were clean.
Here are the two completed pieces side by side.
Our next venture will be to interpret a painting by Matisse ‘Woman in a Purple Dress’.
Sylvia Weir Art 