Anyway, this is Molly: my little love.
Finishing the edges
The back
The front
Framed, floating about half and inch off the back mat
Kurt: reference part 1 here. Also, don't judge my photographs...
Friday, July 18, 2008
The People We Love, part 2.
I have been pretty sick this week, which is good and bad. On the one hand, I have been sick. On the other hand, I have been out of work for three days and have had time to finish this piece. It feels great. Why do I have to work? Oh yeah, money. Damn.
Anyway, this is Molly: my little love.
Finishing the edges
The back
The front
Framed, floating about half and inch off the back mat
Kurt: reference part 1 here. Also, don't judge my photographs...
Anyway, this is Molly: my little love.
Finishing the edges
The back
The front
Framed, floating about half and inch off the back mat
Kurt: reference part 1 here. Also, don't judge my photographs...
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6 comments:
Now that is see it I totally like her floating. Well, this is great. I mean really you can do no wrong when it comes to making beautiful things. One detail I just notice that I'm really into is the yellow stitch around her body, yes and yes. I really don't have a lot to say as far as a crit goes only because I think that you made all the right choices here. haha right as I type that I noticed a few things...
how am I going to explain this...the corners. the green (hill fabric if you will) corners aren't at an angle...why did you make that decision? I noticed that the outside corners are at an angle and the yellow fabric aren't. would it have been to quilty to put in a whole square corner? yeah that might be lame. The yellow corners don't bother me for some reason but those hill corners bother me.
Lastly, why the matte and frame? was that because you wanted to save this piece forever (as you should, because its awesome)... or was it for the sake of the crit? personally I wan to see some molly action on that bad boy.
want...not wan... sorry lib when I'm off drugs I'll talk more... and use complete words.
hello, hello-i am out of hibernation and am going to attempt to a useful contributer here.....
as i said before-really beautiful work. so simple yet you are able to convey movement and excellent craft without being overly sentimental or charming. you are definitely able to take it beyond a small blanket craft-not just by framing it but with your attention to detail and the colors. for future pieces, i would like to see a lot more space around the child figure. i am even wondering what a complete wall hanging would look like with a wee child in the middle or something-but it would need to be thick with the quilting/batting-not floppy. i am also very interested in the back.....perhaps that could be a separate series-not sure what that would mean but if you feel so inclined.....
so, to conclude-keep on!
Sydney nailed it! Libby, I am so glad that you included an image of the backside of this piece! It is so lovely and I think the potential for the piece to continue, or to exist, on the back...the quilt perhaps then becomes a slice of space instead of a flat tablet on which to create. The stitches carry through, pulling back and front together.
The whole thing is so damn cute, everything is tucked under and I don't think you allowed the fabrics to integrate, they patterns do not really inform one another (repetition is not enough) and really only serve to frame the central figure. Maybe creating her body out of them, fusing inner and outer more solidly. The fabric on which Molly's figure is sewn is great, that black/white hounds-tooth or whatever it is.
I agree with Jamie on the framing. I have been hanging a lot of Native American woven rugs recently and want your piece FAR from any of those "Look! My crafty thing is fine art I promise!!" business. If it is crafty, then let it be. I like it on the chair and on the grass better than in the frame, too simple, too cold; the thing needs to breathe! Perhaps with more compositional consideration it will not need a framing device, you have already created 3 fabric frames within the piece.
The sewing is impeccable, and the yellow stitching that pulls that yellow framing fabric in is quite smart. Lean more on those ideas!! You are a talented draftsman, I like the translation of pen line to sewn line. xoxo.
word.
No, I won't judge your photos, which are fine by the way! You did an excellent job of showing enough details to give us a good feeling of the work, so thanks for being thorough.
You have a wonderful sense of pattern and color. I love the floral print dress, I love the b/w herringbone... that pattern makes her feel like she's descending/ascending/floting... it's great.
As for the drawing of Molly herself-- I really enjoy the line drawing and hope that you keep that around as a potential thing to show in the future as well... it's far from just a sketch, to me, those sort of prep drawings, when done so cleanly, are pieces in and of themselves. It has such a great quality of line, a little vibration and verve to it.
One question/criticism-- did you draw it from a photograph where there were highlights on her arm? Her right arm (our left view) is funky in its form and shape, and that gets even funkier in the stitched version... and to me, it just looks like the places where her arm gets thin are due to bright highlights on a reference photo? or maybe she's just got wonderfully pudgy awkward arms? =)
I agree with others about the framing/presentation... although it's almost impossible to suggest a definitive solution, because there really are so many out-of-the-box ways you could present it. Right now, as it is, it's very elegant, professional, and clean... I like that, myself. But your peers are right, it tends to create a sense of protection, a sense of "look, this is ART, not craft, it's framed like art!" I love the idea of a huge wall tapestry with tons of space, maybe some patterns, and just little Molly floating in the middle. also, I know the round hoop was just for the process of stitching her, but I liked her in it... a bit of an orb, or even a womb reference...
There is a nice sense of sentiment, without the pitfalls of sentimentality. I think you achieved this balance by choosing a moment that is very gestural, very non-sentimental, very mundane... Molly is just sitting, being, not smiling or jumping or doing anything too schmaltzy. Dan has been making me think a lot about sentiment and nostalgia recently, which are two dirty words in most art circles. But yet so much of what we do is so close to our emotions and our sentiments... that's why I think this "People we love" theme was a very good challenge for y'all, and I think you all succeeded in "living in" the tension that sentiment presents.
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