Sun Series #1

Sun Series #1

Saturday, March 25, 2017

Where Have I Been?!

"When Night Comes Before Day"
11 x 14"

"Quilt Study no. 1"
8 x 10"

"A Home is More Than a House"
9 x 12"

I haven't posted in a while.
Sometimes 'life maintenance' takes over.
We spent a week painting the kitchen which involved renting a scaffolding, some colorful language and a bit of worry about accidents on my part.  But it is done.
The kitchen hadn't been painted in about 14 years and at our age, we figure we won't be doing it again ourselves!

The above pieces will be in the Textile Art Alliance show at the Beachwood Branch of the Cuyahoga Library.
"Quilt Study no. 1" and "A Home..." are new from my deconstructing of older quilts.
I am trying to eek out as many ideas and ways of working with the deconstructed quilts as I can.
These are works the preceded the two "Anonymous" pieces that I wrote about earlier.

One is more like a painting and the there is still much more attached to the quilt world.
But both investigations got me to the "Anonymous" series.
I am at work on a third piece for that series.
So it is off to the studio for me today!

Sunday, March 12, 2017

Anonymous #2

"Anonymous (times two)"
mixed media collage on canvas
30 x 36"

detail

detail

I am having so much fun with this new series!
It is good to be working this large and combining media and techniques that I really have an affinity for...quilts, paint, paper, stitching, images of women.

www.claremurrayadams.com
https://instagram.com/claremurrayadams

Saturday, March 11, 2017

Women's Work Anniversary 30th Show


"Hard-hearted"
silk organza, plaster, wire

I feel fortunate to have a piece in this show celebrating women's creativity.
One of my "In Her Closet" pieces made the cut!
If you are in the Chicago area stop by and see the show.

www.claremurrayadams.com
https://instagram.com/claremurrayadams

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

"Mended"

"Mended"
mixed media encaustic and collage on paper
9 x 12"

Working with an image from a past artwork of a photographed sculpture made of an encausticized
canvas torso, I added paper collage elements, encaustic paint, thread, hooks and stitching to create this
small artwork for exhibit at Peter's Valley Craft Center (petersvalley.org) this summer in their Instructor's Exhibit.
I am so please to be teaching Encaustic on Paper at Peter's Valley this summer!

www.claremurrayadams.com
https://instagram.com/claremurrayadams
petersvalley.org


Friday, March 3, 2017

Transience of Identity


"Anonymous"
mixed media quilt and paint on canvas
30 x 36"

detail

detail

I have finished this piece using a vintage quilt and other collage elements on canvas.
I am pretty happy with it.  This is the kind of look and feel I was aiming for several weeks ago when I started deconstructing two different blue quilts.  It incorporates some pieces from both of the quilts along with a bit of imagery.

The title comes from the idea that the quilt I was repurposing was "anonymous"...I did not know who made it, how old it was, where is came from.  Then I started thinking about the woman who made it and that she also was anonymous, at least to me, because the work was not signed, as is true of many older quilts.

The concept that I am developing with these deconstructed quilts is concerned also with the transience of identity.  That a quilt in one form has one kind of identity.  If I change that by taking it apart, changing the arrangement, adding and deleting elements, painting it and use an unexpected surface for my collaging, then the object becomes something else.  It's identity becomes subject to all of the changes and rearrangements.  I hope it still has emotional content, but the way in which it might now comfort someone is different from the way the original soft quilt did.

www.claremurrayadams.com
https://instagram.com/claremurrayadams






Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Meanwhile...

Sunrise/Sunset (detail)
Original quilt from 1983

Current state of Sunrise/Sunset as I reconstruct the original quilt into these squares

So...since I feel free to deconstruct, cut up. take apart, reconstruct found quilts in order to make new art, I think it is only fair that I am do the same with my own old quilts.

The top picture is a detail of a quilt I made back in 1983 when I had been making contemporary quilts for about 4-5 years.
This quilt was made of commercial, mostly cotton fabrics.  It was machine pieced and hand quilted by me.
Was it hard for me to cut it up?
Yes, a little.  But I had done some other deconstructing of my own quilts, as well as favorite clothing when I was in graduate school.  So doing this is not completely new to me.  What seems to be harder for me is the deconstruction and cutting of the found quilts.  I wonder about the maker, why it isn't signed, why it has been so neglected and uncared for, who owned it originally, was it made for a special occasion or just for necessity.  All of these things make up the identity of that old piece and its maker.

At this point I have a clearer idea of what I want to do with the found older quilts than I do for this 34 year old quilt of my own making.  So I have cut "Sunrise, Sunset" (what a corny title!) into these 3x3" piles of quilt blocks that are like little windows and that have some depth to them.  I have about 55 of them right now and still have some of the quilt left.
My intention is to render the whole quilt into these squares and go from there.
So far the muse hasn't been in attendance for this project, meaning I don't know what will happen to these squares.

Meanwhile I am working on reconstructing and painting a found quilt that has more direction.
Sometimes it is good to have several things going at once.
There is a work-in-progress picture of the deconstructed found quilt on my instagram page: https://instagram.com/claremurrayadams

www.claremurrayadams.com