“Cool Void,” an Art Quilt

When I finished Warm Void I was left with many leftover cardboard squares and a good length of the thicker synthetic netting. I really liked the contrast between the chunky solid squares and the smooth, transparent netting in that piece, and wanted to explore it further, bigger.

During one of my FabMo shopping sprees I found lots of gorgeous blue textile swatches, and decided to use those for the next piece.

I cut the swatches up into squares. In Warm Void I attached only one square on top of the shoddy background, but this time I wanted it to be more interesting, and also more layered (thus a little more three dimensional). So I cut up squares in two sizes: big squared to attach to the background, and small squares to sew on top.

Even though I liked using my shoddy blankets for Warm Void (and even though I still have a LOT of those left!), I decided to use black felt as the background of the new piece. It seemed to go better with the black nettings, and was also a better contrast to the blue swatches I chose.

Instead of the running stitch I employed in Warm Void, I embroidered a big, crocked # at the center of each square, drawing lines with embroidery thread. 

I enjoyed the slow accumulation of similar-yet-different units. Each square looked a lot like all other squares, and yet was entirely individual. Like everything in nature.

I mounted the sewed squares onto the cardboard pieces the same way I did in the previous piece. Holding the individual squares was very satisfying!

After much play, I decided to once more arrange the felt squares in rows. This time, though, I chose to put each row on a separate strip of netting. I cut the netting length-wise, to get narrower strips, and then cut the strips again into four strips, each of a different length. Over several days, I arranged and rearranged the squares on the strips, trying to get a good balance and distribution of colors and textures. Then there were a few more days or trying to decide how to order the four strips. There were many possibilities, and each version looked different.

Eventually I settled on an order. I decided to mount the strips onto a slate of wood, something I haven’t done before. Luckily, my husband always has some leftover pieced from his own projects, and he helped me find a suitable one and even cut it up for me to the right length. I painted it black to go with background and the netting, and stapled the strips to it.

Two strips lie on the back of the wooden slate, in direct contact with the wall. Two I draped over the front of the wooden slate, so they are about half an inch away from the wall. The result is a gentle 3D-ness, best seen up close, with a delicate play of shadows and movements.

I called this piece “Cool Void,” for its cool colors and floating effect. Although it shares a name, materials and technique with Warm Void, however, I do not see the two pieces as belonging to one series, the way some of my other works do. There are lots of similarities, but also a very different feel. Cool Void is a piece all on its own, quite different from anything I’ve made so far.