Size
Markings #4 and Markings #11
The piece on the left is Markings #4 and it is next in line for my Markings quilts to be quilted. If you click on the image you can see the shiny safety pins from the basting in the larger image. The piece is approximately 58" square.
I made Markings #11 with leftovers from #4 and it was completed in 2006 and measures 18.25"(h) x 19.5"(w).
It was interesting to work in the 2 very different sizes and I really like the juxtaposition of the 2 together. I generally work very large (up to 8 feet wide) and I find that I have a hard time working smaller.
I prefer the impact of the larger pieces and when I try to work small I feel I don’t have enough room to say what I want to say. I just completed Structures #67 (photo coming soon) and to me it’s small - maybe only 36" wide - so I’m having a hard time getting excited about it.
I suspect this is just personal preference on my part because we have been discussing the size of work on The Fiber Connection mailing list recently and 36" is viewed by some as a large work. I’ve also had a conversation with Colin and he too prefers to work smaller.
I know I prefer the wide open spaces of the southwest and felt trapped and claustaphobic by the closeness of the trees and greenery in Virginia and New York when I lived there. Maybe I’m just hard wired to want to work large.
What about you? What constitutes a large piece in your artwork? 10"? 50"?
[Update 2-2-2007: Sorry - I had to close comments on this post due to an inordinate amount of spam it seems to generate - I wonder if it was the title!]
Posted by Lisa in: Abstract Contemporary Textile Art
Angela said,
January 28, 2007 @ 2:59 pm
WOW! Your works are beautiful! I bet it takes a long time to piece them together to? Wonderful work! About size….I think you should do what feels most comfortable to you as far as art. Jackson Pollock Perfered larger spaces as well. Of course he did painting and not quilting but if you ask me both are a form of art. :) GREAT WORK!
jafabrit said,
January 29, 2007 @ 6:01 am
I find large canvas’ intimidating and I don’t feel I can do with it what I want. I wish I could work big though. I love the impact of a BIG painting. Big would be anything over 36″. I like small because they are intimate, they draw a viewer in, and I like the challenge of making something small have a BIG impact.
Patty Altier said,
January 29, 2007 @ 12:02 pm
A large format to me is 6′-7′ by 8′. I perfer working in the large format - even my baby quilts are large by most standards 40″-45″ by 52″- 56″. I am working on a series that keeps me working in a smaller format. I have hand dyed a background piece and it is my restraining factor. I usually dye a piece for the background that is the width of the fabric (45″) and then a yard to two yards long. I finished quilting the first piece and I have to say I enjoyed working on a smaller piece. It is about 43″ x 47″.
Patricia Chauncey said,
January 29, 2007 @ 10:35 pm
I am not a quilter but a surface designer and mixed media artist. I am very impressed by your palette and construction. I had a look at your article about dyeing large yardage and was thrilled to see the precarious way that all of the cloth was balanced. Reminds me of my studio.
I have just started my own textile blog. It is only a few days old and I am still trying to figure out the technology. I think I need to watch my spelling or use my spell check.
It is http://www.materialwitness.blogspot.com
Olga said,
January 30, 2007 @ 2:16 am
I believe that size matters a great deal, and is directly related to content. I think of your work as analogous to the colour field painters such as Barnett Newman who aimed to engulf one’s view within their work. I so agree about claustrophobia, and indeed want to use that somewhat in my own work. Like you I have difficulty in some dealings with size, as I wrote about in one recent post - http://threadingthoughts.blogspot.com/2007/01/casse-tte.html
The frustration of not being able to see the real object on a monitor is made worse in the case of relative size. I find that I cannot really make any comparative judgment about your two Markings based on the images - apart from very much enjoying the colour combinations and positions.
Ed Maskevich said,
January 30, 2007 @ 7:58 am
Very nice pieces. There is a quiet earthiness of walking through the woods in late fall/early winter when the trees have shed all their leaves.
Deborah said,
January 30, 2007 @ 10:14 am
More than 20 inches is big for me. I love small. For me, one of the things I love about working small is that I can complete the work more quickly. Maybe that’s a lame reason, but when my life is full of never ending tasks (laundry and dishes), I’ve become practically addicted to the satisfaction and joy I feel with the completion of a small treasure.
The Lone Beader said,
January 31, 2007 @ 3:57 pm
A large piece of my artwork is the truck I’m working on. It is 12″ in length!