Lisa Call

Markings #7    ©2007    64"x 72"

Markings - Artist Statement

A while back I posted my first pass at an artist statement for the Markings series. Here’s the latest version that I’m using for the show: Markings: Repetition and Pattern.

I began drawing in 2005 and was quickly fascinated with cross hatching. I dispensed with drawing objects and became obsessed with drawing pages of closely spaced parallel lines in abstract patterns. I love the quality of the hand drawn line and wanted to capture the beauty of basic marking making in my textile paintings. The Markings series is a result of that investigation.

The series refers to the comfort humans derive from repetition. We are soothed by the well known patterns that result from duplication: telephone poles in a line, a grouping of trees in a forest, our unchanging daily routines. The artwork also raises the question of how we handle the unforeseen, a break in the pattern. Disruption is often inevitable, no longer making it unexpected but part of the pattern itself.

Artist Talk

Today is the artist reception for the show up in Boulder [links for parking and directions are on my website here]. I spent yesterday evening baking cookies for the event. I love baking and it seemed like a good way to relax before my artist talk today. First time I’ve ever given one but the word of the year is courage so I decided to give it a try.

Starting today and running over the next 14 days I’m going to post the images of the 15 pieces of artwork in the show. I’ll follow it up with installation images, so those of you that can’t make it will be able to see it virtually.

I’d send you each some cookies but wordpress doesn’t have that feature yet.

Markings #10

I decided to start with the piece on the show postcard. If you click the image you can see it in better detail. This is one of my favorite pieces in the series. It feels very Colorado to me - tree trunks and blue sky.

Here’s a detail of my usual very close parallel line surface stitching:

Markings #14    ©2007    35"x37"

 
One time consuming aspect of being an exhibiting artist is the need to supply an artist statement explaining the artwork. While I’ve heard many artists bristle at the need to write/supply such a statement I have learned to enjoy the process. I figure this is yet another chance for me to engage the viewer.

Spending 2, almost 3, years writing about my work on this blog I’ve found it much easier to write an artist statement. Writing is definitely a learned art that I’m just beginning to understand, but I’m better than I was 3 years ago. I consider these to be some of the biggest pluses of blogging: both the writing skills and the better understanding I have of why I make the work I make.

I’ve been exploring my Markings series for 2+ years and have only exhibited work from this series 2 or 3 times so I’ve managed to avoid the need for a specific artist statement.

Until now.

One of the juried shows I entered asked for one, and they wanted it asap for the show catalog they are printing. So last night I sat down and pulled together my thoughts on the series and came up with the following as my first pass, which I emailed to the organizer last night.

Studying the effect of closely spaced parallel lines, known as cross hatching, in my abstract pencil drawings led me to experiment with drawing lines with fabric. Looking to capture the beauty and quality of a hand drawn line in a different medium, the work is a translation of basic mark making into textiles. The Markings series investigates both straight and lyrical lines, both tightly spaced and with a more open figure ground relationship.

The works in this series evoke the comfort humans derive from repetition, a well known pattern. They also raise the question of how we handle the unexpected, a break in the pattern. Disruption is often inevitable, no longer making it unexpected but part of the pattern itself.

Color is of primary importance and is combined, intuitively, in unexpected ways, employing a unique palette of cotton fabrics I hand dye. Extensive stitching adds rich texture to the work by echoing the composition underneath or by creating a complimentary secondary pattern on the surface.

It can take weeks or months to make a single textile construction, as the individual elements in the composition are freehand cut, one at a time, without a pattern. They are then placed onto a flannel-covered studio wall, where I work improvisationally, planning as I construct. The design continues to mature as the lines and shapes are manipulated to be fit together.

 
I will be having a solo show of this work in February and will revisit this hastily written text beforehand but it’s a start.

I’m thinking about including some of my drawings in that show also, I just need to figure out how to frame or otherwise present the work on paper. I never frame/mount/etc my textile art so this is a new scary area for me, as in I don’t have a clue how to approach it and it sounds expensive. I should find out if they will let me just pin the paper to the wall, not likely given their wire/hook hanging system but I should at least ask.

These are the drawings that inspired the Markings series:

Plains #4    ©2006      11" x 8"

 
Also see Plains #5, Plains #3, Plains #2, and Plains #1

 
The work at the top of this post, Markings #14, was completed earlier this year. I have to admit it did not photograph well, not sure why, I’ve tried a few times and it still looks dull and out of focus (the raw image is in focus) - I couldn’t figure out how to fix it. Maybe it’s the contrasting colors of the stitching, or the vibrant colors next to each other. Or more likely my complete lack of photography skills. It looks much better in person.

This detail shot captures it’s true colors:

I had been hoping to ease back into life this week but then reality hit. Missing a week of work when I was already behind didn’t make for a relaxed return to the cubes the last few days. I really needed to work tonight to try to catch up but instead I had to package my work for the two blogger shows and print out my pages for the gallery book.

Normally this job would take 2-3 hours but since I decided to no longer use the word quilt as the noun to describe my work it took some time to reword my artist statement and bio. I did a quick job of this but I need to revisit both of these docs and update them as it’s been a few years and they feel a bit boring. My bio certainly puts me to sleep. I need to think of something interesting to say other than “Lisa was in some shows in some cool places”.

Then I decided to spend a couple of hours creating new thumbnail pages to include (my old ones were very out of date and had a different header than the rest of my materials). First I tried to do it in photoshop but I don’t really know how to use photoshop so that didn’t make for quick work so I switched to microsoft publisher. I used to edit a newsletter and vaguely recalled how to use publisher and after a few false starts I remembered enough to hack something together. Publisher does some funky things with the colors but it looks pretty good.

One of the advantages of making textiles is the ability to roll up the artwork and ship it off in a tube. In theory this saves the artist a lot of money in shipping costs but now days I don’t think it’s possible to ship anything cheaply.

It cost me $14 each way to ship a small 15" square 1.1 pound piece to New York in a very small tube. Not exactly a bargain. Although it is only $24 each way to ship a 48" x 64" piece to Pennsylvania. I suppose a painting of that size would be considerably more to ship so I shouldn’t complain. Although $80 in shipping for these 2 shows - ouch.

Everything is finally packed up and ready to send tomorrow and I should have headed to bed but decided I could just go to work tired tomorrow since all of my coworkers came to work tired and grumpy today after staying up late to watch the Rockies win the National League Championship last night. I guess this means the Rockies are off to the superbowl World Series. I didn’t even know they were playing last night - something I probably should not admit.

 
The above photo is another plant photo from my dad’s yard in Arizona this last spring.