Lisa Call

Markings #4    ©2006    56"x 55"

Distractions

When I left the workshop in Idaho in October 2005, where I completed the first composition for the Marking series, I was excited about doing more work in the new series.

I was so hyped up about it I decided to leave Sandpoint friday evening after the workshop was over instead of spending the night as planned. I figured I could make the 1150 mile drive back home in a day and half and it would give me all day sunday to work in my studio.

That plan worked out great and I was home by Saturday evening.

Unfortunately I came home to a big mess in my yard from a snow damaged tree. And to top off the distraction I managed to lock myself out of my house as I investigated the mess 5 minutes after returning home, barefoot and with no coat. I spent the next 2 hours at my neighbors watching bad TV waiting for the other neighbors with the keys to my house to return.

That drama was the end of any work in my studio for a while (it took a few weeks to clean up the mess in the yard) and when I returned I worked on my Structures series.

Drawing

Although I wasn’t investigating mark making with textiles I started drawing that fall. I started with objects but quickly graduated to lines. Lots of parallel lines. Pages full of them. You can see my drawings here.

With many months of drawing experience under my belt, in late March 2006 I decided it was finally time to go back and explore mark making in fabric. I feel taking the time to explore pencil drawing before jumping into this series was a good thing. I can’t say I exactly planned it but in looking back I feels right.

Back on Track

I decided to dedicate the entire month of April to an exploration of lines and I designed and constructed the compositions for Markings #2-#10. A fairly significant effort as these are all large pieces. Markings #9 was the only smallish piece.

I find that when I really focus like this, only on the design and composition leaving the surface stitching for later, that I can get into a flow. One pieces follows another and new ideas arrive faster than I can work on them. It was a very satisfying month.

Interestingly my blog posts from April 2006 give absolutely no clue I’m working on these pieces. Just like now I am writing nothing about what’s happening in my studio (I’m working on the surface stitching for Structures #72 and #73). I think it’s rare for me to discuss my current studio work. It needs to incubate for a while before I find words for what I’m doing.

Markings #4

In Markings #4 I was playing around with the values of the thin lines. In the top of the piece the lines go from light to dark and back light again. The bottom half is reversed.

 
Detail of 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: