Thursday, July 12, 2012

Tree of Life

In 2002, I applied for a grant to create a series of quilts about the stories of my ancestors.  My Dad, Robert Eischen, was a story teller, and his tales of growing up from a by-gone time fascinated me.  This is one quilt of three that I created for that series.  I was learning a new technique of photo transfer to fabric to capture the visual capability of film on fabric.  Since the creation of these quilts, I’ve experimented and learned a lot about photo transfer.   Bringing these art quilts out fill me with memories and good feelings.  Here’s a little about the process of creating.


 
The art quilt measures 52.5” x 60.5”.

First a huge tree was sketched on the cotton.  Fabric paint was mixed and painted on the cloth.  When the painting was dry, the art quilt was sandwiched with the batting and the backing fabric and pinned together.  The machine quilting was accomplished with a Bernina home sewing machine with free motion quilting.  Free motion refers to the quiltmaker moving the fabric to create the lines of stitching.  The stitching in the quilting is a design element similar to the finishing lines in a painting.



Four generations, my Grandmother in the center, Mary Catherine Windschitl, my mother to her right, Mary Rose Eischen, my daughter on my lap, Amaliya Rose Eischen, and quilt maker, Mary Lee Eischen.




Photos in the roots are the homes, gardens and barns of my grandparents and parents. The collage of images depicting haying is my mother’s family.  The map shows the lands of my ancestors: Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Luxembourg, and Ireland.


Mary Rose and Robert Eischen, my parents

Photos in the branches are more contemporary.  The little boy is my father and there is a photo of my mother and father laughing together in the upper left as you look at the quilt.  Many friends are represented whom I feel such strong bonds as close as family:  Mary Boutain, Colleen Haas, Jenny Marquess, Kim Hammer, Elle Newman, Inge Chapin, Lyn Horness, Karen Smaby, Brett Helsa, David Syring, and Mitra Emad are some of the friends who are pictured on the quilt.





The little girl pictured with balloons on her head in one picture and making a face like a Mayan statue at Chitchen Itza in Yucatan, Mexico in another picture is Amaliya, our daughter.  And the man smiling with me is Bob Stuber, my dear husband on our wedding day.  Our black and white very talkative cat, Oreo, is part of our family too.






Thursday, July 5, 2012

She, the Stranger



Have you ever felt like a stranger, in a foreign land or in your own skin?  This mixed media art quilt explores some of those feelings.  The fabrics are bright and full of energy.  The design swirls in elliptical patterns.  With the initial look, its brightness and swirling shapes pulse with energy. 


The original piece of fabric was heavy weight printed cotton created for costumes for the 2006 Carnival in Salvador, Brazil.  The bright colored fabrics convey the excitement of Carnival time and parallel the energy of the drummers.  Their rhythmic music was vital and energized.   Dida printed across the top of the art quilt is the name of the performing group of women drummers who wore the brightly colored costumes.  


 
The fabrics cut into 4” x 6” postcard sized shapes for this art quilt become reunited with the grommets and the wire.  This gives an image of cutting apart and coming back together.  It could further reinforce that feeling of being separate, being a stranger.  Everything appears well put together with color and stitches, and yet, is it?

The words stamped at the bottom striping say “stranger”, “stra nger”, “strang er” echoing out the word.  Toward the center of the elliptical energy are other words that may rise up when a person is faced with the unknown.  The haunting feeling is just below the surface—is it real?  Is it imagined?  



A woman was a stranger in another culture.  Real or imaged thoughts, she felt unsure about how to behave and unsure of the ways of a foreign culture.  There is a juxtaposed energy with the brightness of color and the undercurrent of separateness and being a stranger giving a push and pull within this art quilt. 


 
And with that juxtaposed situation, here are some questions to ponder:
How do the energies of familiar and unfamiliar or new come together?  Can they co-exist?  Can unfamiliar be positive?  Have you felt like a stranger?  And if so, how have you come to a new place within yourself to bring the familiar home to your heart?

See more details about She, the Stranger in the Gallery.





Sunday, July 1, 2012

Creative + Practice


Creative +Practice is something that I’ve been playing with since November 2011.  It’s a term that Lisa Sonora Beam designed to allow her put her ideas, images, drawing, articles, in a visual journal to make art every day.  I took her Creative +Practice on-line course to create a beautiful visual journal. 

The class was so interesting and applicable to my work as a mixed media artist that I have been working with it consistently over the past 8 months.  I started with a blank black sketch book that a friend had given me.  Nothing fancy—black cover, bare white blank pages.  


 


It had a transformation over the past months.  A painted cover, pages added, lots of writing, and pockets.





Today is a special day because this sketchbook is complete.  All filled with images, writing, ideas, possibilities for art that may or may not unfold.  It’s a place to put ideas, and keep the flow of creative spirit every day.  One of my biggest mottos is:  “Create every day.”  This method helps me stay true to myself and have a place to put the inspiration as it comes.  And when it is not flowing, I can look here.

It’s a place to add images, articles and things that I may want to refer to in the future.  My new sketch book pages measure 8.5” x 11.  The last sketch book was 5” x 8”. 


  

I will paint the cover soon.  I’m thinking of a salmon type red—a bit softer, though.  Maybe a bit of coral and terracotta…  Hmmm.  It’s fun to have it beautiful to look at the outside too.

Where do you keep your thoughts and musings?  On a napkin from a restaurant, in a sketchbook, in a journal, a moleskin notebook, with lines or blank or graph paper…? Leave a comment, if you have ideas for gathering your creative musings.  How do you do it if you're a poet, a musician, a costume designer, a floral arranger?  I'm curious...



I've added a new gallery named Landscape Quilts.  I'm enjoying looking, photographing, and posting old friends--art quilts that I'd someone to enjoy.







 

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