Inspiration

I subscribe to a magazine called  Art in America. 

Sometimes, I will see a work that grabs me. Something about it...

this was about the color, space, and contrast.

I wanted to recreate it in fabric.

The artist is Rico Gatson. I decided to look him up and was surprised at what I discovered about this picture. It appears to be a photograph taken in a gallery. 

This is a sculpture called Magic Stick #15. Behind this is a series of painted wood panels called 

Untitled (Collective Power).

The oddest thing is that no matter how hard I looked, I couldn't find the section in the magazine anywhere in this photograph. Even if I tried to imagine the camera at different angles, I still couldn't find it.

Intriguing.

Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed making this wall hanging. I used only Fossil Fern fabric from Benartex which I felt lent itself nicely to the design..

I found more pictures of Rico's entire exhibition and am inspired to explore this more deeply.

The Phoenix

So here I was with three circles ready to assemble. Although I could have chosen to inset the circles, I decided to applique each one, starting with the center and working my way out.

I knew I would have more control over the 18 points if I did it this way.

When the cartwheels were finished, I started thinking about background fabric. 

This one was a possibility but...

you know how it is....I just couldn't live with it. I ended up with a fabric that I had initially

thought I wanted, and I was happy.

Then, I set out to choose a border. I designed a paper-pieced border, sixteen pieces, and sewed them all.

When I put the pieces next to the quilt, I was horrified. What was I thinking???? 

It was terrible!

I couldn't waste the time I had spent putting the border pieces together, so I arranged them, 

appliqued several circles onto it, quilted it, and.......

there you go!

I'm calling it "Throwing Stones."

When that relative fiasco was over, I decided that this quilt truly needed something very simple to surround it. 

I choose fabric that would pull out the three central colors and finished it.

The Phoenix is done!

Now, off to Barbara Persing for quilting. Yay!!