This is an old form of photography which essentially uses sunlight to have a reactive effect onto an image allowing UV light to pass through an image and create the image onto paper or fabric. Feel free to watch the following You tube clip to familiarize yourself with the technique.
I have chosen a contemporary artist who works with both cyanotypes and textiles to create her unique works of art. Karen Molloy and lives in Somerville USA. She likes to explore architectural motifs and remnants of urban decay. Some of her work includes layering with coloured transparencies or fragmented images stitched together to create thought provoking montages.
Karen’s work expresses the basic visual and textural substrate of her life in the city. Each 2D piece or bookwork draws from the textures and rhythms of her life. All photos used are taken by Karen for her artworks. I particularly relate to the processes of her work and her love for creating books as I am a keen bookbinder.
I found this wonderful link on youtube showing a modern take on quilts. Though this can sometimes be seen as an old craft once you look at this link you may change your mind like me. I know think that they are textile pictures. All intricate, expressive and narrative, enjoy.
Since I love drawing especially figurative how amazed I was to find that even in the textile art world artists were interested in the same genre. Check our Irish textile artist Bernie Leahy and some of her wonderful works.
Bernie Leahy has been making fine craft drawings for over ten years. Working from her studio in north Co. Dublin, she creates large ‘stitched drawings’ using a combination of hand and machine stitching, applied directly to the unmarked canvas. The economy of the mark is essential to the success of each piece, which is preceded by an extensive series of drawing studies on paper. The resultant pieces look remarkably like pen and ink drawings but have a rich depth and a uniquely textured surface indicative of the many hours of work spent building up the thread layers. Her drawings usually explore and record a fragment of the human figure, often conveying a fleeting moment in time and the emotions therein. Each drawing is a unique piece but she often works in series capturing a ‘micro-expression’ or feeling in deft thread strokes.
You can also check out her website: www.efiberart.com as it has a wonderful interview with Bernie about her work and artist statements on her methodology in her practice.One of the most enjoyable and fascinating elements of her work is how considered every stitch is. She treats each stitch as a mark and places importance on its position and relevance to the overall composition she is trying to achieve.
Drawn to Stitch: Line, Drawing, and Mark-Making in Textile Art by Gwen Hedley is a wonderful book to read. It covers Leahy's work and many other textile artists.
