The Necessity of dyeing

It has been many weeks since I've had more than a few hours to spend in the studio, designing, dyeing, thinking, or really doing anything more than what one can get accomplished when the brain is rushed and split. So this past weekend, though I had many other family obligations, I played hooky and spent my time in the basement. Not feeling inspired to work on the pattern, I was more energized for some dye time. After looking through samples of green fabrics I've done in the past, I opted to do a light to dark gradation with avocado.

I was not pleased with the lightness of the first three that I've decided to over-dye them with old mixes of lemon yellow and avocado.
My favorite piece had the most black and it led to a tangent of sorts...

To me, this reminds me a bit of stained glass, and it reminds my husband of x-rays. Either way, I like the results so much I decided to attempt to replicate it in other colors, though I don't expect to use them in the project I'm currently working on. If they come out, perhaps I'll share those later.

All photos copyright Katrina Kouba Boles

Quilt National 2011

I have been going to Quilt National since I was a Fibers major in college. It's typically a wonderful collection of art quilts and since it only comes around every other year, it has always been worth the visit. In 2009, however, I was really disappointed. I started to realize that it was more of a collection of work from the same artists year after year. And I remember really only liking a few pieces. So this year I was a little hesitant about it, but knowing that the judges change every time, hoped that it would be another show like the year when Tim Harding was a judge, and around every corner were pieces that were just gorgeous.

A couple of weeks ago I went to see Quilt National at the Foundry in St. Charles, MO. And I realized that I enjoyed the show partially because one of my favorite pieces in the show was done by one of the judges: Nelda Warkentin. Her piece, Meadow Pine 2, drew my eye from far away and never failed to impress on close-up:

This is not the first of her pieces I've seen in person, but I love it! Go see more of her work on her website! Other favorites included: Katie Pasquini Masopust's "Con Brio - with Spirit", Carol Goossen's "The Conversation", Pauline Verbeek-Cowan's hand-jacquard "Silk Roots", Carol Watkins' "Reflections on Duality" (more because of the message than the actual piece), Mary E Stoudt's "Equilibrium", Pat Pauly's "Pink Leaf 2", and my absolute favorite... Kate Themel's "Dandelion":

If Quilt National comes to your town, I highly recommend going to see it!! If not, you can buy the book and check out the whole collection that way.

Glacial Recession: the start of a project

After the talk by Mindy and an extended discussion over lunch - I think she's got such brilliant ideas I couldn't help but be a sponge, soaking up all her beautiful thoughts and words - I knew that it's time to get back to my personal projects. Fortunately, there's a piece that I have been wanting to start for some time now. I first wrote about it on LiveJournal nearly two years ago. And though I've done a small "sample", I never started the big piece. Well, that ended this weekend. I thought I'd share my original thoughts...

Written Nov 12, 2009:

That's the name I just came up with for my previously titled "Alaska piece". Yeah, I'm terrible with names, but for some reason, "Glacial Recession" just came to me. I then started picking apart why that would work as a title and here are my thoughts:

This piece is the beginning of a series of work about the natural environment and how we humans are impacting our world/planet. I decided to start with a landscape from Alaska because I began reading a book called Field Notes on a Catastrophe, where the journalist author began by talking about permafrost and glaciers. Also, I decided to start here because my 4 day backpacking excursion in Alaska left such a resounding impact that I've failed to use it as inspiration for anything yet because nothing can ever measure up to the breathtaking beauty and the life or death situations in which we found ourselves. I am incredibly blessed that I have had the opportunity to walk on a glacier, and drink the freshest, cleanest, naturally cold water the earth can provide, straight off the glacier as it flows into the teal-blue crevasses. I would presume not many people can say they've been there, done that.

My first view of a glacier was at Glacier National Park in Montana, so far, my favorite of the national parks. But truly for where we were able to go during our stay at Glacier did not bring us near to any glacier, rather we saw the remains of the glacial recession. And what spectacular monsters those glaciers must have been. It's almost sad that I am no longer shocked to learn that scientists are proclaiming an even shorter life span for these sheets of ice, and the belief that a park named for the glaciers will no longer be home to glaciers in a number of years - probably in my lifetime. So these two trips, with their amazing vistas that can't even be remotely captured by camera, have inspired the beginning of a series of work about the environment.

Another thing that interests me about this title is that it includes the word "recession", one that we have heard so often in the past year, that it has become part of daily speak. Everyone seems to be afraid of this word. My response is that it could be a good thing. Why? Technology has advanced far beyond our ability to use and implement our own advancements. I mean, my goodness, you buy a computer brand new and it's already out of date, what kind of sense does it make then to buy a computer? So, as a society we may be advancing our technological achievements, but we don't seem to be implementing them very well. Sounds to me like a perfect time for society to slow down and develop new jobs that do implement the technology that will help save us from destroying our planet. For example, we have the ability to stop pollution and slow global warming by using technology, but the cost seems too high. I ask, but what is the cost of destroying the world in which we live? So, I hope that our decision-makers, law-makers, and the wealthiest nation in the world can implement new energy-saving and environment-saving technologies so that we can also slow the recession of the one thing we cannot re-create: our natural, beautiful world.

Finally, it's intended to be a thought-provoking, inspiring work that helps the viewer to stop and look inward into oneself and question. We should question what we do that makes an impact. We should question why we choose not to step out and observe the beautiful world we were blessed with. And I think we should question our own existence. How are we part of the cycle of life and not just the damaging spoke in the wheel that ruins everything it comes into contact with?

Stained glass or textile?

I think one of the reasons I'm really drawn to hand-dyed fabrics is how closely they tend to resemble stained glass. What if the two could be somehow fused into an idea? Dye a slightly transparent fabric and then cut it up and section it with black edging so it resembles glass? Would one go so far as to put it inside glass? Anyway, some lovely inspirations of stained glass:

"Fire Window" at Central DuPage Hospital, Chicago by Kessler Studios

"Ruah Window" at Central DuPage Hospital, Chicago by Kessler Studios

 St. Thomas More Newman Center, Missouri by Elizabeth Devereaux

Chateau de Notre Dame, New Orleans

 

Sainte Chapelle, Paris

Quilt Artist Diane Chaudiere

I first came across Diane Chaudiere in the April/May 2010 issue of Quilting Arts Magazine and was immediately drawn to this image:

Diane Chaudiere, "Hide-and-Seek", 20" x 20" x 1"

photo copyright Diane Chaudiere

She beautifully captures the natural environment in 3D with her beautiful textile work, as well as being a successful graphic designer. Personally, I love the photo-realism and texturization that these works envelope. Images of nature, be they photos or other arts, can make me think of the environment and natural world.

 Diane Chaudiere, detail "Life's Ebb", 16" x 22" x 1.5"

Environmental concerns, while they have been a small focus of my life for a while, have come to the forefront and started speaking to me in a way that makes me re-imagine my future. I'm believing now that my values need to align with my work. Reading Yvon Chouinard's book Let My People Go Surfing solidified my desire to work for Patagonia as well as my desire to align my environmental values with all of my life. This book is fascinating and I would highly recommend it. Here's a quote near the end of his book:

"Nature is constantly evolving, and ecosystems support species that adapt either through catastrophic events or through natural selection. A healthy environment operates with the same need for diversity and variety evident in a successful business, and that diversity evolves out of a commitment to constant change." - Yvon Chouinard, p 256