Found Object Tidal Wave

 

(Above:  Found Object Tidal Wave.  Custom framed: 40" x 40".  Found objects hand-stitched to a section of a vintage quilt.  Too many object to include in a description!  Click on any image to enlarge.)

 

This piece was so much fun to stitch!  I really tried to use as many found objects that I could, especially things that I didn't have in multiples ... especially things sent to me by generous donors to my stash ... things I hadn't yet used.  Like my Found Object Mandalas, this piece gives "second life" to many obsolete and neglected items. It speaks to the abundance of life and the desire to "keep for a rainy day". It is also about finding a bit of tranquility in the hand-stitched process.

 

(Above:  Detail of the Found Object Tidal Wave.)

Yet this piece also addresses another important concern ... pollution in our planet's oceans.  Twelve years ago, I stitched Two Hours at the Beach.  Polluted oceans have been a concern of mine for years.  Plus, I've seen several art exhibits featuring this issue, including the profoundly wonderful show by Duke Riley at the Brooklyn Museum of Art.  It was called Death to the Living: Long Live Trash.   I was truly transfixed on Riley's faux-scrimshaw pieces, artwork made from discarded plastic containers ... many of which were salvaged from New England beaches.  Though these works really looked like scrimshaw and lots of other pieces by Riley are indeed whimsical, there's nothing really funny about trashed coastlines.    

(Above:  Detail of Found Object Tidal Wave.)

Over the years, I've seen television footage of debris left by hurricanes and tropical storms.  I've walked on South Carolina beaches and couldn't pick up all the trash I encountered.  Earlier this year while at Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge in Mississippi, I was also given a bag of fishing lures and floaters ... things caught in trees when fishermen were casting lines.  These memories and lures were important additions to this piece.

(Above:  Detail of the Found Object Tidal Wave.)

So ... stitching this piece is as much about the environment as it is about the rescuing found objects.  It is as much about carelessness in nature as it is about the nostalgia of giving "second life" to vintage objects.

(Above:  Detail of the Found Object Tidal Wave.)

This piece challenged me.  It is the first time I've decided to leave a large swatch of the vintage quilt without any objects.  Because I put a layer of netting over the quilt, I was worried about these otherwise "blank" areas.  I worried that the netting would be obvious.  My solution was to add more quilting lines in six-strand embroidery floss.  It worked!  The netting becomes nearly invisible!  The two layers are united!

(Above:  Detail of the Found Object Tidal Wave.)

Like several of my Found Object Mandalas, this piece is rather heavy.  To distribute the weight, the quilt was stapled to a stretcher bar over which I glued a piece of acid-free foam-centered board.  I then spent hours and hours stitching through the foam-centered board and quilt ... uniting these layers and making sure that no section of the piece is supporting more than a two to three inch square of the whole.

(Above:  The sign in front of our newly purchased church.)

Now ... to show the sign outside our newly purchased church.  This sacred place will become our home and my studio after extensive renovations are made by our contractor.  This past weekend, Steve and I decided to remove the metal sign for the Hispanic Baptist congregation that used the place until 2018.  (After that, the building sat unused.)  We were really surprised to find a slab of marble underneath the metal sign.  My original thought was to order a new metal sign and screw it into the same wooden slats.  Now, however, I'm rethinking the idea.  I really want the place name, Cateechee, to show.  So ... on our next visit we will have a better screwdriver to attempt removing the wooden slats.  Perhaps a smaller wooden frame can be erected so that a smaller, metal sign can to added to cover only the lower words ... something to say Mouse House Fiber Art Studio!

(Above:  The 30' dumpster ... already filled with the debris left in the building, old duct work, older ceiling tiles, and various other "junk" that needs to be removed so that the renovations can more forward.)

We were happy to see the 30' dumpster, the port-a-pot for the contractor's team, and the headway made toward the renovations.  We also met with our architect, JaneAnn Bolin of Wildflower Design Studio.  More measurements were made, electrical plans are underway, and things are really beginning to happen.  Our hope is still to be moved by Christmas!

(Above:  Steve at Blue Ghost Brewery)

Before going to our church, we delivered artwork to the Grovewood Gallery in Asheville and celebrated the day at Blue Ghost Brewery for lunch.  I hope to have more successful weekends like this!