Studio series: Forgiveness #5

Forgiveness #5 © Karen Thiessen 1999; Photo credit: Julian Beveridge

Forgiveness #5 is part of the Journey Series. The central panel was rusted using the heating grates from my parents' old farmhouse that I "rescued" from the scrap metal bin that dad kept behind the barn. When it was full, he would sell it to the metal recycler. (Hey dad, I only took one!) The farmhouse had gravity heat which meant that the upstairs bedrooms where my brother and I slept were cold in the winter. They were so cold that I would etch pictures on my frost-covered bedroom window. Obviously, gravity was not my friend. The furnace was a giant octopus heated with oil that had been converted from coal. It looked like an alien from Lost in Space.


The other quilt panels were also rust-stained and either dyed with onion skins or stained with blood. The striped fabric on the right edge was once my studio curtain in our first house. The quilt is machine-pieced and hand-quilted. Working to deadline, I quilted the Forgiveness #5 in 24 hours. It is in the collection of Bob and Michelle of Letraset Love fame.

Postcards: Kim Adams

Being married to Kim Adams would be tricky. He collects a lot of strange stuff. I collect a lot of strange stuff. Our home and studios would be chaos. Also, I'm already married. The Bruegel-Bosch Bus is a permanent fixture at the Art Gallery of Hamilton and is located in a light-filled gallery on the second floor. To give you a sense of its scale, that really is a 1960s Volkswagon bus that in its previous life may have been driven by hippies from their commune to attend Woodstock – you just never know. Hey, did you notice that the Volkswagon symbol is upside down? If you happen to be in Hamilton, check out the Bruegel-Bosch Bus. Kids love it and so do I. P.S. If you look carefully through the driver's door, you'll see an X-rated appendage on the driver. Hee hee.

Quotes: Marianne Vespry

Ohne Titel 3 © Karen Thiessen 2009

gothic text

reversed

obscured by

dripping paint

other alphabet

offered

incomplete

pale block

almost

ohne Text

textile square

firmly mounted

crocheted doily

strange bead

sewed to 

surface

spilled meaning

drips 

downward

obscuring

ohne Ende

- Poem by Marianne Vespry in response to Karen Thiessen's Ohne Titel #3

Just Food exhibition opening & talk

Day In & Day Out First Anniversary!

Today is the first anniversary of this little blog! Thank you all for visiting me here. You come from 83 countries, some of which I had never heard of before, so as I learn to blog, I'm also getting a geography lesson. 

Thanks again,

K

Studio Series: Red: Dim sum

Red: Dim Sum © Karen Thiessen, 2001. Photo Credit: Julian Beveridge

Dim Sum is one of my favourite textiles. It is composed of fabrics that I rust stained and then over-painted with screen-printing pigments, plus 14 brass washers. It was influenced by our time living in Singapore where red and gold were auspicious colours, dim sum was served here and there, and old Chinese coins were round with holes in them. The funny thing is that my husband and I rarely ate dim sum in Singapore, since we mostly ate in Hawker centres but now that we are back in North America, we have it most weekends. Our Singapore diet consisted of satay with compressed rice and peanut sauce, Hainanese chicken rice, banana leaf curry, claypot rice, durian, mangosteens, rambutans, lychees, longans, coconut water, and more. Mmm, this is making me hungry.

Postcards: June Clark

June Clark, Dirge 2003, 91.5 X 130.3 cm 

I bought this postcard from the Textile Museum of Canada gift shop years ago and then was pleased to see the actual piece exhibited in the now closed David Mirvish Books. Harlem-born June Clark resides in Toronto. She's a jet-setter, having had artist residencies in Paris, Harlem, and Toronto. Dirge was made from rusted metals that Clark collected. Her original intention was to make a map of the world, but then she realized that the world wasn't going to pot, the U.S. was. You can learn more about Dirge from her video. Like Clark, I have a soft spot for rust.