Since 2006 most of my work has been based on digital images, which have been altered in Photoshop and then printed large-scale onto fabric using commercial printers. After printing, I alter these images using transparent acrylic based fabric paints, extensive machine stitching, colored pencils with various collage or appliqué additions as needed. They are then quilted and finished. As well as using the images directly, I am also doing some explorations using the images other ways – for example, by laying the images face down before I start the sewing, or by cutting away parts of the images to reveal other materials, such as felt, underneath.  Examples such as these can be seen in the “Experimental” section.  

By using a digital camera for my initial images, I discover areas of complexity that I cannot or do not see with the naked eye when I draw the same image directly. My training seems to create a veil that filters the image and I automatically unify or simplify the images. I want, instead, to be an active witness to the complexity and interconnectedness of the natural world and to help us be able to participate in that world without fear of that complexity and what initially appears to be “chaos”. I have also tried to create this kind of complex patterning directly by how I manipulate the painted fabric and then building on that.  Again, examples of this are in the Experimental section.

We are part of that natural order of things. At some level we have within us a deep understanding of this order of complexity beyond our rational comprehension. I believe that for us to really understand “our place” in the greater scheme of things, we need to be able to see and stand in this complexity without an instinctive need to control or alter it.

By using this kind of subject matter, I hope to make myself and others more comfortable in this very complex and very changing world while understanding our embeddedness within it.

The truth is in the details !