Pattern Fusion No. 9

In 1969 I began to use recycled materials in my fiber art when I found a spool of silver Lurex in a Los Angeles yarn shop. Lurex is a metallic film designed for the tobacco packaging industry. Researching fiber art history I found that in the thirties and forties, a weaver named Dorothy Liebes used Lurex to make functional designs and patterns for the home decorating industry. Her colorful pieces inspired me to take Lurex in an aesthetic direction constructing loom woven fiber sculptures. In 1971 while at Cranbrook Academy of Art and in 1974 in Kentucky new types of recycled materials were available to me. Some of the materials were automobile Mylar, 35 mm microfilm, battery cable, army webbing, laundry tag paper, and punched computer tape. Through sampling and combining these materials became art fabrics to research at the University of Kentucky. This creative research included loom weaving, machine stitching and interlacing processes. Early successes using these materials and processes, as the selection of my Cityscape No. 1 art quilt for the Museum of Modern Art, NYC collection (gifted by Jack Lenor Larson) encouraged more investigation with recycled materials. Since 1975 my concepts have included a visual vocabulary of the sky, water, city, and landscape; issues of American politics; domestic and international terrorism, and the total nuclear threat. More recently, my ideas encompass the new millennium, the cosmos and my spiritual path.

In 2004 a new art quilt series was conceived which is titled PATTERN FUSION. These developing permutations return to textile patterns of traditional basic weave formats and exploring quilt motifs using recycled materials for the vertical and horizontal elements. Recycled 35 mm microfilm has an innate graphic pattern. The addition of various colored Mylar, machine stitching, embroidery, and layers of netting creates several fused patterns when these materials are joined together by interlacing. Some of the results are subtle and others bold. In addition, a kinetic quality is created from the surface texture of the Mylar and film elements that respond to ambient light and with the movement of the spectator when viewed close-up and afar. Several pieces from this new series have received recognition through invitational exhibitions and juried into international, national, and regional exhibitions, and receiving awards, commissions and sales.