Within the artwork - a journey
Interesting artwork gives the viewer someplace to go.
The images may trigger memories or imagination; then the journey will take place inside the viewer.
The images may be created in the picture plane in such a way that there is a journey to be taken within the artwork itself. The artist can take the viewer from the point of entry around the composition to whatever is most important.
It’s exciting (and sometimes powerful!) when a piece of artwork can stir up both kinds of journeys.
Last weekend at the Fall Festival of the Arts DeLand I included this art quilt in my display, so I had a lot of time to look at it closely, and to listen to people who were experiencing it for the first time.
“Sometimes you Can’t See In” Art Quilt
At first glance this composition is both static and flat. The houses are child-like and two dimensional, and they are pushed right up to the foreground. Where can you go from there?
In this work, the answer is to go inside, to look through and to look beyond.
I began this work with the background, stenciling the trees by sponging the paint loose and wet. It creates a sense of distance.
Then I built houses filled with images that portray depth.
Water
Objects seen through windows
Semi-transparent house shapes, in front and behind.
Then, just as you are being drawn into the layers, the boarded-up window says “Stop.”
The viewer almost needs to take a step backwards.
And that’s what the work is about.
My hope in creating this quilt was to create a visual metaphor for memories of home. They are deep. Complex. Varied. Interesting. Arresting. Overlapping. And sometimes obscured.
I’ve been thinking about how a viewer moves in and through an artwork as I’m developing ideas for what I might concentrate on in the studio in the months ahead. I have some ideas cooking.
As the ideas evolve, I want to keep in mind the importance of the viewer’s journey.
. . . . .
If you would like more information about the quilt “Sometimes You Can’t see In,” it’s on my website HERE.
For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating
Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi
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