Horizon is about the evolution of our planet. We begin on the right with the softness of spring, blooming flowers and a sea of possibility. When Mother Earth was young, there was so much promise.
Today, we’re in a time of darkness, but is it truly all dark? The center reminds us that despite a darkening sky fringed with hints of fire, there is still light. the yellow shores represent the bright pieces of hope within our modern times.
We finish on the left with an expanse of lush growth and layers of grounded fire. Mother Earth releases the complexity that has been in favor of Simplicity, Passion, and Renewal. This is where we are going, and it is good.
Size: 47.5 inches x 19.5 inches (121 cm x 50 cm)
Materials: Hand-dyed cotton, cotton-polyester thread, wool.
Completed: 2022
Series: NA
Current location: Private Collection
My Thoughts on the Work
This piece began with me looking to put together some of my January Starts into one piece. I was working with landscape and line and abstraction. I aimed to create continuity among the three such that they look like they’re the same size and shape. They are not. There’s an inch difference between each of the three pieces. That presented a technical challenge during the construction on several levels.
The sage green background fabric is one of my hand-dyed pieces. It has a lot of texture, but it’s very low contrast. I chose a brown thread for the quilting in part to help draw the eye away from the size differences in the three center blocks and in part to bring more energy to the background fabric. It felt like a risky choice when I made it, although I think it worked terrifically in the end.
Another element I love about this piece is the three dimensionality I got to play with a little in the middle and right panels. When I made the original three Starts, I’d added a layer of un-seamed fabrics in each. Those fabrics were piece on one edge but not on the others. As I joined the three pieces to the background, some of those edges were caught in the seams, but not all of them. This allowed me to add texture to the finished work.
