Haiku

Around this time last year I was frantically putting the final touches on my latest body of work, ‘one hundred days’, in preparation of opening a new exhibition the following month. The largest quilt, called Haiku, measures about 104″ x 104″ and anchors the entire show not only because of its grand size but also because the remaining body of work was inspired and created around this one particular piece, forming a relationship between all the works.

My process began by writing a piece of haiku poetry each morning and then immediately creating a six inch quilt block from Tula Pink’s City Sampler book, for one hundred days in a row. During this exercise I was inspired to create smaller ‘satellite’ bodies of work which were connected somehow to the initial piece, either by colour or shape or the poetry itself. For example, I created a series of four art quilts that featured the square reduced in size and in a simpler format. The piece in the second photo is called ‘Blessings’ and installed below it is a collection of nine miniature crocheted bowls ready to catch the blessings as they fall.

The second series that I created was a set of nine mini art quilts that featured deconstructed blocks from the initial quilt. I took each singular six inch block and framed it with borders of fabric that complimented but isolated the design, and then hung the nine small quilts in a horizontal line leading the eye toward the larger “Haiku” quilt.

A third series consisted of nine hand embroidered spirit figures mounted on the wall as though floating or hovering in the space, and a fourth series was a collection of paintings on canvas that served as calming meditations.

To complete this exhibition I strived to make a direct connection to the artwork and the words of the poetry, resulting in my writing each piece of poetry onto a narrow scroll of brown paper which was then hung from the gallery ceiling, puddling onto the floor in front of the main quilt. When the exhibition finally opened there was a performance art component to the show where attendees could watch me ‘writing’ the poetry onto a scroll of fabric using my sewing machine.

as always, carol