Thursday, January 6, 2022

Translating text to textiles

Green Lovers - Marc Chagall 


                    Green and blue 
                    First-named of colours believe these two. 
                    They first of colours by men were seen 
                    This grass colour, tree colour, 
                    Sky colour, sea colour, 
                    Magic-named, mystic-souled, blue and green.
                    Later came 
                    Small subtle colours like tongues of flame, 
                    Small jewel colours for treasure trove, 
                    Not fruit colour, flower colour, 
                    Cloud colour, shower colour, 
                    But purple, amethyst, violet and mauve. 
                    These remain, 
                    Two broad fair colours for our larger gain
                    Stretched underfoot or spreading wide on high, 
                    Green beech colour, vine colour, 
                    Gum colour, pine colour,
                    Blue of the noonday and the moonlit sky. 

I’ve been thinking about how to interpret this poem by Lesbia Harford in a textile format. 

The words have the same effect on my brain that the feel of textiles has in my hands.

Can words be tactile? 

Palpable. A synonym of tactile: a feeling or atmosphere so intense as to seem almost tangible. 

I’ve been exploring artists too. 

Modernist Marc Chagall uses a lot of blue and green and interesting vistas and skies.  (The Tate has a great teachers pack for an introduction and a little self-directed learning.) 

A further poke around the Tate online brought me back to Wassily Kandinsky and his inspiring use of colour and line. 


 Circles in Squares - Wassily Kandinsky


I’ve been pondering on how to express this poem in fabric and stitch for a fair while now. I have silk sari strips and threads. A few days ago I found some interesting wire frames tucked away in the garage. They may be just the thing to help create a work that is either flat of 3D – or both?

Not quite a self portrait

Not quite a self portrait
small 8' quiltlet with embroidered hair

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