Jann Haworth

Thinking about breakfast. Love it!

I am reading the Pop Art Book by Julia Bigham and discovered Jann Haworth the only woman in the birth of the British pop art movement. She is a soft sculpture fiber artist and her work is fantastic! Haworth's father was a set designer in the movie biz her mother a ceramicist printmaker and painter. She grew up in Hollywood and the influence is obvious.

Haworth's sense of whimsey is wonderful and as in all things pop her reference to the everyday elevated to high art with a twist is so well done as seen in her still life below.

I would LOVE to see her work in person.

Little known facts:

Haworth is famous for her collaboration with her then husband Peter Blake on the cover of The Beatles Sgt Pepper's album and in fact one of her soft sculptures is on the cover; a sculpture of her great grand mother rather Whistler-esque quilting with a child on her knee.

I'm in Pieces

Almost three years ago I embarked on the beginning of this quilt. The image of what this quilt would be literally popped into my mind all I know is that I have to make it and follow whatever path it takes me in. I took bits and pieces of it to QSDS and attempted to work on it and with it. I decided on the title through discussion with Arturo Sandoval and other members of the class: The Final Curtain.

I began it about 7 months after my dad died that was 2006. I have worked out some construction issues and design problems since then but I couldn't touch it for a very long time.

I have absolutely no idea about this piece if it is going somewhere or not but I am pieceing strips together and have started the journey. It is slow going one piece at a time.

My Mother's Clothes

I discovered this gem of a tribute to a woman with extraordinary taste in clothes written by her daughter who takes exquisite photographs.

Jeannette Montgomery Baron is an artist a photographer who documents her mother's life through her clothing and in turn helps revive her mother's memory during the course of Alzheimer's disease.

Baron's use of pattern in the back drops of her mother's belongings is beautifully staged. The clothing jumps off the page leaving you wanting to know more about the woman who wore them and want to see them. Some of the fashions are to die for.

Here's an example. Of course I have stars and stripes on my mind.

More info can be found here: http://welcomebooks.com/mymothersclothes/index.html

You can watch a video about the book http://vimeo.com/10119759

What's happened in a Year

It has been about a year since this quilt was on the board at QSDS thought about and stared at. I have continued My Dad's Pad's in a different format in an ongoing exploration of this theme.

Each quilt contains a quote - prescription of something my dad used to say. My siblings and close family friends have been collecting the oft repeated phrases we remember.

When the top was examined at QSDS I was struggling with issues of foreground and background the obvious pointed out to me by Elizabeth Busch who I was studying with. I tend to busyness in my work and in this quilt it was all muddled. This is what I started with.

I wanted the prescription to be the focal point but here all design elements blend together. I knew it wasn't working but the easy solution was not within my grasp. Elizabeth who paints her fabrics suggested toning down the background with paint. I am not a painter well not yet so I went for a fabric solution and trotted down to St. Theresa's Treasure Trove and found some sheer hot pink silk to tone down the background.

This is how I left with it last year a work in progress.

It has been a struggle to get up to speed in my work since my dad died. I finally broke through with a card for the Fiberarts Guild Sleight of Hand 9 of Diamonds. Then I went back to this top worked with transparency and realized that I liked the subtlety and message of the spirits in the background behind the silk. With that in mind the foreground needed more attention. The aha arrived with the thought of my man the leap of faith from a Peter Max sleeping bag particularly appropriate because my family adores Peter Max art which my father displayed in his office. Referring to an idea born in Wish I had a Hammer in this piece my leap of faith man is carrying the Caduceus once again thinking about my dad the eternal optimist.