I decided it was time for some fiber content. And I've got some new stuff to show you.
The studioQ challenge artist for December was Josef Albers. Albers is best know as an abstract artist and color theorist. But he was also a printmaker, poet, photographer, educator and typographer. He came to the US in 1933 from Germany and taught at Yale. His book,
The Interaction of Color, has been in print since 1963. I have a copy of the 1971 edition, and if you don't have it (any edition will do), it is worth seeking out. His work and his use of color are very recognizable and his color theory is very interesting.
Kay chose "Variant: 4 Reds Around Blue," 1948, for our monthly challenge.
Which, as I gazed at it, presented the questions "How do you abstract something that has already been simplified to it's basic elements? How do you abstract an abstraction?"
I try very hard every month to use the inspiration piece as just that, inspiration. I have no desire to copy a painting or sculpture in fabric. Rather, I try to use it as a starting point. So I made a few sketches and came up with this piece.
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| Albers #1, 17"w x 22"h |
Very simple. In fact I thought it was too simple. So I sketched a little more and tried to move it a little farther away from the original.
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| Albers #2, 17"w x 28"h |
I liked the tension/sense of imbalance of this piece, but I still didn't love it. So I moved in a completely different direction. And I added some green. Adding green is never a bad idea, in my opinion.
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| Albers #3, 24" x 24" |
I liked this piece better, but it doesn't look very much like the Albers piece, does it? Perhaps that's the point.
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