Homework #2: Make a fiber “painting”!
For your next homework project, I want you to consider another way your dyed fabrics can be presented, specifically, as “paintings” stretched around wood supports like canvas is before the paint is applied.
Your dyed fabrics will have a very different sensation living in the world as paintings than they do living in the world as banners/flags or quilts and I want you to better understand the variety of methods of presentation you have at your disposal so that you can choose the one that best suits your ideas.
For this homework assignment we will all explore the idea of making a fiber painting.
I have distributed wood stretcher bars for a work that measures 12" x 16" for your paintings and will demo the stretching process during class time during week 12.
Your fiber painting could be constructed from fabric scraps patched together, or your could dye a new piece of fabric specifically for this project. This project could also incorporate other materials besides dye, such as beading and embroidery or acrylic paint. If you plan to do any beading or embroidery, I would suggest you do this before you stretch your fabric around the wood supports. Any painting you might want to try doing over your dyed fabric could be done after the fabric has been stretched. Please feel free to ask any questions if you are unsure of what the best order to do for your project processes.
Plan to have your completed fabric painting stretched and ready to be critiqued at the start of classtime on Thursday, November 16th.
Images above, from top:
work by artist Liz Collins, on view this past summer in Los Angeles at Luis De Jesus in her solo show “Staring at the Sun”. You can ready more about the show linked here.
The process to stretch your fabric painting starts with having the size of wood supports you need. If you want to make a bigger painting than 16" x 12", this is okay with me, but you will need to purchase your own wood supports for this. (You can buy them in all different sizes at MC Art!)
The next two images show other aspects of the fabric stretching process. We will go over this process together next week during class….
