I realized today that although I joined our little group shortly after Chris formed the blog; I didn't actually ever introduce myself. So, hello! I'm Kit Lang.
I have a process blog "Kit Lang Fiber Art". I make both contemporary quilts for practical use and textile art pieces, which I'll talk about here, now.
I made my first art quilt kind of by accident. I was interested in all the talk about art quilting but had not thought to explore that area myself. Nevertheless, out of curiousity I had purchased a copy of Quilting Arts Magazine and in it, there was an article about Naomi Wanjiku and her string quilts. After reading the article, I dreamt that I made an art quilt borrowing from her techniques, and so the next morning, I went ahead and made it! It wasn't very good , but I was even more inspired to work in the medium. Winter Moon, above, was my second attempt at the medium and I was very pleased.
Next, I decided to try a more abstract piece, which I called The Paths To My Bliss, because when it was done, I thought it looked like a slide of my brain, while I was making.
However, I didn't feel inspired to create in this way again, so I went back to exploring that original form of expression.
This is Passage, a piece in which I talk about the sense of loss I have, having been cut off from my ancestors, historical homeland and history by the slave trade.
I continued to work in this way, refining my technique, and eventually produced another piece, Once, I Was A Child
I had been wondering whether the strong backgrounds in my work were too strong - whether they overpowered the content and obscured the message, and so in this piece I decided to make the background recede. Although this is one of my favourite pieces, I decided that muting the textural backdrop muted the piece - somehow muted the power of the story - and so I returned to working with the the highly textural background, but worked on ways of making the foreground more dominant with both weight of fabrics and the use of theads in the quilting.
In my most recent piece in this method for instance,
called In Love and Hope, I used purple and black threads in the crooks of the branches and black and blackish green in the dark shadows; lighter browns, wine and loden greens in the trunks, and blues and browns on the tops of the branches where they'd be stroked by the starlight. I also added a little metallic accent on the topmost branches of the trees.
As Frauke mentioned in the previous post, she and I are going to working on a sketchbook/journal quilt challenge - and I'm going to be using that opportunity to explore different methods and ways of creating art.
In my first quilt in that series for example, I hand painted the fabric background, hand stitched (which I never do!) and, as you can see, ventured into very different territory.
This little journal quilt above, is as yet unnamed - for now, I'm calling it 3CS JQ 1/52 (3Creative Studios, Journal Quilt 1 of 52).
This is a much "quieter" way of expressing myself, and I'm not sure I'm comfortable with it - I think my voice is more forthright: but this particular challenge for me, is about pushing myself, learning as much as I can, and trusting myself as maker/artist, even if that means I venture into territory in which I'm not paticularly comfortable. After all, though I say this piece isn't speaking in my voice - well, whose voice is it, if it isn't mine? It must be, therefore, another aspect of myself which wants to speak - and if I'm uncomfortable doing so, doesn't art sometimes come from that place of discomfort?
Which is why, as we go forward in the challenge, I'm really looking forward to your input, your questions, your ideas - even your (gentle) criticism. I'll never grow if all I hear is my own voice!
As I work on this project, I'll continue to work on my other pieces. I'm working on a tree series ( I have each of the pieces made in my head), but they are large - the current one is 38 x 52, and so will take a long time to complete, both individually, and as the complete series. "Trees" are definitely something that rates highly on my "highly prized" list.
And, too, I'll continue to work on my quilts for practical use - although I predict the production of those quilts will slow down somewhat as I become absorbed in my art projects!
I'm looking forward to getting your feedback on the journal quilt /sketchbook challenge series, and I hope you'll join us!
Kit Lang
I have a process blog "Kit Lang Fiber Art". I make both contemporary quilts for practical use and textile art pieces, which I'll talk about here, now.
I made my first art quilt kind of by accident. I was interested in all the talk about art quilting but had not thought to explore that area myself. Nevertheless, out of curiousity I had purchased a copy of Quilting Arts Magazine and in it, there was an article about Naomi Wanjiku and her string quilts. After reading the article, I dreamt that I made an art quilt borrowing from her techniques, and so the next morning, I went ahead and made it! It wasn't very good , but I was even more inspired to work in the medium. Winter Moon, above, was my second attempt at the medium and I was very pleased.
Next, I decided to try a more abstract piece, which I called The Paths To My Bliss, because when it was done, I thought it looked like a slide of my brain, while I was making.
However, I didn't feel inspired to create in this way again, so I went back to exploring that original form of expression.
This is Passage, a piece in which I talk about the sense of loss I have, having been cut off from my ancestors, historical homeland and history by the slave trade.
I continued to work in this way, refining my technique, and eventually produced another piece, Once, I Was A Child
I had been wondering whether the strong backgrounds in my work were too strong - whether they overpowered the content and obscured the message, and so in this piece I decided to make the background recede. Although this is one of my favourite pieces, I decided that muting the textural backdrop muted the piece - somehow muted the power of the story - and so I returned to working with the the highly textural background, but worked on ways of making the foreground more dominant with both weight of fabrics and the use of theads in the quilting.
In my most recent piece in this method for instance,
called In Love and Hope, I used purple and black threads in the crooks of the branches and black and blackish green in the dark shadows; lighter browns, wine and loden greens in the trunks, and blues and browns on the tops of the branches where they'd be stroked by the starlight. I also added a little metallic accent on the topmost branches of the trees.
As Frauke mentioned in the previous post, she and I are going to working on a sketchbook/journal quilt challenge - and I'm going to be using that opportunity to explore different methods and ways of creating art.
In my first quilt in that series for example, I hand painted the fabric background, hand stitched (which I never do!) and, as you can see, ventured into very different territory.
This little journal quilt above, is as yet unnamed - for now, I'm calling it 3CS JQ 1/52 (3Creative Studios, Journal Quilt 1 of 52).
This is a much "quieter" way of expressing myself, and I'm not sure I'm comfortable with it - I think my voice is more forthright: but this particular challenge for me, is about pushing myself, learning as much as I can, and trusting myself as maker/artist, even if that means I venture into territory in which I'm not paticularly comfortable. After all, though I say this piece isn't speaking in my voice - well, whose voice is it, if it isn't mine? It must be, therefore, another aspect of myself which wants to speak - and if I'm uncomfortable doing so, doesn't art sometimes come from that place of discomfort?
Which is why, as we go forward in the challenge, I'm really looking forward to your input, your questions, your ideas - even your (gentle) criticism. I'll never grow if all I hear is my own voice!
As I work on this project, I'll continue to work on my other pieces. I'm working on a tree series ( I have each of the pieces made in my head), but they are large - the current one is 38 x 52, and so will take a long time to complete, both individually, and as the complete series. "Trees" are definitely something that rates highly on my "highly prized" list.
And, too, I'll continue to work on my quilts for practical use - although I predict the production of those quilts will slow down somewhat as I become absorbed in my art projects!
I'm looking forward to getting your feedback on the journal quilt /sketchbook challenge series, and I hope you'll join us!
Kit Lang
