Iconic Inflorescence is currently on display in regional Victoria as part of the One Step Further exhibition presented by Victorian Quilters. This artwork in my Botanica series emerges from my exploration of triangular designs and ongoing quest for abstraction.
The distinctive form of the spiky flowers of the banksia genus is an iconic part of the Australian landscape.
Iconic Inflorescence ©2022 85x67cm
Design and Construction
While I resisted creating precise templates, the design and construction process for this work was more pre-meditated than usual. First of all, I created a preliminary digital sketch in Microsoft Word (a tip from one of my Abstraction in Action students Karen Clempner). I could see that some tricky engineering lay ahead of me so I cut out some paper shapes to test my sense of scale. I broke the design down into smaller sections. Some of the angles in joining the blocks of serrated leaves together proved challenging. There was extra frisson as I realised that I would not have a skerrick of dark green background to spare but I made it. Just!
Stitching
I used straight-line echo stitching to emphasize the triangles. Broad zig-zag in variegated green thread helped to blend the hand-dyed variations in the pieced background and also refers to the serrated edges of banksia leaves. Serendipitously, I had just enough thread. The resulting texture is irresistable!
On exhibition
Thanks to Beth Reid who sent me this installation image from the exhibition. The exhibition continues at Kyrabram Town Hall until 26 November and the gallery is open 10am – 4pm Monday to Saturday.
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