Up Close and Personal

 

Each work was inspired by a female artist of the makers choice. Read how each artist was inspired and take a closer look. 

These first two by Lynn Anderson were based on the work of Billie Buford. Lynn especially likes the color tints that she works with and the movement of color across a piece. Her use of line as another intersecting point of interest appeals to her as well. She found it fun, though challenging, to produce a work with these details. The pieces use shapes to mix the colors and stitch to depict the lines.

Annette chose Lucinda Parker, who is a local Portland artist known for her big works displayed at the Convention Center and hotel lobbies around town. She has always enjoyed her abstract representational work of the landscapes in the Pacific Northwest. Her current fascinations are the mountains and volcanoes, most of which she has climbed. Annette also enjoys hiking in the mountains of the PNW which connects her to this beautiful work.

These pieces, A Single Moon over Many Landscapes 1 & 2, were inspired by Danish photography artist Inge Schuster. Hilde has always been drawn to her early architectural work. Her images are full of emotion, with a moody atmosphere, simple compositions, and faded colors that she finds very moving. Small touches—like a lamppost, a bench, a cat’s silhouette, or a few tree branches—give her work a quiet human presence. She often includes a super moon too, which adds to the magic. Hilde worked to bring in some of these same elements.

Georgia O’Keefe was an American painter who spent part of her life living in the southwest and also New York City—quite a contrast. Deb began to appreciate her art while living in New Mexico. This New York piece Nightscape inspired her with it’s monochromatic tones and simple lines. She wanted to elongate it and create it in fabric

Huguette Caland was a painter, sculptor and fashion designer but it was her paintings that Elaine admired most and wanted to interpret in Fiber. She tends to use bright, pure color and often applies paint with a grungy, muted texture. Her use of layers is most intriguing. She adds little elements such as checkerboards, stripes, dots and houses over the top of the base layer. These tiny elements are not a part of the focal image but make you want to get up close to notice. It is this level of detail Elaine tried to capture in Tickled Pink.

Leonora Carrington was one of the very few women Surrealist painters during the 20^th Century. She used symbols to express her feelings as a woman. Kat's work, Sliding into Spring, reflects her own perspectives as a woman in the 21^st Century. More than in the past, girls are encouraged to be brave and strong as they slide through childhood into womanhood. They can fear the journey, but also embrace the adventure, looking forward to the possibilities that life can bring, just like how spring brings daisies to show us the possibilities of a new season.

  

Ruth Aiko Asawa was an American modernist artist known primarily for her abstract looped-wire sculptures inspired by natural and organic forms. Betty has always enjoyed both the simplicity of the shapes and the complexity of the work to form them. The neutral colors and the depth of layering have also intrigued her. She wanted to capture this 3-D work in 2 dimensions and in fiber rather than metal.