Teaching

I taught my last class for this term at a Toronto high school. Last week I taught the students Free Motion stitching. Today the grade 10 students saw a presentation about different effects one can achieve with Free Motion sewing.

Cathy Bredyk-Law's work, detail of Laurentian Hills,
a piece that was part of Tradition in Transition

I showed images of textile work from Canadian, French and Italian artists. All recent works.

Italian artist Maria Teresa Sansotta,
"Le Tue Rughe Le Mie Radici", detail

We talked about cut work,

His Twinkling Perch, detail,  by Francie V-
a great example of cut work

I introduced the addition of materials that are not fabric,

painted and melted tyvek
Birth detail

I showed them works that had image transfers,

detail of an old piece of mine

I also brought some of my works to show them as well as works by other artists.

Some traditional quilts and some contemporary fibre art.

It is a technique that will open up many possibilities for them as creators. I look forward to seeing their creations towards the end of the school year. It will be interesting to see how they integrated this sewing technique in their art work.

School Project

The culminating works from the grade 10 art class are hanging in the hallway at Branksome Hall. It was exciting for me to see how the students combined the sewing techniques I taught them with the other techniques they learned during the year with their art teachers.

detail,
free motion stitching on painted canvas and gel transfer

detail,
hand stitching, machine stitching, painted melted tyvek on canvas

detail, "Batophobia",
 hand stitching and free motion machine stitching
 were used on a photo transfer by this
 grade 10 student.

The students were very keen to use the product Sulky "Solvy", which is a soluble film that is dissolved in water after it is stitched and the maker is left only with the stitching. The cuff shown below is a good example. It was stitched free form.

The artist of the following piece, "Media Destruction", also used the same product but achieved a different effect.

One can also draw with thread when using the darning foot attachment on a sewing machine.

detail, Almost Free
 the car and the text were drawn free hand with thread. 

The art staff wants to have me back again next year but earlier in the year so the students will have more time to experiment and develop the sewing techniques.

detail, Around the World
I did help this student sew like a "real" quilter.
 Look at her matching corners! Impressive!!

Tyvek

The collage class at Toronto School of Art is getting me to think more about paper. I thought I would go back to using Tyvek. It is a kind of "paper".

I haven't worked with it for a while.

I use to paint it and melt it.

"Birth", 2006, 4" x 6", tyvek, organza, gauze,
thread, commercial fabric

"Birth" detail

Lawyers use envelopes made of Tyvek to send important documents. It is very resistant to water and tearing which makes it good for painting and stitching.

Before I started working today, I was a little upset about something that had happened to me earlier but after painting I feel so much better. The powers of creating!

(a comment from someone: Tyvek is a brand of flashspun high-density polyethylene fibers, a synthetic material; the name is a registered trademark of DuPont. The material is very strong.)