From rejection to sharing. The artwork that I'm sharing in this post just got rejected from the holy grail of all the prestigious art quilt exhibits out there.
Quilt National. I'm a bit bummed, I'll admit, but I am happy to finally be able to share the piece that I have been working on all summer and a big push to finish it in September. I am very happy with how it turned out. (Two years ago, when I had artwork accepted to
QN'13, I was excited about it, but could not share it until the reveal at the exhibit and that was hard. I love to share my work as I work on it and when I'm done. So it's hard to keep things under wraps when you think that there is a possibility that this piece you're working on right now just might get accepted into something like QN....)
So here is
Washington Av. Named for the street in Brooklyn, NY, where I took the picture that served as the base for this piece. The other base is the used plastic drop cloth that is actually the back bone of this. I sketched on it, I outline stitched on it, and I applied color to it. And by color I mean recycled plastic shopping bags. I was very focused on texture here, so I scrunched and bunched the plastic bags for the building texture and stitched it all down. No glue, no melting. Just stitches...
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| the grocery store on the first floor |
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| the graffiti'ed boarded up vacant building |
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| the decorative cornices |
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| Washington Av. © Natalya Aikens |
Oh and this is pretty large. I keep wanting to work bigger and bigger! It measures 64" high by 76" wide... perhaps I'll work a bit smaller on the next one.... maybe.
But right now I want most of all to work on more like this. So I am glad that this one is staying home for now, so that it can influence, inform and encourage its companions... I have noticed that past artwork which has quickly been accepted to a long term exhibit and left home, has remained in some ways a stand alone artwork. I kept working in a similar theme, but usually not in the same technique. I wonder if that because the piece that started the technique wasn't in the studio to keep me focused? Wonder if anyone else has had the same experience?
7 comments:
Excellent piece, Natalya. From what I can see QN doesn't really take anything particularly innovative or avant garde.
That is a great art piece, Natalya. Sorry it was rejected. I was never at QN, but I am thinking they only really want more "traditional" quilts. E Barton did a blog about this a while ago. These shows need to have a category for innovative art quilts and those need to be judged differently than regular quilts.
This is amazing in so many ways, Natalya--the design and the technique both work together. Rejection (or acceptance) into any particular doesn't change the intrinsic validity of the work. I'm sure you will fine the proper exhibit space/home for it in due time.
Wow! Great detail and texture. Would love to see this one in person. Working that large creates a whole new perspective on the size of the stitches.
I think you are right about pieces leaving the studio. When one comes back from a show I almost have to reintroduce myself to it. Doesn't feel like mine any more.
great work!
My condolences! I got the same skinny emails and I can see what good company I am in. I always think your work is fabulous and this one is, too. What do they know??
I like what Sue says about acceptance or rejection not changing the intrinsic validity of the work. The work has already informed you, and you it. You're happy and ready to create more, so it's all good. I've not had many pieces go away for a particularly long time (except my 12x12 artworks which were kind of stand alone to start with) so I'm not sure about those pieces keeping one focused. But I think you might be on to something.
Odd, Google asked me to sign in and then calls my comment "Unknown." You'd think that if it accepted my name and password then I'd be, by definition, known. ;-)
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