Virginia A. Spiegel

Folio 4, Corvid #8

I was inspired to create the Corvid series after reading Mind of the Raven by Bernd Heinrich. Ravens, blackbirds, and jays as well as the other Corvids are among the most intelligent of birds.  I wanted to show their mental complexity through layers of materials (and thought).

Folio 4, Corvid #5

Materials include hand-painted and screen printed fabric, screen printed papers, florists mesh, Lutradur,ink, graphite, and thread.  Techniques include paint, screenprint, collage, stitch, draw, stamp, and ink.

Folio 2  (Black Trees), Page 5
7″h x 5″w matted to 10×8″

Not one, but two new series debut today.

Folio 2 – Black Trees are ten artworks based upon a ten word poem.  There are layers upon layers of fabric and paint — a mysterious story of tree, sky, and branch on each page.

Folio 3 (Woven Words) – Page 5

The second new series up today is Folio 3 – Woven Word.  The poem and artwork focus on doors, windows, and words — so much in our lives concealed and revealed.

The base layer of painted cloth and stitching is almost obscured by the many layers of screen printing.  The final touch is hand stitching with beautiful hand-dyed red embroidery thread from Laura Wasilowski.

In case you missed its debut, here is the Folio 1 – Thread series.

Folio 1, page 1

The best books I read are somewhat ambiguous.  They force readers to add their own interpretation to the story being told. I am currently very interested in exploring the limits of ambiguity in my art. See all the artwork here.  This series is a folio of “pages” based on ten-word poem. Sometimes the word is visible on the page; sometimes layers have obscured it. I’m not divulging the poem as I wanted you to be able to imagine your own story.  But if you want to know the word on a particular “page,” I would, of course, share. And I can tell you that the poem is entitled Threads.

Folio 1, Page 10

Formerly Present 3 under the needle.  Its texture comes from the surface design and the stitching.  This is quite a difference from the last pieces in the Boundary Waters series.

Here is the progression, in reverse,  so far:

Formerly Present 2
With 500 yards of thread used in the stitching to create a natural grid to contrast with the surface design.

Formerly Present 1

Remember my The Garbage Day Project?  I have wanted for some time to re-visit the hundreds of photos I have on file from that project.  So when a call went out from SAQA challenging artists “to venture into uncharted territories of creative expression by turning away from the comfort zones of their established body of work,” I knew where I wanted to start.

Above is a very small detail of Garbage, a new work in a new vein.  I’m becoming a little superstitious about showing new work before sending it to its first jury, so I will show the entire piece in the future.

New avenues I’m exploring in this artwork: Bigger use of my own manipulated photos, a pieced background!, a more subtle color palette, and hand-stitching along with extensive machine stitching,
What’s the same: It’s still all about the message as well as layers of texture and meaning.  And I hope I have kept some of the ironic nature of the original Garbage Day Project:  I’m making you look at garbage and think it’s beautiful, but there is nothing more insidious and wasteful in the world.

Just to keep us up to date, here is a garbage photo I took this week.  Our garbage guys are still coming in the dark, but some people are putting their garbage out early the day before.  I can tell you that the waste and quantity hasn’t diminished a bit.

Twisted