Title: Hard & Soft Series
Year: 2018
Dimensions: 10” h x 10” w x 1½” d each
(23” h x 36” w x 1½” d installed)
Silk crepe de chine, silk dyes, water soluble resist, Lutradur, polyester batting, rayon/viscose and polyester embroidery thread, polyester thread, sheet glass, glass frit, glass powder, and silver foil
This six-part series pairs three glass works with three textile works, representing a progression of industrial salt ponds being restored back into wetlands. Many of the wetlands in San Francisco Bay were destroyed to build ponds for industrial salt extraction. Restoration efforts over the past couple of decades are beginning to transform the salt ponds back into wetlands. My work explores how landscapes change over time focusing on those places where destruction and renewal, wounding and healing, absence and presence overlap. The artwork pair on the left show an industrial salt extraction pond as the salty remains of a dead wetland. The artwork pair in the middle represent the process of restoration, using the metaphor of alchemy and its transformation of matter. The artwork pair on the right represent the restored wetlands, verdant with life. When I first began working in glass, my glass works were informed by my textile works. In this series, I began with the glass artwork, exploring materials and techniques that then informed how I made the textile artwork.
Details: Scroll down for detail images and more information
Detail image of: Hard & Soft Series: Reseeding Wetlands (textile)
Techniques: silk painting, machine quilting and hand embroidery
Press: this artwork appears in the following publications, click on an image below:
October 9, 2021 – January 9, 2022 Art on the Edge: From Extraction to Restoration and Regeneration, Peninsula Museum of Art, San Bruno, CA
June 12 - September 8, 2018, Reticulation, Bullseye Projects Gallery, Emeryville, CA.
Detail image of: Hard & Soft Series: Reseeding Wetlands (glass)
Techniques: glass fusing, glass powder painting, resist sand blasting
Detail image of: Hard & Soft Series: Restoration Alchemy (textile)
Techniques: silk painting, textile painting, machine quilting
Detail image of: Hard & Soft Series: Restoration Alchemy (glass)
Techniques: glass frit painting, fusing
Detail image of: Hard & Soft Series: Rendering Salt (textile)
Techniques: silk painting and machine quilting
Detail image of: Hard & Soft Series: Rendering Salt (glass)
Techniques: glass fusing, sand blasting