When I was a kid, we had a rocking chair in the living room, and whenever I was hurt, physically or emotionally, my mom would hold me and rock me until I was all better. I own this rocking chair now and it still evokes strong memories for me when I look at it. The finish is wearing off, but I'm not going to change anything. I wanted to give you a feeling of movement with the chair and I accomplished this by printing the image on organza and overlapping it 3 times. I was really stuck at this point, as I didn't want to take the focus away from the chair, but I didn't want to just frame it in. I remembered a "weaving" class I took from my friend Ellenina Gaston several years ago, and thought about weaving in the memories I had from my childhood. This is one topic I would like to explore further, and I think others in the group feel the same way, as Terri said, we all have out favorite chairs.
10 comments:
The weaving definitely says memories to me. For me, the movement and colors are a bit frenetic for that comforting rock on mummy's lap, but there's still so much here about a chair that has heard a LOT of stories. :-)
Our rocking chair is currently in storage because its rocking looked very much like this. A rocking chair in the hands of four small children can be a dangerous thing. I love the weaving of the fabrics and the memories it holds.
I have the rocking chair we purchased when my son was born - a bentwood rocker that I still love and find very comforting.
You, too, tricked me. I did not immediately peg this as a Karen piece - except for the chair image.
I like how you got the feeling of motion with multiple organza images - great technique.
I love how you portrayed the image with movement. Great idea. I love how the weaving looks in a quilt. Perhaps another new technique for me to try.
Ooh, Karen --
You did a wonderful job of showing the rocking chair movement. It doesn't strike me as frenetic -- my reaction was that it makes the rocking the key aspect of the chair and it instantly swept me back to memories of my own favorite rocking chair. The woven frame works beautifully, I think. It does feel like piece about memories even before you read your description.
Like Diane, I didn't see the rocking image as frenetic. It is almost slow motion, in fact and the black and white image with no background feels very dreamlike, as a memory. The weaving reminds me of a rug, which would fit right into the picture, but I like the idea of woven memories so well, I am substituting that for the rug imagery!
Great piece!
I'll agree! The movement you've created with the multiple chair images is really excellent. I like the weaving too. The colors and the variety of textures in the weaving suggest a different time and remind me of some of the fiber art my great grand mother created.
Yes, I like how you showed the movement of the rocking chair. Love the background too. Very good idea.
To me, a rocking chair and a rag rug is a quintessential American image through which you have woven golden memories. A gentle, heartwarming piece.
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