Tuesday, October 20, 2009

I Would Never Have Guessed

Since I was allocated the task of selecting the recipient of the I Would Never Have Guessed (Biggest Departure of Style) Award, I've been reviewing the individual Artist Gallery pages on the Twelve by Twelve website and playing a version of that Sesame Street favourite - one of these things is not like the others.

If you had asked me to play this game two years ago, pretty much all of the 144 works in the first series would have been eligible for this award. Not because any Twelve has necessarily departed from her trademark style but because back in 2007 (doesn't that sound a long time ago!) I didn't know some of my fellow Twelves and, even if I'd admired their work on their blogs, I wasn't at all familiar with their personal motifs and preferred media and techniques.

Fast forward two years and I think we all know a lot more about each other and our art. In the case of Nikki, I associate her creations with mixed-media exuberance - colourful yarns; a sprinkling of bling; beads, buttons and embellishments; layers of paint and colour; often enhanced by intensely machine-quilted texture. And just when I thought I had my new friend all figured out, she presented us with "something new" - Mom's Hideout, a gentle, restrained, contemplative piece with the image created entirely by hand stitching. I would never have guessed but I'm very glad Nikki shared this with us.

Which Twelve by Twelve quilt do you think is the Biggest Departure from Style?

6 comments:

Gerrie said...

This is a very good choice. I think Diane's water and Karen's chair might be candidates.

I could probably win for most styles by one artist!!

Kristin L said...

I'm with you here Brenda, although this piece has lots of tiny texture that is very Nikki, it is a definite departure from her usual style.

Brenda said...

I didn't give the award to myself but more than one person has commented that Lost & Found at Fromelles is very "un-Brenda".

Karen said...

It is so great to revisit these quilts and talk about them again.

Nikki said...

This was my first hand stitching project, so I would say it was a departure from my usual. I've really enjoyed using these projects to stretch and experiment.

Dotti said...

While the colors are Nikki's colors, she did depart with all the stitching.