cut and come again

December 30, 2021

In vegetable gardening the term cut and come again means you harvest the outer mature leaves of lettuce, spinach or greens and let the inner leaves continue growing. I thought about that when I cut up a couple of my quilts this month. Disrupting and Disruptors are two quilts made from cloth I printed with a steamroller a few years back. The design began as a sketch, was transformed to a 4’x8’ woodcut, printed onto fabric with a steamroller and then quilted into three different quilts.

The final quilts looked like this

One of them (the green one below) actually ended up in Quilt National. But the other two travelled a bit and ended up in my storeroom. Because they had similar stitching and similar content I thought it might be interesting to cut them up to create a new piece.

Disruption

Disruptors

Disrupting, front

Disrupting, back

I started with the Disruptors piece by cutting small pieces to create a traditional Storm at Sea pattern . It had light, dark and medium areas that would work for that pattern.

I spent about a week rearranging and cutting pieces up to create variations of this pattern. But I wasn’t getting anywhere, the piece looked boring, bland and bad. I needed more variety and depth as well as a looseness that the Storm at Sea pattern didn’t give me. So I took out the second quilt and cut out some more of the pattern pieces. Adding color to the monochrome composition helped but didn’t inspire me to continue. I piled up the scraps and waited for a miracle to give me a new idea.

I thought that I had just ruined two good quilts.

It’s process not product

When I got into the studio the next day one of the quilts was laying on the table with the holes cut into it. I realized immediately that I liked it better than the patterned work that seemed so labored and boring.

I filled the holes with pieces from the second quilt. The inserted fabric pieces are connected with a ladder stitch by butting the edges together. Then, more stitching merges the background with foreground. Below are some details of that added stitching.

Thus, two became one. I’m still fiddling with more details and I’ll have to stabilize those loose ends but I think this one is about done now. On to the next challenge.

Ping Ponging

September 8, 2021

I have spent a month in my studio ping-ponging from one thing to another with an itchy feeling of missing the ball every time. No focus, no inspiration, nothing. I did the usual exercises to jump start my ideas: cleaned the studio, organized my thread drawer, read about other artists, and walked aimlessly through the neighborhood with my phone camera.

Nothing.

This often happens after finishing a piece that consumes my imagination. I had just finished Encounter, a piece that really birthed itself made up of pieces of canvas on which I had dribbled paint and ink. After that cathartic experience I wasn’t sure where to turn for the next inspiration.

Encounter, 34x41, 2021, Paula Kovarik — *Encounter*, 34x41, 2021, Paula Kovarik

I needed to move into a new headspace. A friend of mine gifted me yards of Silk Noil. The fabric is luscious, soft and raw looking. I decided to use it to revisit an idea I have worked on before: exploring marks that could illustrate words not spoken. Inspired by hieroglyphs, runes and Arabic script this visual language can be a way to communicate broader concepts.

Glyphs, 27x18, Paula Kovarik, 2017 — *Glyphs*, 27x18, Paula Kovarik, 2017

Better Not Said, 41x26, Paula Kovarik, 2019

I started with a drawing to remind myself how these marks can be put together. Generally I try not to have a preconceived notion about how they should look. Instead I draw each mark in a random way then start to fill in the spaces that become available. I have noticed that I naturally follow an implied north/south east/west underpinning. I wonder why that is? I also like connecting the disparate shapes with unexpected lines.

Once satisfied with the density of the marks and the feel of making them I was ready to try it with stitch. I set up three 21”x21” silk noil sandwiches with some wool batting, drew a chalk circle onto each one and started stitching. Here are the results.

Glyphs, reservoirs, detail

Glyphs, reservoirs

Glyphs, blackouts, detail

Glyphs, blackouts

Glyphs, abundance, detail

Glyphs, abundance

I don’t spend a lot of time on these exercises. Each square takes about two days to come alive. Using a neutral thread that matches the fabric to create the outer texture defines the circle a bit more and adds an element of energy to the composition. I don’t bury the threads on those end points preferring instead to use my machine’s automatic cutter that knots the threads on the underside. The back is not pretty.

I’m not sure I have broken the cycle of ping ponging. I am about to travel and teach so that might bring more inspiration when I return. Hope so.

How do you break the cycle? Drop me a note!

Puzzles

July 9, 2021

I love puzzles. It’s a treasure hunt with rewards. Something about that quiet contemplation of shape, color and texture soothes me.

I guess that’s why I am drawn to this art form. Piecing together disparate elements to create a whole is a challenge that never ends. This particular piece grew from scraps of quilts gone by — those pieces that didn’t quite make the cut in other quilts have a new life here. I stitched the scraps together using my free motion foot or a decorative stitch that added to the level of detail. As I was piecing together these scraps characters appeared, shapes repeated and textures multiplied. I used the base composition as a stage for other characters that I added in with overstitching.

Things we might not notice without closer inspection. 2021, Paula Kovarik

The following are detail shots that might give you an idea of what started to appear as I was working on the whole. I started to run out of scraps toward the end. Which gave me a choice: cut up another quilt or finish the composition. I decided to end the composition here so that I could focus on other ideas that are floating in my studio. I may come back to it if other scraps become available.

Let’s stitch together

I’ll be teaching stitch techniques in San Diego in September. Click on the image to learn more.

Let the fun begin

June 11, 2021

I’m getting ready to leave my studio for a week to attend a workshop on collage. There is so much to do before I leave that my attention wanders while I make lists, clean up the space and plan for my return. That part called “cleaning up my space” always leads to new ideas for work. So I abandoned all the chores I didn’t want to do while concentrating on what I did want to do.

I cut up another quilt.

This quilt hung in the hallway of our house for about 7 years. I finally took it down and substituted a different piece. It is called File Sharing and I think I made it back in 2010. I like the color palette, I like some of the stitching, but I’m not too fond of the composition. So it became a candidate for recycling.

I’ve been thinking about how pieces linger in the studio. Repurposing them gives them new life and me a new challenge. This time I wanted to cut this quilt up into a traditional pattern called Storm at Sea. I have been playing with that pattern in an illustration program and wanted to see what would happen if I used quilted pieces to create it in a different way.

I made a set of templates with a stiff matte board. After cutting out the template pieces I am left with windows that I can position over the quilt to preview what I will cut. I simply use a pencil to draw the outline on the quilt and then cut the piece with scissors.

I think there is a song with the lyrics “the first cut is the deepest…” I was humming that while cutting into the quilt. It is a point of no return for this process. No amount of stitching or glueing will bring this quilt back to its original form. You have to just trust the process.

Here is the result of that day’s work.

Putting the pieces together into a layout is like playing with puzzles—one of my favorite things to do.

I attached the pieces to a backing fabric with small pieces of Misty Fuse.

Then started stitching them together onto the cloth background with a decorative stitch.

That’s when my sewing machine started acting up. And then it finally froze. I think it was reminding me that I had a lot of chores to do. So I guess I will have to come back to this piece once I return from the workshop. I have ideas on how I will add even more stitching to this beginning.

Watch this space.

Have you cut up any of your quilts? Tell me about it.

On saying yes

May 19, 2021

I say yes to a lot of opportunities and to myself and to my family and to my friends. Trouble with that is I end up with too much on my plate. When I should be snacking I am gorging. When I should be contemplative I am mumbling deadlines and bifurcating my brain. And yet, as the scorpion said to the frog, it’s just my nature. If I had an empty plate I would scrounge around for something, anything, everything to do.

Last week started off with this little project. I was both channeling Leo Ray and Jackson Pollock. It started with a piece of canvas on which I dribbled, sprayed and splotched some fabric paint. The idea was I would discover things within the painting that would inspire me to stitch. I would end up with a continuous series of pieces that would fit together like Leo Ray’s continuous paintings.

I cut the canvas into five square pieces and started to add stitching where they needed stitching. I have been drawing like this for awhile so some of the arbitrary forms that are showing up in my drawings are now showing up in the stitching. I like this technique. It brings mystery into process. It is very loose and intuitive. Jackson Pollock once said “Because a painting has a life of its own, I try to let it live.”

Here’s a close-up of one of the panels. Each panel measures about 19” square. I like adding texture to pieces using thread that matches the fabric. The other drawing lines are inspired by what I see in the base painting. I added a face, some active lines, some textural backgrounds and some mysterious figurative drawings that came out of a day dream in this one.

Now I am experimenting with the square panels to create 3D shapes. Some look like scrolls, some like the Venus of Willendorf and others like disturbing faces. Not sure where they will end up. For now they are keeping me entertained.

Raw and Reassembled

The wonderful folks at the Visions Art Museum in San Diego have invited me to exhibit July 17 – October 3, 2021. I have been planning, assembling, writing statements, labeling and packing for that show for the past month. There is a lot to do before then. If you are in the San Diego area during that time please take moment or two to see the show. I would love to hear what you think about it.

A book:
At Play in the Garden of Stitch: thoughts that come while eyeing the needle

I’m on the final proofreading stage of a book about my techniques. As soon as it is ready I will post a link here for purchase. It has been a long and arduous journey to get this far with it. And I am proud of the result. I hope you have the opportunity to see it someday soon. Some of you may recognize your own stitching on the cover. They are samples from my workshops.

Spring

The weather is perfect right now and it is sometimes hard to stay in the studio because it is so beautiful outside. I am jealous of every hour away from the studio but, then again, the garden brings me joy and time to think. I’ll say yes to it too.

tell me how you say yes