Thursday, December 17, 2015

Mending

My fourth piece in the Loss series is finished.  It's called "Mending", which I think is an ongoing process we all go through when loss occurs. While working on it I was thinking about all the ways we heal, and it seems to me when we suffer a loss, we don't always heal.  Sometimes we just change. When I think about mending, it's about putting things back together, but they never fit back the way they were. There's a new, different dimension, layer upon layer.



When starting a new dimensional piece, I'm learning to think ahead to how it will be displayed. I was discussing the possibilities with Ted in his office when I noticed some magnets on his white board.  I knew I wanted the fabric to hang about half an inch apart and I  found some cylindrical half inch long magnets on line.



I wanted the hanging device to be as invisible as possible, so I decided on acrylic and found a fabricator who drilled the holes for the magnets, and smaller holes to use for mounting it.



It turned out to be really easy to hang it this way, and it's easy to disassemble.  The biggest problem is the magnets wanting to stick to anything metallic nearby.



Here are some close ups



I burned circles out, then hand stitched them back together



Below is a side view.



For whatever reason, my thinking on this series is somewhat out of sync.  While finishing this up, I started thinking about the anger and frustration that goes along with loss, usually one of the first emotions felt.  But I know there's no set rule for this.  How to show anger?  I'm not really sure.





4 comments:

Marianne said...

J'aime beaucoup cette dernière pièce et je peux comprendre le sentiment de perte. j'espère de tout coeur que 2016 soit une bonne année ainsi qu'à votre famille

Olga Norris said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Carol Soderlund said...

Karen, it is lovely, and intriguing. Will you describe the layers that are hanging from back to front, the way you did for the last piece on your blog? I want to see it in person, but this helps me imagine it in the meantime..... Oh, and that is a great way to hang it!

Olga Norris said...

This piece once again looks beautiful.
Your notes on the series on loss are fascinating to me on many levels. I am interested in the ways you find to be both creative and practical - a combination that artists definitely need. I love your solutions, and so wish I could see the work itself.