Embrace was the title of my Capitol Contemporary Gallery exhibition in June. The other featured artist was Terry Vineyard.

Embrace Exhibition Concept

The idea for the title came from my art process of dyeing fabric. I hand-dye my own fabrics using a low-water immersion technique. I use this technique because I live in a high desert and I want to conserve water. However, this is the hardest method to use to get a solid color, which is what I prefer.

When I dye fabric, it is usually outside in the summer, since I do not have a wet studio. While dyeing, it is inevitable that I will get some stray splotches of color because of my method and hand manipulation.

But last summer I was getting more frustrated than usual because I would have a nice solid color on some fabric and then there would be a splotch of dye. I was so upset that I finally said to myself, “Why don’t you just embrace these splotches?” As I started looking at them, I started seeing some things in them.

Embrace #1

Embracing Shapes

I cut out pieces with the shapes I saw. Then I hand-stitched around them using a stem stitch to emphasize them.

Next, I decided to literally embrace the subject with a u-shape that is representative of arms reaching out to hug (the yellow green area above). And then I took it one step further and added hand stitched circles. These represent the embrace of a hug when writing XOXO. At the bottom of this piece, I embraced the imperfect variations of the fabric by stitching around them.

I made two of these pieces with leaf shapes. I made two more in the same style embracing some mono-printed/screen-printed fabrics that I had made.

Embrace #4

Embracing the Environment

In the largest piece for the Capitol Contemporary Gallery exhibition, I continued to try to use the imperfectly solid fabrics I had dyed. Kaleidoscopic Autumn depicts leaves changing colors.

Not only did I embrace the fabric imperfections, I also embraced the environment in this theme. The environment is why I used the low water immersion dyeing technique in the first place. All the artworks depict a natural environment. Nature is so important to us. I like to emphasize it.

Finally, the last piece I will share sums it up. This 3D work is made with scraps of hand-dyed fabric, twisted into cording and sewn together to create hands. The hands embrace a sprout, a reminder to nurture our environment. The title is All We Hold Dear.