PATTERNS AND TONES

"Home as Hat: Amanda Quinn Olivar" 2019 Digital inkjet print and yarn 40 x 40 in. This final "hat" was created from one of the first photographs taken for this series. Walking around Beverly Hills, we spied this Tudorbethan style gable,  a subset of the Tudor Revival architecture of the 1930's. Once I began to stitch this piece together in yarn, it was evident to me that a drab brown color of the timbers was not going to pop against the wild shrubbery and couldn't possible compete with the dominant patterns in the incredible coat created by Zandra Rhodes which Amanda had on, so I chose the color red. Amanda, who is currently producing a feature documentary called " Seeing is Believing: Women Direct " and the play & film " Paint Made Flesh ", is also an editor for the online magazine Curator . She recently interviewed me about my work as well as my thoughts on this series. You can read the interview here . I am delighted to ...

Flora as Fashion: Kirsten Andersen Thomas I've been thinking a lot about the surface of images this week. As I try to break free of the two dimensionality of photography by stitching into the photographic paper, the fact of the matter is - it still remains a surface when I once again photograph it to show you for this blog. You need to see them in person. The fiber of the string creates the texture and depth that I've been striving for. Hopefully I can find a gallery or space to show these pieces so that you can indeed see them first hand. Today's image for my new Flora as Fashion series was a labor of love. I spent every spare moment I had stitching this piece together. I quickly realized that the skirt needed to be extended to fit the agave in front of Kirsten. The scale needed to be adjusted to the proportions of the vegetation. I ended up with what I think is one of my finest pieces yet. I've been excited by the challenge to interpret flora as a garment...

Flora as Fashion: Stacy Ellen Rich Throughout 2016 and 2017, I crafted 16 images in a series that I called " Home as Hat ". These images where inspired by an image I shot while I was photographing Kim Shattuck from The Muffs for my " Day in the Life of a Rock 'n' Roller " series.  As we walking around her neighborhood, I had her stand in front of a lovely gabled home. I quickly saw through my lens the shape of a hat emerging from the pointed roof behind her and I excitedly snapped the shutter to capture her in front of it. It became clear in that instant that there was a new body of work waiting to be created. I've just started to embark on a new angle to this series inspired by the wildly talented Costume designer Stacy Ellen Rich. The photograph above was taken with the intention of adding it to my Hat series but I quickly realized that the vegetation around her could be repurposed into a colorful skirt and adjusted my perspective to concentra...

"Elvia Lahman" 2017 from Home as Hat series Continuing to create hats inspired by architectural styles, Elvia's chapeau was based on the famous  William G. Low House in Bristol, Rhode Island. It was known for its 140 foot long low single gable and was a prime example of Shingle-style architecture . It's continuous horizontal shape and lack of ornamentation was a backlash to the highly decorated patters of the previous generation's architectural style. Although Shingle-style architecture flourished between 1879 and 1890 primarily on the coast of New England, I believe it was one of the forerunners of modernism. It shunned the revivalism going on during this period and looked towards the future of functionalism with its open plan blurring the lines between interior and exterior space. The roof was in fact the home. Using cedar shingles to cover its monolithic facade, the architect Charle McKim built the William G. Low House in 1887 using a single massi...

"Robin Jackson" 2017 from Home as Hat series Fish scale shingles were the inspiration for this Home as Hat entry. The steep roof top Ms. Jackson posed in front of prompted me to think of the Victorian gables I frequently saw in San Francisco. The American Queen Anne Revival architecture seen by the Bay always reminded me of exquisitely decorated birthday cakes. Their turrets were usually covered in fish scale shingles with an inset bay window. Coupled with contrasting paint colors, these formidable ladies always appeared to be so regal yet comical at the same time, depending on the color combination. Often described as "fancy cuts", the fish scales were also practical with their pattern of staggered and overlapping shingles which helped shed water efficiently. This ornamental siding was not an easy to replicate in embroidery floss on paper. I had to improvise its rounded edges with a scalloped pattern but feel that the finished "Hat" gives a hi...

"Lora David" 2017 from the Home as Hat series Much like the hand made  Vietnamese leaf hat known as  Nón Lá , this conical hat I wove for this image was inspired by the Nón Bái Tho , the "Poetical Leaf" hat from Hue in Central Vietnam. On the inside of each hat poems  were woven into the very fibers of the hat. When you lift the hat up to the sun, you could read romantic poems, provers or old sayings in the shadows!!! This variation of the palm leaf and bamboo hat is a cone consisting of sixteen bamboo ribs with palm leaves stitched into place with thread made from reed. A verse of poetry was usually cut from the palm leaf and inserted in between the layers.  Modern versions also include paper shapes as well as poetry. Hats cover, protect and shelter us when we are out in the elements much like our homes. This particular version I created this week has finally started to express the visual narrative I was hoping to achieve. Next ste...

"Catherine Butler" 2017 from Home as Hat series I've always been intrigued by the woven conical Vietnamese Leaf Hat known as  Nón Lá . Its symmetrical cone shape is extremely efficient at keeping the elements away from the face making it a personal sun roof! Traditionally woven from palm leaves, bark or bamboo, these hats (which have been around for centuries) can also be found in other Southeast Asian countries but is attributed mainly to the farm workers in Vietnam. When stitching the home above, I was struck by the same conical shape emerging from the roof line. I selected the yellow yarn to help emphasis the shape and color of this traditional hat. I added color to the base to separate it from the hat, as if it were the silk chin strap used to hold the hat in place. There was a palm tree sticking up behind the roof line, so I thought I would embellish the image with a vine-like flourish, tying the local flora to the very material originally used to make the hat...

"Julian Balme" from Home as Hat  COLOR AS COVER Without knowing it, color plays a vital role in our lives. It permeates our consious decisions from what we decide to eat, what we choose to wear, and of course to what we buy. Color communicates meaning and sets the tone. It is assigned meaning by the culture we live in. It also permeates our subconscious. When we see our country flag flying, the combination of colors, we can actually feel the weight of their meaning embedded in their hues.Whether it be our country, our team, our style, or our philosophy, color's visual cues are the most influential senses we have. I chose the combination of red, white and blue since this is the first portrait taken for this series outside of the United States.  I selected these colors to discuss how color itself becomes a cover, a shelter that we wear whether we are conscious of it or not. We don't often discuss color as a vehicle for taking shelter but it can be a blanket or a...

Susannah Mosher for Home as Hat BONNET AS SHELTER "Style is a way to say who you are without having to speak." - Rachel Zoe There are as many styles of head coverings as there are entries to the home. The bonnet is one hat that was you don't see too often anymore but was extremely usefully during periods when people were not as protected from the elements as we are today.  The bonnet started life without a brim. Less used to shade ones face from the sun, this bonnet was widely worn during the 19th century to protect ones hair and face from dust and dirt. The head covering evolved to eventually extend the brim to protect the individual to sun as well. While doing a bit of research on bonnets, I came across a variety styles I never even knew existed.  A calash, for example, is a collapsable bonnet, while t he coal-scuttle or sugar scoop bonnet were structured from straw and were stiff, limiting the view of the person wearing it. Thes...

Julia Rivera from Home as Hat HABITATION IN A HEADPIECE "People will stare. Make it worth their while." - Harry Winston Style is a state of mind. We inhabit our dwellings the same way we reside in style, casually by ourselves and fabulously for special occasions. This week I began looking at the local Spanish Revival architecture prevalent throughout California from 1915 - 1931. With an eye towards the more flamboyant, I came up with the idea of incorporating this lovely architectural style with its surrounding vegetation. As I began to sketch out how I would approach this hat, it reminded me of the costumed hat of the Brazilian bombshell  Carmen Miranda .  Miranda embellished her bejeweled headpieces with colorful beads, satin ribbon, baskets and of course - fruit. She was actually appropriating the head dresses  the Afro-Brazilian culture in the north-eastern provence of Bahia in Brazil. These market women often carried...

Jonnie Green for Home as Hat THE HAT IN UNIFORM "Elegance is not standing out, but being remembered." — Giorgio Armani The facade of our dwelling is very revealing of who we are on the inside. It immediately shows what our tastes are, our economic status, and whether we welcome others into our lives or not. I often walk around neighborhoods looking at the variances each front yard displays and wonder how each selection of plant, fence, pot and door mat was obtained through the experiences and tastes of its owner. Large swaths of America are covered in various shades of beige tract homes. I suppose uniformity is comforting to a large majority of the population and its economic benefits of the housing development helps to keep homes affordable. This notion of uniformity in architecture led me to think of the implications of the hat in the context of uniforms people wear at work. The uniform, much like tract housing, provides a shield of protection against i...

Kelly de Martino from Home as Hat Hood as Hat "When in doubt, wear red" - Bill Blass When I began to think about how I was going to approach stitching this Home as Hat, the overwhelming feeling of a hood emerged. I began to think in earnest about the implications of the hoodie as another form of a covering, a form of protection which was heavily laden with symbology.  The hood is a mysterious hat that allows one to partially cover not only the head but the face giving the wearer a deeper sense of anonymity and protection. Little Red Riding Hood, the ancient folktale also known as " Little Red Cap ", immediately came to mind as I selected the crimson red thread. The tale was first written down in the 1600's and was popularized by The Brothers Grimm in the 1800's.  The red hood has been in interpreted in many ways as a symbol of menstruation, the sun and the natural cycles of the seasons,as well as the ritual of going through puberty, and sexual...

"Baby Doe von Stroheim" from Home as Hat EMBROIDERY PATTERNS "I don't approach fashion. Fashion approaches me!" —Daphne Guinness For the past few yeas I have been learning how to apply various embroidery patterns to cloth. Not all of these patterns are easy to create on paper but I do enjoy seeing how stiff paper becomes a canvas on which to draw with thread.  Basic techniques like the cross stitch, chain stitch, buttonhole, running stitch, stem stitch and satin stitch lend themselves to working on this project and give direction and visual motion to the "hats" I'm constructing. I'm fascinated by the many decorative motifs and patterns that have evolved worldwide throughout the centuries. Developing out of the necessity of patching and mending precious hand woven fabrics, it  was employed as a way to embellish clothing.  Embroidery patterns became a mark of wealth as well as rank and social status. Textile workshops evolved to...

"Lynn Peril" from Home as Hat THE HISTORY OF STITCHING AND WOMEN IN THE ARTS "I don't do fashion. I am fashion." — Coco Chanel The history of fiber art and its implications for women is a fascinating subject in and of itself. As I sat stitching this picture I couldn't help but wonder home many times this repetitive but decorative act had taken place over the years. Both my grandmother and my mother had taught me how to sew as a young child, and I remember how excited I felt to stitch two pieces of fabric together. Its alchemy was intoxicating. Yet my younger brother was never taught the magical art of sewing and I never questioned why my male counterpart was not introduced to it. Fiber art has long been viewed as representing domesticity and feminine nature. It has been a vehicle for women to express themselves in the confines of a male dominated social structure but it has also a means of commerce and power. The manufacturing of cloth c...

"Carla Braswell" from Home as Hat DECORATIVE THREAD “Fashion is only the attempt to realize art in living forms and social intercouse.” — Sir Francis Bacon "What you wear is how you present yourself to the world, especially today, when human contacts are so quick. Fashion is instant language." — Miuccia Prada As this series begins to expand and solidify, I am very happy that I have chosen to hand craft these images with embroidery floss. This decorative thread is a 6 stranded cotton loosely twisted which comes in a stunning array of colors. It can also be made from silk, linen or rayon. I am keenly aware when selecting the color thread for each photograph. Symbolically, each color ton top of the black and white portraits are representing the spirit I see in the individual and their juxtaposition with their surroundings.  The textural and physical nature of stitching onto paper resonates wtih me.  The thread gives the images a thr...