Universe Story
I got a call from a man seeking a fibre piece. He wasn't really sure what to call it (and still refers to the art quilt I eventually made as a runner, a tapestry and an embroidery piece). He knew however what he wanted in it.
Everything.
Literally, everything.
This was to be a creation piece. Life, the universe and everything. With sheep.
And he knew where it was to be displayed, on a wooden table, in front of one of the oldest stained glass windows in the world, in a stone abbey in the English countryside.
So, that's were we began. From the size of table came the size of the piece. He wanted it to not be directional as it would be viewed from all sides. He wanted landscape, and not landscape. Earth, air, water, space, the cosmos, creation, evidence of humans but not portraiture, and sheep.
So we sat down with a few art quilt magazines and paper and pens and watercolours and we worked out a design, a time line and a price.
The close ups show some of the solutions I had to devise; I printed a human hand print on the rock, and I had to learn how to stitch the french knots for the sheep (Thanks Kate).
It all came together eventually and did make the trip to England and it is loved in its new home.
The photo of the piece in Stoneleigh Abbey The Undercroft, England is by Robert Mitchell.
All others are mine.
Susan Tilsley Manley
www.susantm.com
I got a call from a man seeking a fibre piece. He wasn't really sure what to call it (and still refers to the art quilt I eventually made as a runner, a tapestry and an embroidery piece). He knew however what he wanted in it.
Everything.
Literally, everything.
This was to be a creation piece. Life, the universe and everything. With sheep.
And he knew where it was to be displayed, on a wooden table, in front of one of the oldest stained glass windows in the world, in a stone abbey in the English countryside.
So, that's were we began. From the size of table came the size of the piece. He wanted it to not be directional as it would be viewed from all sides. He wanted landscape, and not landscape. Earth, air, water, space, the cosmos, creation, evidence of humans but not portraiture, and sheep.
So we sat down with a few art quilt magazines and paper and pens and watercolours and we worked out a design, a time line and a price.
The close ups show some of the solutions I had to devise; I printed a human hand print on the rock, and I had to learn how to stitch the french knots for the sheep (Thanks Kate).
It all came together eventually and did make the trip to England and it is loved in its new home.
The photo of the piece in Stoneleigh Abbey The Undercroft, England is by Robert Mitchell.
All others are mine.
Susan Tilsley Manley
www.susantm.com
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