Dyeing to Differ:
Kathleen O’Connor, Lydia Johnston and Judith Plotner presents hand
dyed quilted fabric constructions by these three well-known regional
textile artists. Using dye, paint, monoprinting or other hand processes,
each artist produces work unique to their individual personalities united
by a common root in the collage process and affinity with the materials’
physical properties and visual potential.
“I use commercial fabrics
as “found objects” which I cut and combine with my own painted and dyed
fabric,” said Kathleen O’Connor of Queensbury. “I enjoy fabrics’
physicality and its associations. I try to make these disparate materials
more visible—exposing their oddity, awkwardness and elegance…They are
surreal in a way that life seems, to me, surreal—not always overtly odd
but full of odd juxtapositions.”
My work expresses color
and movement, balance and harmony,” says Lydia Johnston of North Pownal,
Vermont. “With each piece, I create a place that invites you in, that
keeps your attention moving from one color block to another through subtle
interactions.”
Plotner, of Gloversville,
New York, frequently incorporates text as part of her quilts. “Utilizing
surface techniques such as monoprint, photo transfer, silkscreen,
stamping, printing and dye, paint and oil stick I am pushing the
boundaries of quilt making into a new realm,” she said in her artist’s
statement.
