ARTIST STATEMENT
I follow the quilting tradition of making something large out of small left over fabric pieces. I join the international cadre of women who quilt at home. I break tradition in that my woven quilts are presentable on both sides. I delight when both sides are revealed at the same time; as when covers are thrown off in a bed unmade. There may be a message hidden on the other side.
I collect reusable fabric and clothes that reflect a time and place. Working from the center I weave and then sew spirals (usually) around each intersection. I depend on our pixelated minds to connect the squares into perceived clusters, layers, abstractions. If I weave fabric printed with an image in both warp and weft I keep the image whole, but otherwise it’s all abstract. I start with a message but then the fabric dictates what happens and what is said. I hope the viewer plays my game of discovery.
It is a game.The printed fabrics seem to have personalities to me and they dance or clash with one another. They clump into tribal groups or scatter against a background of a different group. Not surprising that these have become more political as our society and global world go through the stresses of change. This is my therapy.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
I was born in the Territory of Hawaii, just 5 years before it became a state in 1959. Since then I’ve lived through much change; culturally, technologically, and also in our human folly. All of this finds it’s way into my woven quilts.
I was introduced to weaving on a table loom at my University Lab. School (1972), went on for my BFA degree in ‘Weaving’ at the University of Hawaii (1976), and then for my MFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (1980).
After working in light sculptures made of materials such as charcoal, wax, tree trunks, leather, pig gut, found objects, and using glue, soldering and solvents: I returned to the safety of quilting when pregnant. And after many moves across the country I am now settled in Ferguson, MO.
I started on double sided woven quilts after the age of 60. (!) Both sides are presentable which make it a challenge to display. I have been accepted into Fiber Art Now magazines and other shows that confine the presentation to only one side. In solo shows at non-profit venues I would hang them away from the wall. It was exciting for Racine Art Museum to display a small piece on a pedestal so people could touch and flip it over. The ideal viewing is when thrown in the corner of a couch, turned over on a bed, being in-flux in a home.
© Betty Jane Lau