This group below are the very beginnings of my reflections on the agricultural history of Silicon Valley through motifs of strawberry leaves, pear leaves, cherry blossoms and pear flowers as well as through use of Chinese and Mexican food wrappers and Japanese sashiko stitching. I am beginning to learn about tiling in layers in Photoshop.
I have a detailed description of the inspiration of these studies created last October on my
artist blog. Yes, it is a bit crazy that I am maintaining two blogs, but feel this is an important part of the process for me. I want to have this site and blog as the hub of my textile investigations moving forward. I began testing digital printer sites and contacting printers back in March when the Quilt Museum and I began discussions on this investigation into textiles.
This piece below was a test that I used also for the website banner above. I know that my final designs will vary greatly from what I have here now. This piece is kind of a bridge between my mixed media sculptural pieces and these beginning textile designs...I scanned materials I commonly use: vintage Japanese rice bags, sushi grass, Chinese food wrappers. I added in a strawberry leaf to represent past the past agricultural economy and elements of computer chips to represent the digital economy driving Silicon Valley now. I wanted an echo of Mexican textile design in the form to allude to Latino contributions to the area. With access to the San Jose Museums of Quilts and Textiles collection, I hope to mirror such textiles more accurately in future studies.