Silks

From the Artist: My mother traveled all over Europe and Asia expanding her fabric purchases beyond our local fabric store, Aladdin’s, in Eastchester. She was inspired by the intense colors, patterns, and details she saw and brought back yards of silks and cottons from China, Thailand, Japan, and India. In Silk Threads 1 & 2, the yellow and black represent embroidered robes that my mother bought in China. The deep pink is a silk that she purchased in Thailand and used to sew a dress for herself. In composing these paintings, I was most interested in the relationships of the colors discovering a primary color scheme. I also was intrigued and challenged by creating the illusion of the contrasting surface textures of the satin robe, the embroidered threads, and the woven silk. The creative process for this series became a conversation between the present and the past. I envisioned my mother’s silhouette as she worked at her simple black Singer sewing machine after designing, cutting, and pinning pattern pieces together. She quietly created in a messy swirl of activity. Did I realize how much creativity and craft was sewn into each piece? Life was so busy then. I offer these paintings, and the continuation of this series, as responses to her work and as tokens of gratitude and respect for her generous spirit and skill.