Freedom

 My inspiration for 2017 theme "Freedom" was President Franklin D. Roosevelt's speech also known as the four freedom speech. In the speech, during the WWII time, he made a break with the tradition of US non-intervention policy. He outlined the U.S. role in helping allies already engaged in warfare.

I took these four fundamental freedoms and incorporate it's motive into quilts by breaking technical rules and use torn fabrics (Erika Carter's style) to create the quilt itself. In addition, I choose fabrics that – in my opinion – reflect the spirit of the freedoms people ought to enjoy.

Freedom of speech

 

 

Freedom of worship

 

Freedom from want

Freedom from fear

Shoshi Rimer









 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

FREEDOM 1, 2, 3, 4

What does "Freedom" mean to me?  Are any of us actually "free"?  If we are not "free", how do we obtain our "freedom"?  And what is this "freedom" we are seeking?

I decided to focus on a bird.  Birds seem to be icons of freedom--"free as a bird".

My quilts--Freedom 1, Freedom 2, Freedom 3 and Freedom 4--focus on our friend the bird and his attempt to find his "freedom".  In Freedom 1, he has found a way to escape his cage, but the weather is stormy and the going is rough.  His journey doesn't get any easier.  Freedom 2 shows him flying over the noisy, dirty city with its confusing lights and hidden dangers.  He flies past an old power plant in Freedom 3, dodging belching steam and polluted air.  Finally, in Freedom 4, he arrives in "Paradise" with its clean air and water.  His friend is already there, waiting for him.  Now he can live his life to its full potential which to me represents total freedom.

Thanks to the Voyage Art Textiles group for allowing me a few extra days to complete and post photos of my quilts.

Freedom 1

Freedom 2

Freedom 3

Freedom 4

Light on the Pool

I interpreted the Freedom theme to be freedom for me to develop an idea from source material that has been brooding  for a while.

I have always admired the photography of  Edward Steichen , a 19th Century Photographer whose work helped transform photography to an art form. I particularly liked his images of  pools  with light playing on the surfaces. We have a small stream in the garden which feeds into a lake next door and I have taken loads of photographs in all types of light through different seasons - so Freedom was an opportunity to take the colours and tones from some of these images I had taken over the years to produce abstract pieces based on the images.

The pieces are all done in silk - I love silk, despite its very unforgiving nature when you stitch it! It has such a luminosity which it retains when dyed and discharged. The pieces were dyed with procion then partly discharged and some pieces over dyed. The first two pieces were done whole cloth, the second two were strip pieced. I used the machine quilting to  try to create some movement on the water surface.

Detail of machine quilting

Autumn Light with copper beech leaves on pool surface

Strong spring light on the pool

Light in winter 1

 Light in winter II

Jean