Artists at Play: November Art Bead Scene Challenge
Categories: abstract, Art Quilts, Artists at Play, beads, design, Elysian Studios, fiber art, landscape, painting, sewing
“Tree of Life”
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| “Tree of Life” by Erin Fickert-Rowland |
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| Tree of Life, Stoclet Frieze, 1909 by Gustav Klimt |
I just completed my entry for the November Art Bead Scene Challenge, which was inspired by Gustav Klimt’s “Tree Of Life” Painting. In order for a submission to qualify, it had to include “Art Beads”, which are handmade beads “made by individual artisans in independently owned studios.”
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| “The Kiss” by Gustav Klimt |
For this challenge, I was inspired by Klimt’s painting “The Kiss”, especially its wonderful mosaic patterns, and textures of spirals and vines. With this visual composition in mind, I set to work on beads made from polymer clay, that I carved and enhanced with alcohol inks. The gold disks and fragment pieces have been textured with lines and spirals, and the brown and gold tree trunk with a “faux bois” pattern. All beads were drilled with holes for stringing. Here are the beads before they were attached to my final piece.
My “Tree of Life” is a textile collage, with silk, velvet, and cotton fabrics. I have used gold thread to “thread-paint” the roots of the tree. Both the handmade polymer beads and the small glass beads have been hand-sewn onto the fabric. The textile has a hand-bound cotton floss border and will be mounted and displayed in a hand-made fabric shadow box. Here are a few details from the piece:
I had a great time making this piece, and I would like to thank Art Bead Scene for inspiring it! To see great projects, learn about interesting artists and techniques, and have some fun with competitions and blog hops, visit their blog at: http://artbeadscene.blogspot.com/
