Wednesday, June 1, 2011

DISCO DRAGON DANCE



My wonderful friend Eva-Maria from Hamburg in Germany, is an artist with a big heart, endless ideas and imagination, and many talents - she paints, she draws, she embroiders, she is a great photographer, she creates fantastic ethnic dolls, she dyes fabric, she prints, she fabricates lino cuts, she designs fabric. And she makes the most stunning quilts in her very unconventional and unique way, mostly entirely sewn by hand, color and texture celebrate and explode on their surface, and she paints and prints many panels and squares herself! One of them is her Reptile Quilt - a breathtakingly beautiful heirloom! Please see for yourself:
Some time ago she gifted me with three small painted and stenciled fabric panels of a stylized dragon. I wanted to create something from it which truly showed my appreciation for the present and for her art. It was clear to me from the beginning that the panels would not work with any commercial fabric - so I set out dyeing and painting fabric in the appropriate colors - no yellow for example. I started to design a little hanging - cutting squares and rectangles and arranging and overlapping them on the wall till it looked pleasing to me and satisfying, then I started sewing it all together with unfinished edges, appliqueing the pieces with simple straight stitch on fleece, and then backing it with dark turquoise fabric. And yes I am very satisfied - I like how it looks graphic bold and colorful and brings out the loveliness and movement of the dragons - they dance in a disco hall with laser beams! YES!

The quilt is small 34" (86cm) x 20" (51cm). My son fell in love with it and tomorrow it will be on the wall above his sofa. He will cherish it, I know that! 
The rod is from a beloved tree called Ktalav קטלב in Hebrew, and Eastern Strawberry tree (arbutus andrachne) in English, which has wonderful dark red colored branches.
I did my best with the photographs!
This is Eva's pleasant blog: 
http://colourful-research.blogspot.com

11 comments:

zsazsazsu said...

waw !!!!! Both of you are fabulous artists !

Dies und Das vom Neckarstrand said...

Liebe Yael,
es ist für mich immer ein Wunder, wenn ich solche Werke sehe. Es gibt so begnadete "Künstler". Ich gehöre leider nicht dazu. Aber ich erfreue mich immer an ihren Dingen und Werken.
Liebe Grüße
Irmi

Clare said...

what a lovely colourful quilt - i like all the pieces that make it up and the clever design of the dragons - wonderful work.

rachel awes said...

powerful!!!
xox

Bernstein said...

Hallo Yael,
wow, Dieser Quilt ist ein Traum und ja er wirkt sehr dynamisch.
Dir ist es wirklich gelungen aus diesem wunderbaren und kunstvollem Geschenk ein Kunstwerk zu machen und die Motive hervorzuheben und zu unterstreichen.
Der Ast als Aufhänger verstärkt diese Wirkung noch.
Ich kann sehr gut verstehen, dass sich Dein Sohn in das Werk verliebt hat.
Wieder einmal restlos begeisterte und beeindruckte Grüße
Inbar

Annuk said...

Oh WOW, this work is amazing!!! Eva-Maria is such a talented artist, and you are too, dear Yael! You were able to put Eva's beautiful work "in scene" making it part of an overall wonderful work of art, respecting its original colors and embellishing it without making it disappear.
I find it wonderful when artists put their imaginative skills and talent together and a new work of art is born... Great work, both of you!
Your son is going to cherish this heirloom for many many years... and his kids and grandkids too!

Dawn of LaTouchables said...

Wowww, and stunning! I have always loved visiting Eva's blog. She is super-kreativ, und ich liebe ihre Kunst!

2 B's World said...

Liebe Yael,
es ist so beeindruckend, was ihr immer wieder an Kunstwerken erschafft. Mir fehlen die Worte, die dieser Arbeit und dem wundervollen Quilt gerecht werden könnten.
Du kannst sehr stolz auf dieses besondere Stück sein.

Herzliche Grüße von Birgit

... said...

It's absolutely amazing, Yael!

Eva said...

Hey, ich bin beinahe beschämt, wie großartig Du mich hier vorstellst. Und ich kann mir keine bessere Verwendung für die Drachen vorstellen als so ein abstraktes Quilt, das die Phantasie anregt. Das hast Du ganz wunderbar gemacht, und ich bin begeistert, wie wir zusammenarbeiten, denn ich nehme ja auch jeden Tag Deine Stoffe in die Hand und komponiere damit. Ich schätze mich glücklich und empfinde es als eine Ehre, so über die Ferne mit Dir kooperieren zu dürfen.

glazedOver Pottery said...

Wow, this is marvelous, Yael. I can see why Yaron loves it so much...you can't but be smitten by it. Beautiful work, Eva-Maria, beautiful work, Yael, tithadesh and boogey-on, Yaron!