This series of three quilted panels is about
luminescence, or light emerging from dark. Refraction refers
to the bending of light as it passes through a prism or
crystal. My use of fabrics dyed in both chromatic (color
to color) and value (light to dark) gradations, creates
the illusion of luminescence.
The quilted panels were pieced from 100% cotton print cloth,
which was hand dyed in over 100 different colors and shades.
First a graduated set of 48 pure "rainbow" hues
was dyed. Then gradations were dyed from both navy and black
to each of the primary (yellow, turquoise, fuchsia) and
secondary (orange, green, purple) colors.
The construction of the panels was based on the traditional
"log cabin" piecing technique. Each spiral began
with a small hexagon. 1½" wide strips from six
different color gradations were used to piece, log cabin
style, around each small hexagon. As each row was sewn,
the strips were angled slightly, so that as the hexagons
grew, they began to appear to spin.
This triptych is composed of three separate panels, which
are meant to hang 2" -3" apart. Each panel is
slightly different in color and composition, and is meant
to interact visually with the design of the adjacent panel.
Refraction #8,#9,#10 was commissioned by the General Railway Signal Corporation for the main lobby of their new manufacturing
plant in Rochester, NY. It was completed and installed in
March, 1993. Several years later the Railway company changed
hands and their entire art collection was sold on eBay.
Two panels went to a private collection in California, and
we don't know who has the third panel.
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