MODULE 1 - CHAPTER 12

STUDY THREE ARTISTS

HERTA PULS (1915-)

In her book “Kuna Indians of Panama”, Herta Puls talks about symbols and their use in the cutwork and appliqué designs of the Kuna Indian Molas.   Both religious symbols, and everyday objects in their environment were used in story telling Molas.   She believes that “all works of art relate in some way to the order which exists in nature”.

When hunting and gathering changed to farming, symbols likely started to relate to success in growing crops, like changing season, rain, and sun. The symbol of the cross developed as an equal limbed symbol depicting east north south and west. Supernatural powers or gods were believed connected with the points and they believed that a power emanated from the fixed point. Other Kuna symbols included the zigzag, depicting an umbilical cord, triangles denoting male or female depending on their orientation. The Kuna Indians also use a y-shaped symbol in their molas the only reason Herta Puls could find was that it was the shape of a stick used to lift their clothes up to high wooden beams in their huts.

In this same book, Herta also talks about how embroidery in the past was used not merely as decoration, but denoted status within a community, visual communication of stories or as symbols of spirituality. She wonders that today perhaps too much importance is given to techniques rather than to freedom of designs expressing individual values or beliefs.

Mola work taken from Textiles of the Kuna Indians of Panama

The following two pictures are of of Herta Puls' own work.

References:

Puls, Herta.  Textiles of the Kuna Indians of Panama. Princes Risborough: Shire, 1988. Print.

WASSILY (VASILY) KANDINSKI (1866-1944)

 Kandinsky was a Russian artist who was a leading member of the Blaue Reiter . In his early work he depicted landscapes but gradually moved towards abstraction.  In his book, “Concerning the Spirituality in Art” he separated his work into three groups, Impressions which were the natural world, Improvisations depicted a mood or feeling, and Compositions were also inner visions but more like a symphony.  After leaving Russia, Kandinsky went to Berlin, then took up a position at the Bauhaus.  He then moved to Paris where he lived until his death in 1944.

I was lucky enough to see “Kandinsky. The path to Abstraction”  in 2006 at the Tate Modern.  One thing that struck me was how dark his early paintings were and how more and more light his paintings became the more abstract they were. His later paintings had much more emphasis on geometrical shapes, particularly circles and triangles.  He likened colours to sounds in an orchestra.

In Kandinsky’s book  he “ exhorts artists to not be idle but have a hard work to perform".  "Every deed, feeling and thought are raw material from which his work is to arise."  "Artists have great power, but great duties".  "The artist must have something to say, for mastery over form is not his goal but rather the adapting of form to its inner meaning”.

On White II 1923, Oil on Canvas

Musee National Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris

Composition VIII, 1923, Oil on Canvas,

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, N.Y.

White Cross, 1922, Oil on Canvas,

Collezione Peggy Guggenheim, Venice, Italy

References:

Paul, Kate. Kandinsky: The Path to Abstraction. London: Tate Modern, 2006. Print.

Janson, H.W., Anthony Janson F., and H. Janson W. History of Art: The Western Tradition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice-Hall, 2004. Print.

Vergo, Peter. The Music of Painting: Music, Modernism and the Visual Arts from the Romantics to John Cage. Berlin: Phaidon, 2012. Print.

Kandinsky, Wassily. Concerning the Spiritual in Art. New York: Dover Publications, 1977. Print

JUDY MARTIN

I was first introduced to Judy’s work when I attended the 2012 Middlesex BFA graduation exhibition in England.  A couple of  friends were also in the same graduating class.  I really connected to Judy’s work and have subsequently been an avid reader of her blog and follower of her work.

Much of her earlier work was primarily quilting, but more and more she is using hand stitching in her often very large pieces.  Sometimes her work is completely covered in dense hand stitching, on hand dyed fabric. The fabric she uses is often repurposed and hand dyed damask tablecloths or woolen blankets.

 Her mornings are frequently spent at home, hand stitching, which she likens to meditation . Her afternoons are spent in her studio. Inspiration for her work comes from her nearly 200 journals filled with bits of poetry, snippets of conversation, sketches, artist studies and other bits of ephemera,  Judy lives on Manatoulin Island in Ontario, Canada and her work often is influenced by the environment where she lives.  While her work is contemporary, she also includes traditional values of family and home. I find her work truly inspirational. I would like to thank Judy for giving me permission to use her photographs here.

You can find more information about Judy in her interview for The World of Threads exhibition and her Blog, both are referenced below.

                                       

Cross my Heart

Blue Willow Cloth made for her daughter's wedding based on the pattern on blue willow dishes.

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Reverse Applique Dots

References:

http://www.worldofthreadsfestival.com/artist_interviews/021_judy_martin_11.html

judys-journal.blogspot.ca

On researching these three artists, I notice that besides their unique ways of using crosses, other symbols,applique, or reverse applique,  They all have a common theme of looking beyond techniques and skill, to portrayal of inner deeply important feelings of spirituality, values and meaning in their work.