FIBERWORKS - A CELEBRATION OF SOUTH AFRICAN
FIBER AND TEXTILE ARTISTS

Title: Centrepiece # 2 (2006)

Description: Made from a method I devised to create the effect of squares stacked behind one another, and inspired by the distinctive striped fabric used at the centre of each block. The quilt grew out of a workshop where I showed my 'variation on a log cabin' method to fellow Grahamstown quilters. The three different sized finished blocks add an extra dimension to the overall effect.

Title: Extension 3 (2006)

Description: This is the fourth in a series of house quilts (hence the name) and was inspired by the townships of the Eastern Cape. The houses are pieced using a variation of the log cabin method and are arranged in staggered rows.

Title: Oikos

Description: Using the idea of the planet as our greater home or place, this is an idyllic representation of a green, Edenic Earth. It is framed by a quotation from an essay in Small Wonder by Barbara Kingsolver.

Title: Partial fulfillment (2008)

Description: This layered quilt, with its restricted palette of beige, brown, silver and gold, is a representation of a detail from a painting by Klimt titled, in translation, Partial Fulfilment (also translated as Accomplishment). It depicts the search for the centre and contains a hidden labyrinth (quilted) and a short poem in machined script.

Title: Screen (2009

Description: Four panels filter the light and simultaneously provide a screen. Four simple but different designs from the same palette of fabric tease the eye. An example of the combination of utility and beauty. (It screens off my sewing table and work space.) The screen panels are backed with organza and hand quilted without batting.

Title: Singing Strips (2006)

Description: This quilt celebrates the bright side and had its genesis in the delicious shot colours lurking in the selvages of taffeta. Small pieces of taffeta are appliquéd onto strips, which in turn are appliquéd onto the black background. Hand quilted with beads and leather embellishments, then mounted on a machine quilted taffeta background.

Title: Threshold (2007)

Description: Created at Rosalie Dace's The Thinking Eye workshop and inspired by Klee's painting In the sixth threshold, this quilt depicts the process of evolution, emanating from the primordial soup and gaining in complexity. It contains a hidden detail. Using hand dyed fabrics in earth tones, this raw-edged work is mounted on over-dyed fabric.

Title: Doors of perception (2009)

Description: This quilt is about the struggle to see clearly and the mysterious process of recognition when we do manage to glimpse something. The many layers in the design reflect this process of perception. To quote William Blake: "If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear as it is, infinite". The quilt contains hidden details in the folds. A machine scripted poem, which is not quite a sonnet, appears on the main panel.

Title: Belly Dance # 1 (2010)

Description: A bold and bright celebration of the dance of life. The repeated circle motif gestures at the bellybutton or omphalos as the centre or still point.

Title: Window to the future (2009)

Description: House renovations inspired this quilt. The stained glass window represents sunlight flooding the new stairwell and - metaphorically - hope for the future. The stack and slash method was used to make the bright stars and curved piecing to construct the arch. Couching and pleating add depth and texture to the arch and stonework. The central star panel is loose layered over a black patch.

Title: Wedding Dress (2010)

Description: A statement about recycling and renewal, meditation and memory, nostalgia and nurture. Scraps of raw silk are hand pieced and layered on a backing of melkdoek. This is in turn laid and stitched onto a quilted cotton counterpane. Silk and silver thread and old, fine crochet cotton hold the layers together. The creams and whites provide a canvas for a pair of hand beaded red shoes.

Mariss Stevens
11 Huntley st
Grahamstown
6139

Phone:

Email: m.stevens@ru.ac.za