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GROUP QUILT - A WORLD RESOURCE AT RISK
Lyn, Christine, Susan, Janet
Lyn: I fell in love with the Amazon Basin
when I visited it. The wonderful Brazil trees tower out of the mists, with other trees, bananas, palms and ferns below, linked with lianas and vines. Lichens and mosses hang from branches and colourful orchids or
heliconiums catch your eye. All around you is the noise of the forest - monkeys chattering, birds screeching, creatures rustling - quite mesmerising. In shocking contrast, you also see vast areas of shattered
churned red earth, from logging and road building machinery. You are very aware of man destroying the rain forest, and that is why I chose this idea.
I designed my pieces from photos and drawings made at the time. The two pieces used the same design, but were made a little differently.
The original group piece - the central panel - had a pieced forest background using assorted rich fabrics - velvets, silks, organzas, some hand painted or dyed - and I appliqued the trees and flowers on to
this.
Christine: I decided to show the effects of
man on the forest, since Lyn had been so affected by this. So, working in her original style, I added the two side panels: one showing the devastation of overgrazing and road building, together with scavenging
condors and carracara, and the other showing forest fire.
Susan: Because Lyn was concerned with the
destruction of the rain forest, I had intended to cut her piece up to represent that destruction, but Christine had taken it in another direction - so in the end, I simply added some parrots to the central panel,
together with some free embroidery.
Janet: It arrived looking almost finished,
so I decided to add a forest floor using some fabric painted in Susan’s conservatory using Christine's painting technique (but Lyn didn't get the idea, and my bit is on the back!)
Lyn: Some of the pieces that were added I
removed and put on the back, and all else I did was to quilt and finish it.
INDIVIDUAL QUILT - AMAZONIA
Lyn: I wanted this piece to look like the real
rain forest. I had several goes at different ways of painting the background forest, using transfer paints or organza, and finally used photo imaging, with multiple layers appliqued together with invisible thread
and then cut away. Some of the flower pieces were painted and then sewn from the back - completed (after several discarded efforts) and then appliqued on afterwards. The two side panels were set lower than the
centre to add more depth. The quilt was finally decorated with extra painting and stitching.
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