Module One – Chapter 13

 

CHAPTER 13

Herta Puls

I had seen a few pictures of this type of applique but hadn’t realised where it originated from or the intricacies of the designs. It was difficult to chose one to illustrate an example of Mola embroidery, but I decided to select two with an animal motif and two with a geometric motif as they are each commonly occurring themes:-

 

Kandinsky

Again I didn’t know much about Kandinsky. I was intrigued to see the variation in his works with some being almost traditional scenery and landscapes and others being quite abstract. There were a number of works which demonstrated the overlaying of shapes to create a sense of movement and depth. The following examples I felt were some examples of this:-

In the Black Square 1923

Composition VIII 1923

Unequal 1932

Several Circles 1926

Artist of my Choice – Jennifer Bowker (1948 – )

Jennifer Bowker is a quilt maker and textile artist who now lives in Canberra, Australia. However, she is married to a diplomat for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for the Australian Federal Government and has lived in Syria, New Guinea, Western Samoa, Malaysia, Jordan, Israel, Jerusalem and Egypt. As she says on her website this “has influenced my subject matter and much of my work reflects my love of the Middle East.”

Jennifer’s original background was in science, but in 1997 she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree (Visual) with First Class Honours from the Australian National University in Canberra. She has had a number of solo exhibitions of her quilts, won a number of awards and enjoys passing on her skills to students.

I do not know Jennifer personally and first became aware of her work recently when a series of pieces she had made for the Centenary celebrations in Canberra were featured in an Australian magazine, Textile Fibre Forum.

Her web site address is www.jennybowker.com.

I think her work is fascinating with such amazing detail and clever use of colour. Some of the quilts feature patchwork but a number are made using applique and other piecing methods.

I looked at the quilts she had featured on her website and thought that some of them appeared to have applique techniques used in them. Because the pictures were not very large and the detail was not clear enough when I enlarged them, I sent her an email and she confirmed that the following quilts feature applique:-

Abu Ali and the Gilded chairs

Ittayer and the Friday market in the City of the Dead

Mohamed Sa’ad Caretaker of the Mosque

Sandstorm over the White Desert

Snapshots in the Palmetum

Hassan and the Glass