Cindy Kuo
"After the Rain"
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(Photos by Beth Wodnick)
Suburban Fine Arts Center Exhibit Pictures - 2 - 12 July, 2005
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Yarns. Threads. Fabric. Silk.
Wool. Cotton. Dyes. Paint. Beads. These, and many more, are all part of
the fiber artist’s garden. Throw those in with lots of “colour” and inspiration
mixed with a few memories and you have an endless array of art pieces to
create. I grew up in
My
knitted jacket shows some of the vivid Australian colours of the outback.
After a heavy rainstorm, the desert becomes alive with flowers, such as my
favourite: the Sturt Desert Pea. It is hard to imagine that from something
so harsh, comes something so beautiful.
The Sturt Desert Pea - a flower found in the outback of Australia, is one of my favourite flowers with it's bright red petals and a black "pea". My mind immediately went to this wonderful flower that blooms in the desert, after the rain, and I knew that I wanted to use it in my garment.
After designing the idea of the garment, I took 100% cotton yarn and knitted it up on the knitting machine - using Stockinette stitch.
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| Front & Back of Jacket | Sleeves of Jacket |
As I wanted to make sure that I achieved a blending of the colours for the horizon, I painted the yardage using Procion MX dyes with the desert and the sky.
After letting the dyes cure, rinsing and washing them, I unraveled the yarn into balls. I then hand knit the garment, using seed stitch for the "desert" and stockinette stitch for the "sky".
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The "Sturt Desert Peas" are made using black wooden beads for the "pea" and ultra-suede for the flower.
Working with the Shawl collar was my greatest challenge as I have never done one before.
As with any process work, there is always a lot of learning to do & achieved. I have had a wonderful time working through this process and hopefully will be able to participate in future projects.
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