Jan Sneesby Aaron
"Neighborhood Reflections"
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| (Photos by Patrick Fraser) |
You see them everywhere. All you have to do is look, especially on a sunny day when windows become mirrors of everything around them. Sometimes it is a beautiful tree or flower or house across the street. After I moved to a high-rise condo I found myself looking out its windows. I was captivated by the reflections on nearby buildings. Most are merely images; distortions of other buildings, maybe even my own. The images change with the time of year, time of day and even the specific location within my condo.
How could I use them for quilt blocks? Even before we began our 10 Easy Pieces project, I had taken dozens of pictures, isolating individual window sections and letting those abstractions become the basis for what I felt would be exciting, vibrantly colored quilt blocks. I never thought about interpreting them in their actual colors. With this project, I do both and am not sure which I like better.
The “neutrals” turned into a whole host of atonal colors. I chose to just let them happen with a bit of beads, sequins, Angelina fibers, handmade papers and other interesting fabrics. On the flip side, the same images are done in bright primary colors. The piecing is crazy quilt style framed in black like that associated with stained glass windows.
I’m not done using these images. I have even expanded my image collection. Where it will all go is anybody’s guess. I don’t go a day without looking at windows and admiring the amazing reflections and that leads to reflecting on the paths of my life. Take time to look at the reflections around you. Some of them may surprise you!
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I have been collecting ideas for a group of pieces called Reflections. To accomplish this, I am choosing words and colors as the basis for my piece. The reflections are not memory related. Instead, the reflections are the ever-changing shapes that bounce off the windows of the high rises across from 400 E. Randolph. From day one, I noticed that the windows reflect interesting shapes -- sometimes even colors, but mostly shapes. Further, they change from room-to-room as well as time of day, amount of sun, etc. It has, and continues to be, intriguing to me.
I think the two sides of each square will be one in the neutrals I see in the windows and one as I see it in glorious living color (thus, my reason for color).