Gesture, Shape, Dialogue, Organic, and Intuition

On December 3-4, 2011, Twenty-one women participated in The Expressive Stitch workshop by Dorothy Caldwell at the Cleveland Museum of Art in Cleveland, Ohio.

Day one was filled with stitching small blocks using the ubiquitous "Running Stitch". 

Samples of different blocks using the Kantha or Sujuni stitching method. 

I posted an entry about this activity on my own blog here.

During day 2, Dorothy lead us through a stitching exercise to help loosen-up our stitching and gestural mark-making.

Each participant was asked to blindfold herself and then stitch in an "interpretive manner" on cloth whilst Dorothy read five words out loud.  We were to create stitches that evoked the word itself.  

Dorothy read these words: Gesture, Shape, Dialogue, Organic, and Intuition

Mary Ann Tipple captured a picture of some of us 

when she lifted her blindfold to take a sneak.

Five words we were asked to stitch while blindfolded.

Notes from Sue Copeland Jones' notebook.

Blindfolds removed, we placed our blocks on the wall to admire the 

wildly expressive marks:

21 individual blocks

Approximately 8.5" x 8.5" square (each)

(photo: Mary Ann Tipple)

Dorothy shared a sample of a completed quilt that was made by a group of women in Australia who had also been in one of her workshops.

When we saw this piece, there was an audible gasp in the room. The women had completed the quilt in the Kantha (or Sujuni) method. The red embroidery floss created unity for the piece.

Such lovely expressive stitching!

Each woman hand-stitch her name onto a piece of cloth which was then stitched onto the back of the quilt. 

They call the piece Seeing Red

And now, we will create our own blind-stitch quilt, using the color blue to unite the work.

Let us begin!