Evolution of an Artquilt

 I have taken many classes from Nancy Crow over the years and this piece was the result of a series of design exercises I did in a recent class. First we worked with black and white fabric and created several compositions following different criteria. In my designs I was playing with triangles, touching corners and overlapping shapes.  I liked the diagonal arrangements and positive and negative space created. Next we were to translate one of those designs into a value study and ultimately a version using full color.  I struggled with those two steps, starting over several times and finally broke away and created a totally new composition working directly with bold color. I did a few sketches first then began laying in colored fabric on the design wall.  I loved the dynamic shapes and was very excited when it started to come together. I auditioned many different colors until I arrived at a combination that worked, with saturated analogous hues and warm neutrals. Although I didn't follow the assignment, I was very happy with my "break away" piece. I loved working with the saturated colors and was challenged to create the sharp intersections I wanted in this design. It is one of my favorite pieces and will be the first in a series.

Creating with Fabric

For the last few months the studio has been set up for working with fabric and I have been busy making fiber art. I am thrilled to be embarking on an exciting project and my goal is to create a new body of work. I will be exploring new ideas, working in a series and expanding my work with color and compositional structures. The first pieces I made this summer are partially shown on the design wall at the left. "Sharp Crayons", the piece shown in my header and in the top left margin is the first work I made in this series and many friends encouraged me to explore this idea further. That seemed like a good place to start. In future posts I will share some steps in the process and my thoughts.

My First Post

This will be my first blog post so here goes..... My name is Diane Melms and I am an artist, teacher, wife, and mother. I love making art, playing outdoors, cooking, reading, traveling, and teaching. I live in Anchorage, Alaska and have a wonderful husband and two grown sons. I taught art for many years in the public schools but am now focused on creating my own fiber artwork and teaching small groups of children in my home studio. 

In this blog I hope to share some of my studio experiences and the process I go through as I explore ideas, experiment with media, contemplate design, create various works of art and plan activities for young artists. 

This is a picture of my studio. It is a well lit space with a large table, sink, computer area, comfortable seating and lots of storage for art supplies. This shot shows the room set up for one of my after school art classes.  There is a lot of art all around the room and it is a very stimulating place. When I work in this space, I get out the sewing machine, stacks of fabric, a cutting board and a large design wall. I usually end up making quite a mess.  It is a functional space, easily transformed for various purposes.