Flags Project

I’ve been growing and evolving my printmaking and fiberart materials and techniques for more than 25 years. Lately I’ve been interested in different ethnic fiberart practices. Visits to museum collections, study with Eastern European lace-makers and volunteering on an island archaeological project in Croatia have me fascinated by the fiber and design practices associated with maritime culture. It’s no wonder – being someone who grew up in a land-locked agricultural area – I find this curious. Minnesota being both an inner-continent state and profuse with lakes and waterways prompts me to look at both land and water culture simultaneously. I’ve begun using my signature animal images printed on handmade papers with stitching and blending in the language of historical nautical flags. The Covid pandemic lockdown had the whole world thinking of new ways to communicate from a distance. I began looking back at how nautical flags, these specifically designed squares of fabric were an effective, analog, international mode of distance communication.

Handwork+material+composition -- historical language and imagery from nature combined with repetitive marks have contemporary implications.

Flags are 20”w x 20”h, mixed media collage (etching & embroidery on paper)