Re-envisioned Canvas, Rectangle 1

For years, I stretched canvases and longed for a more physical connection to the fabric, which is so easily reduced to a mere surface. I tried painting on cut, sewn, and woven pieces canvas, but I always felt that something was lost with the application of paint. I wanted to the canvas to be the art. During the pandemic, I worked beside an ash tree outside my kitchen window, and when one day the saw came for the tree, I loaded what was left of the being—trunk and branches—into my car and drove it through the tunnel into the city with the hatch wide open and hazards flashing. Finally, I had a way to engage with canvas. I cut the branches for frames, wrestled their natural curves into familiar geometries, and wove and tacked the canvas leaving glimpses of the process and methods for viewers to explore.
 
The rectangular pieces in this series have matching embroidery floss stitched onto occasional strips of canvas. Canvas is a woven fabric, I cut and wove canvas strips, and the stitching provides an additional echo of the up-down rhythm of the rectangular weave.
 
canvas, hemp, and ash branches
14" x 12" ready to hang