Echoes of Objects 2009

Amber Coppings
Gestures 12: May 9 – June 21, 2009
Materials
silk organza, fabric dye, thread

As a textile artist I am fascinated with the combination of texture color and cloth As a further study into three dimensional cloth manipulation...

Artist Statement

As a textile artist, I am fascinated with the combination of texture, color and cloth. As a further study into three dimensional cloth manipulation, I asked friends, family and people from my community to donate “unseen” objects from their lives that I could use to create texture in cloth for this installation. People donated objects that share and clutter their space, but are invisible most of the time. Knick knacks, things that are broken but you intend to fix, a single flip flop, rusty keys…. Each object was embedded and bound in the silk, subjected to Japanese Shibori fabric dyeing processes, then taken out to reveal a permanent shape in the cloth. The objects were reduced to shadows and shapes some of which resemble the original subject. I never knew how they would turn out. The texture is an echo of the solid object that we see, but rarely interact with; the things we keep around, but don’t need.

About the Artist

After attending Carlow University and trying out several creative careers, Amber spends time in her studio creating textural art-to-wear using Japanese shibori fabric dyeing and cloth manipulation methods. Her Amtextiles line of art-to-wear was showcased at the 2009 American Craft Council show in Baltimore, MD. Amber’s work can be found locally at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts.