NINE

By Terry Phillips

Quadra Island, BC

Size: approx 12 ½” x 13 ½”

Here is the 9th teapot in the series, slightly out of order. (I still have 6, 7, and 8 to finish). The theme is 'NINE' and the design is inspired by Japanese laquerware. The original idea was to place nine overlapping flowers on the teapot but I got carried away....and there are a few more than nine, depending on how you count them!

I like the way the green and the grey shimmer together.

Here is a close up:

Tallheo Cannery; Bella Coola

Size:  18” W x 27 ¼” H
By Terry Phillips
Quadra Island, BC

This fall I joined the Fibre Art Network, a group of professional textile artists in Western Canada working to promote textile art.  I am please to announce that this piece was accepted into their Canadiana Exhibit!

For this exhibition artists were asked to explore a sense of place in Canada, “considering its history, environment, the people, culture [including food, outdoor activities, music] and its uniqueness.”  The show opens in January 2015 at the New Zealand Quilt Symposium in Palmerston North, New Zealand.

I love exploring the boundaries of textile art and in this piece I have combined the rich colours of acrylic with the sculptural qualities of a stitched canvas.  In Bella Coola a fishing boat lies forgotten on the shoreline while the Tallheo Cannery finds new life as an Adventure Lodge by the efforts of the next generation of young, energetic Canadians. My niece, co-owner of the Tallheo Cannery, gave me permission to use her photograph for this piece.


The techniques used are wholecloth black cotton stitched in red thread.  Treated with black gesso and painted in acrylics.  Here is a close up:

Unfolding

Made by Terry Phillips

Quadra Island, BC

Size approx 12” W x 13” H

As this series ‘unfolds’, I present to you the 5^th teapot. There is nothing so romantic as the unfolding of a rose on a warm summer day. You bring your face closer and the sunwarmed petals release their tea scented fragrance into the soft air. It is no coincidence they are called Tea Roses. Don your long gloves, hat, and fancy dress for a tea party in the summer garden.

I love making quilted roses, and have done many over the years. They’re fun to sculpt with the stitching and now I can add extra dimension using acrylic paints. The leaves and sky weave together to create the background. The lacy tablecloth is created using a common sashiko design. I don’t like the convention which says show objects in odd numbered groups like 3, 5, or 7. Many times I choose groupings of 4, and do it in a way that might be pleasing, in this case 3 + 1. Just stubborn I guess.

Faces

Size approx 12” W x 13” H

How much fun it was to put the tugboat captain’s face on a teapot! He sits on a westcoast windowsill looking wistfully out at the passage he once sailed as a tugboat comes into view.

Pure whimsy!

OK Mom, now you have to make the real teapot!

Technique is the same as the rest of the teapots; acrylic on gesso on quilted fabric. Double batted.

Here is a detail:

Crackle Tree Coordinating Fabrics

1 metre feature fabric with 10 fat quarters.

Here is a selection of fabrics that I prepared this week, the idea was to have them coordinate together.

The feature fabric is dyed with wheat paste resist, stamped with various shapes and colours and painted with textile acrylics.  The coordinating fabrics also use a variety of techniques, from deconstructive silkscreening, low water immersion procion dyeing, pole shibori and stamping.  I pulled the extra two from my handmade stash as possible players.

Medieval

Size approx 12"W x 13" H

Here is my contribution for the theme “Medieval”.

I saw plenty of medieval pottery in Greece, Italy, and Spain this year, but nothing I would describe as a teapot. So I used the internet to search out shapes of teapots made in medieval times. The tall shape with the narrow opening at the top meant that no lid was needed and still the contents stayed warm and wouldn't spill out when pouring. The green glaze was typical of pottery wares coming out of England after 1080, at which time glazes started to appear on pots. Copper filings were added to the lead based glazes to obtain the decorative green colour.

The designs carved onto the pot are my fabrications based on ancient celtic designs from the British Isles. Following the medieval theme, I placed the stone wall, cobbled street, and stone arches in the background. This teapot may also have held a tipple, judging from the grape vines!

Rituals

Size: Approx 12 ½” W x 13 ½” H

As I sit here enjoying my daily lunchtime cup of tea; …slurp…I present to you the second of the nine teapots, this one for the Rituals theme. Like all the teapots, this one is fanciful with one of my favourite stylized floral motifs. Trying to keep a more or less even texture throughout leads to dense background quilting. Four layers of depth; ( teapot, table, branch, and background) help to add interest, while the steam adds movement.

Shown without binding because I’m hoping to do these a little differently.

And here is the close-up: