Baltimore Sonnets

 The Marriage Of True Minds Working on Shakespeare's sonnet 116 has made me re-examine how I construct books using textiles. When analyzing the text of this sonnet, I took a deep dive into the history of thought and knowledge. How information is documented and re-analyzed each generation. What has changed? What has remained the same? Looking at the text in this light, in the now , but not forgetting the historical past lingering in the shadows, I realized that the poem was much more complex than I had initially thought. And, instead of working on it daily for four weeks, I worked on it daily for twenty weeks.  Here are some WIP imagery inspired by Sonnet 116: Linocut printed onto a quilted page. A few textile pages waiting to be sewn into a book. Silkscreening sonnet 116 onto hand-painted fabric by Suzanne Coley .

2024 was a productive year.  I created several different book series of embroidered and embellished books during my 1.5 years as a Folger Institute Fellow.   These three flower books are in response to Shakespeare's Sonnet 54.  During my artist talk at the Folger on 16 November 2024, I mentioned the power of flowers.   "The act of giving flowers is a timeless gesture of deep appreciation, love, or praise. Beyond their symbolic value, flowers serve as visually striking design elements, drawing the eye and creating inviting focal points. Even after a fresh bouquet fades, the memory of the gesture endures, lending a poignant resonance to these artistic choices." /Suzanne Coley, 'Coded Threads,' November 2024  

 Coded Threads: Translating Shakespeare Through Art The following is a page from Flowers For Mistress Overdone , the first of two books that I presented at the Folger Shakespeare Library on Nov 16. The pages for the books are created with textiles from 5 continents (Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and North America).  The textiles were collaged and sewn into various designs. The fabric on the left is a collage of American and Tanzanian fabrics that I combined with one of my linocuts.  The fabric on the right was an original mid century modern English quilt top I purchased at London's Antique Quilt Company during my summer in the UK researching Shakespeare's texts.  The owner, Christopher, sources the highest quality textiles and it was truly a joy to transform this quilt into pages of my books inspired by Shakespeare's Measure For Measure. It was wonderful to present a few of my original artworks and embroidered books during my talk at the Folger Shakespeare Library....