Stitches Wednesday On Sunday

Last week was definitely a busy week.  On Tuesday, I trekked up to San Francisco to view, On The Grid: Textiles and Minimalism.   

“Minimalist art is based upon pre-existing systems that conceive of the artwork in advance of its actual execution.  These systems, often mathematical, rely on the repetition of simple forms.  Textiles by their very nature align with these core elements and textile artists, like the Minimalist artist, predetermine the finished work through their selection and processing of materials and in the warping or preparing the loom.” – de Young Museum

I was particularly interested in Contemporary artist Rebecca R. Medel (American, b. 1947) Wall of Windows, 1990, cotton, linen; knotted netting, warp and weft resist dyeing (ikat). Rebecca R. Medel began her career in the early 1980s and was influenced by Minimalist artists Agnes Martin and Sol Le Witt. The de Young describes the Wall of Windows installation as,”Using the time-consuming and meditative technique of combining knotted netting with double-ikat dyeing, she creates ethereal installations that vacillate between form and formlessnes.”  Medel mentions, “My work is about the spiritual, about infinity, about other than this physical plane of existence.”

The definition of Minimalist art of the 1960s described as seriality, succession, progression, repetition permutation also applies to my concept, knitting with Binary Stitches.  Encoding letters as binary numbers creates an original design using knit and purl stitches.  Knitting the assigned  knit and purl stitches builds a basic block, and through repetition, forms a sculptural grid-like appearance.

Referencing artist, Piet Mondrian, I decided to knit Binary Stitches #4© – Minimalist Rectangle

The rectangle is 18″ wide and will be 48″ long using Binary Stitches #4©.

Author: knitorious

Creating surface design on fabric through the use of mobile photography. View all posts by knitorious