Turkey Red Journal

Volume 14 Issue 2

A Journal Dedicated to Natural Dyes

Spring 2009

Nature's Gallery

Diana Maher and Patricia MacIndoe

Diana Maher

In the early 1970s, when I was studying painting, the rich heritage of American quilts was being rediscovered and presented in museums and galleries. The aesthetic affinity between abstract painting and traditional quilts intrigued me. As I experimented with quilt-making, fabric gradually became my principal medium. My method of designing quilts is painterly in that I use a felt "canvas" which is hung on a wall, and arrange, rearrange, and add and subtract pieces of fabric until the composition is complete.

Wanting greater depth and subtlety in fabric color, I took a course in natural dyeing at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2006. The cotton quilt pictured here is made of sample swatches dyed in that class. Subsequently, I began dyeing wool and silk fabrics in my own studio and these appear in the other three quilts. Although I had been making quilts for a number of years, the four small quilts pictured here represent my first venture into dyeing the fabrics I use. In all of my quilts, I am trying to create an expansive, dancing rhythm of color and form in the contained surface.

Hand-dyed and quilted wool. 17" x 16", 2008.
Madder, weld, logwood grey, fustic, cutch (white areas undyed).

Photograph Copyright by Diana Maher

Hand-dyed and quilted wool, 12" x 12", 2007.
Cochineal, weld, logwood grey (white areas undyed).

Photograph Copyright by Diana Maher

Hand-dyed and quilted silk, 33" x 33", 2007. Madder, weld, cochineal, fustic, logwood grey		Hand-dyed and quilted cotton, 21" x 17", 2006. Madder, weld, indigo, cochineal, logwood purple and grey, cutch.
Photograph Copyright by Diana Maher		Photograph Copyright by Diana Maher

Patricia MacIndoe

Jacob's Ladder.
Silk, linen, cotton, metalic yarn, glass beads, and wooden ladder,
65" x 62", 2004. Dyed with Rhubarb (yellow), Ivy berries (grey),
Procion dye (purple), light reactive dyes in various colours
on hand printed and painted areas.

Photograph Copyright by Patricia MacIndoe

Cloth Pots.
Cotton organza, African cotton print fabric, silk douppioni, buttons.
10" high, 12" high and 4" high (L-R), 2006.
Yellow areas dyed with rhubarb, other colors commercially dyed.