Lost River Canyon

Name: Susan Marks

Designer:  Joan Thomasson, Stitchin' Stuff, Inc.

Stitcher's Comments:

"Lost River Canyon" was a class by Joan Thomasson.  Students were provided a line drawing on congress cloth, a photo of the canyon, along with other photos of water moving over rocks in streams.  We were also given a selection of fibers and suggested stitches to get us started. As my piece developed, the stash of threads and library of stitches grew by leaps and bounds.  The threads used are mostly solid or overdyed silks, with some cotton, linen, and metallic threads added as well.  The original piece was much more rust in tone, and the canyon reminded me of many I have seen in the Canadian Rockies near my home in Calgary, but the rocks here are much more grey and mauve in color, with very bright blue glacial water.  Since the choice of both threads and stitches were left up to individual students, stitching this piece became a very personal choice and journey.

The rocks are ultra suede; painted, stuffed and appliquéd, and the trees are Joan's famous "string trees" - cotton string doubled up, separated, wrapped and couched.  The design of both rocks and trees were left up to the students as well.  Since so many choices were made along the way, the piece developed a life of its own, with one thread or stitch choice influencing the next one.  The sky was done in basketweave in DMC cotton, but the clouds were painted on top of the stitching with acrylic paint.  Since a good part of the piece was stitched at this point, painting over the stitching was quite a leap of faith, but the effect was just as Joan had promised.

This piece was really a study in texture and perspective, and was a great learning experience and confidence builder for me.  I want to thank Joan Thomasson for helping me on this journey. 

Excerpt of Conversation between Tony Minieri and Judy Souliotis about this piece
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Last updated Monday, October 9th, 2006