Elin Noble, Fiber Artist, Open Studio

Hand-dyed threads.

On November 23 DH and I drove about an hour from our home to New Bedford, a New England town once famous as a whaling port, and then, when petroleum made whale oil obsolete, as a textile manufacturing center. There is a remnant (no pun intended) of the garment industry still here, as Joseph Abboud's line of menswear is still made here.

Other types of textile work continue, in the form of Elin Noble's hand-dyed fiber art. As part of the annual New Bedford Open Studios event, we visited Elin's studio, housed in an old industrial building.

Elin tells us about her process.

Elin's medium is fabric -  folded, clamped, dyed, discharged and otherwise manipulated in ways that may seem almost magical but are the result of deliberate and well-practiced technique. In some series the finished fabrics are layered and quilted. After many years of quilting even very large pieces on a domestic machine, Elin added long-arm quilting to her repertoire, and the results are impressive. The quilt world has acknowledged her achievement with the 2013 Quilts Japan prize.

Studio visitor admires art and long-arm quilting machine.

Wall of thread, for use in the long-arm.

In addition to finished artworks, Elin offered fabric, thread, garments and other items for sale. We also met Elin's partner, Lasse Antonsen, an accomplished sculptor.

Hand-dyed fabric for sale.

After making our purchases - thread for use in sashiko  - we realized it was lunchtime and on Elin's suggestion we motored about a mile to Cork, a tapas and wine (and beer) bar near the waterfront. Elin didn't steer us wrong - risotto cakes with spicy pimenta moida sauce and pan-seared scallops over rice and mushrooms with macadamia cream sauce were just delicious.

Cork restaurant.

Elin Noble Marbling on Cloth exhibit

Colo Colo gallery,  New Bedford.

Elin Noble: A Grain of Sand, is the eponymous title of an exhibit of monoprints by Elin Noble, at the Colo Colo Gallery, 29 Centre St., New Bedford, from August 23 through September 9, 2012.  Elin is a member of my quilt guild,  and a wizard with dyes, paints and pigments.

 

The monoprints are created through marbling on cloth. Basically, water is thickened with a sizing to alter its surface tension. Various pigments are then floated on the surface; the pigments can be manipulated with various tools to make patterns. The patterns are then transferred to  paper or cloth  laid on top of the surface. 

The images have a lapidary quality, hence the English name for the technique, marbling. Marbled papers have been used for some time in fine hand book-binding; anyone who has used 19th century books may have noticed the marbled endpapers in the old volumes, such as the one below, which also has an antique bookplate.

Image source: http://www.squidoo.com/marbled-paper?utm_source=google&utm_medium=imgres&utm_campaign=framebuster

Grain of Sand quilt.

Many of Elin's prints remind me of fractal imagery, and have a "world within worlds" quality when scrutinized closely; the exhibit title Grain of Sand refers to a poem by William Blake, 19th century English writer and artist.

Grain of Sand print, detail. Click to enlarge.

To see the world in a grain of sand,

and a heaven in a wild flower,

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand

And eternity in an hour.

         Stanza one, from Auguries of Innocence