Artist Statement: I am a storyteller, torch bearer, art maker. I am a mixed media maker and lean into the art quilt as my main medium. For me the use of stitch is connected to the act of being a doer and maker. It is something I learned from my foremothers — the way that making a bedquilt, a garment or a meal could be both a necessity of life and a creative expression. It will come as no surprise to any of you that we exist in a world where the dominant narrative is patriarchal, Eurocentric, and youth obsessed. It won’t be news to you, either that for millennia women’s stories and perspectives have at best been side-lined and at worst redacted.
And here I am, a woman of a certain age, proudly entering my early Crone phase with really nothing to lose in illuminating and retelling these stories. Over the years I have been a painter, a printer, a graphic designer, and collage maker, but the medium that keeps calling me back is fabric and stitch. The etymology of the words “textile" and “text” comes from the same Latin root, texere, meaning “to weave”.
To create these pieces I chose a descriptive noun like Abundance, Wisdom, Balance and use that word as the creative prompt for each piece. Then I searched the public domain for a female face that speaks that word to me; now the collage fun begins. I use art papers, old book pages, sheet music, tissue paper, and sewing pattern paper to create the figure and background. The photographic faces and hands are tinted with acrylic paint. I strive for diversity, representing women of many ages and ethnicities. The women become the personification of the chosen noun on each card. I want the art to illustrate the vast complexity of female experience, power and wisdom -- to move beyond preconceived notions and prejudices about what a woman can do, can look like, can be. I think of them as Muses. They are meant to spark creativity and sharing of stories with ourselves and each other.
My objective is to print these pieces with a collaged woman on the front and a meditation/affirmation/story telling prompt focused on the depicted word on the back. My goal is to eventually create 52 images to make a “deck” on for each week of the year. The final deck will have 52 women and 52 words. To date I have created 18. Each piece of work is 5 x 8 inches and created from torn paper, paint, glitter and glue.
Bio: Lisa Thorpe (she/her/hers) is a mixed media artist, educator, feminist, visual storyteller, and perception agitator. She works in any medium that will convey the story best – with primary focus on fabric and paper collage, paint, print, and stitch combined in the form of art quilting. She has been an arts educator for over 30 years. Thorpe is currently traveling the country leading surface design and stitch workshops and giving lectures. Last year she was a workshop facilitator and lecturer at the International Quilt Festival in Houston and a featured artist on “The Quilt Show” (Episode 3002). In 2023 she is leading workshops, giving lectures, and participating in forums at Craft Napa, Gulf States Quilt Association Seminar, and at SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Association) International Conference. Thorpe has published technique articles in Quilting Arts and Art Quilt Studio magazines. Her work has exhibited nationally at the International Quilt Festival in Houston, Pacific Northwest Quilt & Fiber Arts Museum, and at the Great Wisconsin Quilt Show to name a few. In her home state of Arkansas, Thorpe has shown at Acansa Gallery, New Deal Gallery, and currently at Boswell Mourot Fine Art. Thorpe received her Design degree at University of California, Davis, and a teaching credential at San Francisco State University.
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