A review of Wall Threads: Fiber Art for the Senses, on view in the Wachovia Gallery of the Richland Country Public Library through March 30, 2004.
Primitive humans knew the value of stitching fabric, and early quilters, for the most part women, advanced it to an art. Count Dottie M. Gantt among those artists. A fiber artist and quilter, her achievement results from a skillful assemblage of fabrics using free-motion embroidery and an eye for composition and color.
Gantt's quilt-making process often starts with a rough sketch, which she enlarges on thick paper using a projector. From this she cuts out pieces and pins them to a wall. Once settled on a composition, she places it on various background fabrics until she sees a united design. The final piece emerges only after a great deal of piecework using needle and thread.
Sometimes the fabric itself suggests a pattern and the stitching reinforces it. One sees this with her large wall hanging Twilight Garden Rain. The use of so many variegated patterns on such a large scale could easily turn into a visual disaster, but Gantt manages to pull the pieces together, achieving a harmonious flow with a three-dimensional effect.
Gantt also uses mixed pieces that serve to create a sculptural effect, most notably with Circles Within and Circles Without. In it, neutral-colored rings made of yarn appear abstractly. Their texture and couched weave play on the viewer's depth perception and sense of perspective. This same effect is achieved in Ibo Dreamtime by using varied tensions on the thread and employing fabrics with different weights. Her pastel-colored motif, in thinly stitched horizontal lines along a longer vertical, creates a soft vibrancy.
One of Gantt's more studied uses of stitches can be seen in Anemone. Her stitching leaves differing effects on the fabric as thread and bead overlap to create a stipple-encrusted surface. The embroidery here is the most revealing, working to break the self-imposed frame of the piece.
The variation Gantt achieves comes largely through her selection of fabrics, which include batik, hand-dyed fabrics, organza and cotton. She pieces the fabric using rayon monofilament nylon threads. Still, the real strength of her work doesn't come from her materials, but from her focus on pattern, color and form.
Reprinted with permission of The Free Times Newspaper, Columbia, SC
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