STITCHED PAPER & COLLAGE
‘She makes stitched collages that intermix found images or archive material with drawing and painting, using the lyrical active-reflective-reactive compositional method. A major series of Memory Vessels and Dreamscapes have been produced. These are made from paper (or paper objects) and red thread and they solve the composition in a subtly different way from the paintings and collages. Found imagery is collated, collaged and reprographically manipulated. It is also, sometimes, deformed into a three-dimensional shape. The manipulated imagery on these paper constructions form the basis for ‘line drawings’ made from stitched rows that follow their contours. Often the red thread is seen from the reverse side, or makes a linear foray out into the space in which the works are installed, anchoring them to a site-specific location.’
© Jonathan Parsons
(Full essay 'Space, Lived: The Art of Lisa Traxler' by Jonathan Parsons in the book ‘Lives of Spaces’ a publication about the artist and her work. Available from www.lisatraxler.com or lisa@lisatraxler.com)
A number of these stitched works have been exhibited around the UK. The DREAMSCAPES formed a significant part of the 'LIVES OF SPACE' exhibition in The West Gallery, Quay Arts IW. With further stitched and suspended pieces shown in the Hyde 900 Exhibition, Winchester Cathedral and The Link Gallery, Winchester. The MEMORY VESSELS in The Link Gallery Winchester and Arc Space, Aspex, Portsmouth. The PERSPEX CUBES have been shown in exhibitions at Mottisfont in Hampshire and Cube Gallery, Shropshire.
