Today in Art: Six Ways of Looking at the Pattaconk Brook, Revealed

A few days ago I reported that I was working on a piece called Six Ways of Looking at the Pattaconk Brook.  This piece will appear at a show at a gallery, Maple and Main, http://www.mapleandmaingallery.com/ in the town of Chester, Connecticut.  The show, Imaging Chester, http://www.mapleandmaingallery.com/imaging-chester, focuses on impressions of the town.  The Pattaconk Brook, which wends its scenic way all across it from west to east, finally emptying into the Connecticut River, is one of its prominent features.

I've been working on this for last couple of weeks, but finally it's done, so now I can show you my work.

Six Ways of Looking at Pattaconk Brook--the name is a reference to the poem Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird, by Connecticut poet Wallace Stevens--is a quilted and threadpainted fabric collage showing six ways of looking at the brook:  two scenic photos, two satellite photos, and two contour maps.

Above is a full view of the piece.  The central feature is a contour map showing the brook criscrossing Route 148, or vice versa, and emptying into the Connecticut River (via the Pattaconk Yacht Club, as I found).

In the upper right and lower left corner are the two scenic views  of the brook, and the rest are satellite images and contour maps. All are done through a process called photo transfer:  that is, the printing of photographic images on cloth.

Below, here's one of the two scenic landscapes of the brook, this one as it passes through the center of town. After the photo image is printed on cotton, it's threadpainted, quilted, and bound, like a mini-quilt.  This one is superimposed on one of the satellite images, itself also lightly quilted.

Come to the opening reception for this show!  You'll love Chester.