I am fascinated by natural patterns, divine systems, man’s machines, and the everyday junk all around us. Collected images of machines, insects, technical drawings, and kitschy junk form a soup of design and chance. My works often wrestle with a theme that returns to me over and over again; how does all the stuff of our lives fit together? Is it a neat equation? How do chance and chaos contribute to our circumstance? How do the organic and the digital coexist? Each collage is an exploration of another permutation, another tangle of objects.

Digital collages from my Plans & Diagrams series will be on display in the Artspace Lobby in June. Maybe it’s time to order frames :)

image: Plans & Diagrams #4

See more of this series

The Artspace New Artists Exhibtion opens tonight. I’ll have several pieces in the show including these collages. They’re from my Lost & Found series, and include paper, silk, found fabrics, digital prints of altered shibori and other digital collages, and stitching. They’re matted and framed (a little of the beige mat shows in the photos); the area within the mat is 7″ square. Click on a thumbnail for a larger image.

Sorry I haven’t posted in a while… I’m getting work ready for some upcoming exhibitions and, of course, have zillions of ideas for new work. I’m digitally painting some imagery for more work in the nest series.

Another digital collage for the International Collage Exchange I spent the afternoon printing collages for the exchange on my new paper — the Arches Infinity with watercolor paper texture and they look GREAT! The paper is lovely and the images POP! I’m tickled pink… now to find the funds to order many more boxes of this paper in various sizes…

Another digital collage for the International Collage Exchange. This is one of my favorites– the others are a bit busier, I like the simplicity of this image.

It’s a quiet January…a bit cold and gray. I’m thankful for the opportunity to get back to the studio and get to work. These are yet untitled digital collages for the International Collage Exchange (formerly known as the Bakers Dozen Collage Exchange). I just ordered some new paper for the exchange prints– Arches Infinity Digital Art Paper, 230gsm– it’s thick and somewhat textured like watercolor paper. I’m really looking forward to working with it.

Nest #4, 12″ x 12″, ©2006, $125

Digital prints on silk, stitched.

December was a crazy month and I’m just beginning to catch up! The opening reception for my solo show at Artspace (Raleigh, NC) was Friday, Dec 1. The photo is of me in front of Garden, 50″h x 34″w, ©2006. Lots of folks came by to see my art; I’m always fascinated by people’s reactions. It’s very affirming to hear my work speaks to someone.

shibori building, 18″h x 36″w, ©2006, $650
My solo exhibition, Digital Shibori: Pattern & Stitch, opens at Artspace tomorrow!

computation, 12″x 12″, ©2006, sold
new work for the green hill center’s invitational winter show.

luna, 18″ x 36″, ©2006, $650
Luna moths are so beautiful… and well behaved for the camera. Occassionally they land on our house or on a tree in the yard. My first few photos are hurried, then I realize the luna moth is not moving and I can get my tripod and choose a lens.

This piece will be in Green Hill Center’s Winter Show.

detail:

Hmmmm…. I should work on making better photos — the work is mostly machine stitched and has some lines of big hand stitches with fat cotton thread.

network #3, 29″ x 24″, ©2005, $350
I’m thrilled that network #3 will be included in Form Not Function at the Carnegie Center, January 12 — March 8, 2007.

Yippee! My bird in digital shibori landscape will be included in a book: Innovative Fabric Imagery to be published in 2007 by C & T Publishing.

nest #2
digital shibori collage printed on silk, stitched, 24″ x 24″
©2006

New work, just completed for Artspace’s Gala auction www.artspacenc.org.

A new work for my upcoming solo exhibition at Artspace, December 2006:

path, 18″h x 36″w, ©2006 tricia mckellar