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MARY E BLAKE 175 Glass, Gold Plate Bracelet
Mary Blake says about her work "I seem to have worked with fibers in one form or another ever since I can remember. I grew up in Indiana with a very talented grandmother who could make just about anything. I learned to embroider at an early age and spent many years looking at Jacobean and other more humble forms of embroidery. I've designed and made quilts, clothes, costumes, and cross stitch pieces, all based on or inspired by antique works and styles. I discovered beads in an introductory fibers class about twelve years ago and became fascinated with the myriad shapes, sizes and finishes available. I particularly like seed bead work. The medium is eminently portable and the tactile feel of the fabric created with off-loom stitches seems like a cross between fine chain maile and silk. Embellishment of the fabric is particularly challenging and satisfying. Antique beads add a sense of the organic to a piece, since they are less uniform in shape and size. I like to draw upon historical sources in my work, especially pieces that are applied art -- jewels made for the aristocracies of Europe, beaded purses made at the turn of the 19th century, antique embroideries that can be mapped for loom work, jewlery made for the earliest of mass markets. I have collected vintage seed beads and stones on the secondary market and have endevoured to incorporate them into my pieces, feeling a sense of continuity with other women, whose work has remained without the benefit of their creator's names. I hope that I may continue to work in this manner, continuing a tradition of craftsmanship that began with the first human -- probably female -- who picked up a shell or sparkly rock with a hole in it and strung it on a length of sinew to tie around her neck in order to say, "Look what I made! Isn't it pretty?" text and image from The Chait Galleries Downtown
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This page was first displayed on September 07, 2010
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