Thursday, July 10, 2008

Recurring Themes, part 1

Allison of Fraske Designs has researched some recurring themes in some Boston Handmade members' work. This is the first of a series of posts on the topic.

Some members of Boston Handmade have obvious recurring themes. The Hole Thing is a perfect example: Louise consistently features holes, circles, and dots in her work. Others, however, have a little more explaining to do!
For Katy of MuchachaK, sometimes the themes that pop up are conscious and some are totally unintentional:"For me there are two things that people tend to comment on about my work. I get a lot of comments that my creations are very "happy". I do use a lot of bright, happy fabrics, and bold patterns. When I've tried to scale it back and try out more neutral themes, colors or patterns, it just doesn't feel right and I always go back to the happy, wacky stuff. I guess that's just me. And then the other day a friend wrote me an email and called me "bird lady". I have a bird-love that goes back much further than the recent hip and trendy bird love. It actually goes back to my childhood piano teacher. She had fabulous bird decorations in her home and I loved them; I always thought there was something a little magic and a little bit luxurious about them. And yes...happy :)"

Jennifer Hill of JHill Design has a paper line called Places I Have Never Been. She researches places where she hasn't been and then does pattern drawings about her imaginary vacations there. Besides actual places represented in her work, some recurring themes are:"The #3: There are always at least 3 symbolic elements
in each pattern. I don't know why, there just always has been :)

Food... I've done patterns about doughnuts, oysters, tequila, champagne... I guess I just love food and drink.

Flora... I love doing floral patterns, though recently I've tried to start doing some patterns with her partner, fauna."

Stay tuned to learn about more recurring themes in the work of Boston Handmade members.

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