This post originally appeared on the Improvisational Textiles website on May 23, 2017. It is being moved to tierneycreates.

“YOUR BODY OF WATER” EXHIBIT, SEATTLE MUNICIPAL TOWER GALLERY

My piece Abandoned Water Structure (2015),  is on exhibit April 5 – July 3, 2017 at the Seattle Municipal Tower Gallery.

It is being shown as part of the Your Body of Water, Part II exhibit and was purchased from Tierney in 2016 by the City of Seattle/Seattle Public Utilities/Office of Arts & Culture.

From the Seattle.gov website for the exhibit:

Your Body of Water, Seattle Public Utilities’ (SPU) newest additions to their portable works collection, are a visual exploration of our connections to water and how it is protected and cared for by SPU. The poet Jourdan Keith, who created the theme, explained it to mean the following: “We are all bodies of water, connected to one another through the water web. Your Body of water is connected to streams, rivers, lakes, waterfalls, and tides, to toilets and faucets…to present homes, childhood homes and ancestral ones by memory, by the water cycle, by stories.” The exhibition will feature 15 contemporary artworks ranging from paintings, photography, prints and sculpture.

Abandoned Water Structure was inspired by the White Falls Power Plant near Maupin, Oregon. Below is my original photo.

The White River Falls Power Plant and located at White River Falls State Park in the Tygh Valley of northern central Oregon. Here is a link to an article, Nature and modern history mix at White River Falls, by station KATU on the history of the hydroelectric dam and powerhouse that was built in 1910 and decommissioned in the 1960s. Around 6 – 7 years ago, we went on a day excursion to White River Falls and I fell in love with abandoned power plant. I took many photos and the photo below inspired the piece:

Using recycled silks and linens from garment manufacturing set into a gray ombré, Tierney turned the photo into the art quilt shown below. Guadalupe Designs used the same photo as inspiration for detailed quilting.

Here are some detailed photos of the piece:

The show’s curator, Deborah Paine, with the City of Seattle’s Office of Arts & Culture, was kind enough to send me photos of the piece in the Your Body of Water, Part II show: