"Collapsed"

Artist Statement

What happens when a bridge collapses? It’s gone, washed out, vanished! In November 2021, Canadians in southwestern British Columbia faced this tragedy. Atmospheric rivers caused torrential water flow, causing devaststung floods and washing out roads and bridges.

Materials:

Hand dyed fabric and cheesecloth

Rusted fabric

Techniques:

Machine pieced, raw edge applique, machine and hand stitched

Size: length 16 inches (40cm) Width 18 inches (46cm)

Background

When our group decided on Bridges as a theme, there were many possibilities. Two examples, a bridge could be a structure spanning an obstacle, or “bridge” divisions between groups, such as cultural or political.

Soon after, an atmospheric river hit British Columbia, causing massive rainfall plus snow runoff. Roads and bridges were washed out, causing devastating floods as well as isolating many motorists. The photos in media were horrific.

The site of bridges collapsing and vanished influenced my decision to depict this in my work.

Work in progress

I made a paper pattern of my piece to use as a general model. I did not follow this exactly.

Once the main pieces were in place I did some free motion quilting.

The final design decisions were the cheesecloth and “bits of bridge”