Exercises for the Childbearing Years

“Exercises for the Childbearing Years,” is a group of studies in surface design and quilting that I have used to explore chronic pain as a feminine problem, my dual identity as an artist/mother, and the divide between craft and art. In my studio practice, the materials, technique, and content are intertwined, providing tension and direction to build my work around.

Related projects include: Fabric Artists’ BooksThe Real Remembered, Piecework

Esther S White, Curve Study #2, 2016, 48”x48”; cotton, fiber-reactive dye; machine stitched and quilted
Esther S White, Curve Study #2, 2016, 48”x48”; cotton, fiber-reactive dye; machine stitched and quilted
Esther S White, Curve Study #1, 2016, 48”x48”; cotton, fiber-reactive dye; machine stitched and quilted
Esther S White, Curve Study #1, 2016, 48”x48”; cotton, fiber-reactive dye; machine stitched and quilted

 

Esther S White, Before there was a Difference Between Night and Day, 2015, 67"x76"; cotton, fiber-reactive dye, silkscreen ink, commercial fabric, wool yarn; hand-dyed, screen printed, machine stitched and hand-tied
Esther S White, Before there was a Difference Between Night and Day, 2015, 67″x76″; cotton, fiber-reactive dye, silkscreen ink, commercial fabric, wool yarn; hand-dyed, screen printed, machine stitched and hand-tied

When this work was exhibited at the Loo East Gallery at Zea Mays Printmaking in 2016, it was accompanied by the following statement:

I dye and print textiles for improvisational quilts and wall hangings. I layer experimental print and dye techniques one on top of another to create richly textured, complex surfaces. I sometimes combine printed fabric with family textiles and clothing to make collaged art quilts that reference the body, domesticity, and memory. I often start with an abstract idea or emotional state. I print and dye then cut, piece, and re-cut my materials until I find a combination that elicits the emotional state or idea I am interested in exploring. I do not have a sense of the finished design before I begin, but instead know what techniques I want to use or the constraints I will apply. I am most interested in techniques that borrow from multiple disciplines, dancing on the edge of printmaking/surface design, silkscreen/monotype, quilting/embroidery, artistic voice/chance, etc.

The title for this project comes from an old book I bought while I was pregnant. The book is filled with illustrations of women doing stretches and exercises, with ergonomic suggestions for housework and childcare. I found it a little bit helpful, mostly irrelevant. It didn’t do much to alleviate the chronic pelvic pain that started in my second trimester or the “new mother’s tendonitis” I developed when my son was five months old and almost 20lbs. The biggest impact the book has had was to help articulate the new chapter I find myself in, the “Childbearing Years.” As a culture, we focus on pregnancy as a time of change, but it is only the beginning.

Since becoming a parent, the boundaries of my studio practice and life have become evermore fluid. To continue making work, I have to be flexible. I have to practice dropping one thing in order to quickly transition to something utterly different, and most of all I must surrender to circumstance.

Work from this series has been exhibited at L’Oeil de Poisson in Québec, Mill Arts Project, Attleboro Arts Museum, IMAGO Foundation for the Arts, Loo East at Zea Mays Printmaking, and the Arsenal Arts Center.

Esther S White, New Rhythm, 2016, 39”x39”; cotton, fiber-reactive dye; screen-printed, machine stitched and quilted
Esther S White, New Rhythm, 2016, 39”x39”; cotton, fiber-reactive dye; screen printed, machine stitched and quilted