Component. The word I use so much.
I used to use element more, but component is so related to compose. And then compound.
In any case as it relates to traditional patchwork quilting, my beginnings with cloth, building blocks.
But really, ultimately I end up with Puzzle Pieces.
Because in a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together in a logical way. Puzzles are often created to be a form of entertainment but they can also arise from serious consideration. And evolve into something more useful.
Each component is for me the visualization of a thought, the fundamental element, and part of the language system I use to communicate. Share what moves through me.
The Butterfly has simply evolved into my symbol for becoming. Becoming more or less. Transformation, change, and the beauty in that. And the wing... reach. Not new. But the form it takes has encouraged a bigger appreciation of process as art.
Since each symbol is often a result of building and layers, They might be broken down into components themselves. It's an infinite process really. Like the basic square...thoughts,scraps, stitch, the names of things, all puzzle pieces that ultimately tell the story, clues to the thought process itself.
In this last year I have come to concentrate on dyed components more. I use indigo a lot. My approach to shibori is not so much to focus on the perfection of the technique but on how imperfection, witnessed through repetition, might help morph a shape and encourage the evolution aspect of over and over. Puzzle pieces with softer, more liquid edges. Like clouds, they help me imagine new form and story but still allow me to use them like quilt blocks. I hope you catch my drift.
I built the Butterfly above with 2 triangle components (my symbol for safety), folded and stitched and then embroidered the body. But way back in Diaries I started like this:
