Fish Out of Water
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- Maker:
- Pauline Burbidge
- Date:
- 1991
Fish out of water was made in 1991, when the artist was working on free-form shapes in contrast to hard-edge geometric forms. Inspired by the boldness of Matisse’s paper cut-outs, the artist made paper collages which then translated into fabric collages, using fabric glue to paste down shapes before stitching. The work was quilted on an industrial quilting machine owned by a Nottingham company called Harveys, which was hired in their quiet period of production. Several quilt tops were prepared and stitched together in one length, and fed into the quilting machine treating them as one long length of cloth. The ‘Fish out of Water’ images came from a still life study of striped fabric, a coffee jug and a fish shaped pencil box. The artist made many studies of the same image, which made a type of repeat pattern, but each block is an individual study in itself.
It is significant that this piece was DONATED by the artist. As an artist that has always made a living by her work she relies on selling her work and does not normally donate. However she made an exception as a gift to celebrate the 40th anniversary of The Quilters’ Guild.
226cm x 195cm
