“Unintelligible”

“Unintelligible”
Copyright 2024 by Susan Brubaker Knapp
32.5" x 58.5"

Striped cotton fabric, acrylic textile paint, pigment ink, cotton thread, cotton batting, cotton backing. Wholecloth painted, free-motion machine quilted

 

Maybe it’s just that I’m getting older, but it seems like everyone is speaking in cryptic languages I can’t understand. What is true? What is right? What is real? What is logical? If we can’t understand each other, how can we live together on this planet?

 

“Double Double”

“Double Double”
Copyright Susan Brubaker Knapp 2024
42" x 70.5"

 

White fabric, acrylic textile paint, Lutradur, cotton thread, cotton batting, cotton backing. Hand painted, free-motion machine stitched.

 

“Double Double” is a large piece I made this summer to explore ways to use different weights of Lutradur. First, I hand painted white fabric, smearing on orange and yellow paint with my hands and Bondo scrapers. Then I hand cut hundreds of circles out of Lutradur, and paint-dyed them before stitching them down to the fabric. After adding backing and batting, I free-motion stitched and quilted. 

 

The name comes from Shakespeare’s Song of the Witches in Macbeth (1606):

 

Double, double toil and trouble;

Fire burn and caldron bubble.

Fillet of a fenny snake,

In the caldron boil and bake;

Eye of newt and toe of frog,

Wool of bat and tongue of dog,

Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting,

Lizard's leg and howlet's wing,

For a charm of powerful trouble,

Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

Double, double toil and trouble;

Fire burn and caldron bubble.

Cool it with a baboon's blood,

Then the charm is firm and good. 

“Beloved Blue Ridge”

“Beloved Blue Ridge” (19” x 9”)
Copyright Susan Brubaker Knapp 2024

 

Want to win this piece, “Beloved Blue Ridge” (19” x 9”)?

Please help me raise money for Asheville and western North Carolina affected by Hurricane Helene. Rob and I love this area, and our elder daughter lives and works there. The organization I trust most right now to provide for immediate needs and longer-term issues like affordable housing, poverty and food insecurity is BeLoved Asheville. You may have already seen them featured on national news sources. If not, check out their Instagram and Facebook pages to see them in action. It is inspiring. 

 

The other organization I am supporting is the NC Arts Disaster Relief Fund. It is providing funding and assistance to artists and arts organizations affected by Hurricane Helene. Artists are a huge part of what makes this region so special. They help bring tourists (the area’s financial lifeblood), and enrich the culture and weird/wonderfulness of the area. Hundreds of artists lost their studios, as well as their work, materials and equipment, during this storm. Many were not well-off to start with, and need help getting back on their feet. 

 

Here's what to do:

1. Go to BeLoved Asheville’s website: https://www.belovedasheville.com/

and click on the yellow DONATE button.

OR

Go to NC Arts Disaster Relief Fund’s website: https://www.ncartsfoundation.org/donate-nc-disaster-relief

and choose a way to donate. Enter the word “RELIEF” in the description for your gift.

2. Donate any amount that is $10 or more.

3. When you get an e-mail receipt for your donation, forward that e-mail to me at susanbrubakerknapp7@gmail.com

4. For every $10 you donate, I’ll put one ticket in the hat for you. (Donate $100 and get 10 tickets.)

5. At 5 p.m. Eastern time on Nov. 15, I’ll pull one name out of the hat, and send the winner “Beloved Blue Ridge.”

 

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

“Fire Burn (Orange Study)”

 

"Fire Burn (Orange Study)"
Copyright 2024 Susan Brubaker Knapp
5.5 x 17.25"

 

White cotton fabric, acrylic textile paint, Lutradur, cotton thread, cotton batting. Wholecloth painted, free-motion machine quilted.

“Toil and Trouble”

 

"Toil and Trouble"
Copyright 2024 Susan Brubaker Knapp
14.5" square

“Toil and Trouble” (copyright 2024 Susan Brubaker Knapp) 14.5" square. White cotton fabric, acrylic textile paint, Lutradur, cotton thread, cotton batting. Wholecloth painted, free-motion machine quilted.