Monday, April 21, 2014

A Study in Symbolism

I recently had the privilege of teaching a class to explore symbolism through art.

The most obvious inspiration for me as a West Coast Canadian was to look to regional aboriginal art and the symbolism they weave into their storytelling, illustration and sculpture.





Feathers are particularly common in the art of the Haida people. The middle vein in the feather symbolizes the path that everyone walks in their life time, and every barb that comes off of the middle vein symbolizes the choices we all have in life, and that every choice we make is attached to the middle or main path that we take.

I introduced symbolism in this way for the class, and we started thinking about how we wanted to depict our own lives and the lives of our family members as represented by feathers while I handed out the project materials.

Here's how we did it!

First, we drew our own free-hand feathers on white cotton with waterproof black fineliners.  I provided some feather varieties as an example.




Using a variety of water-soluble mediums, we shaded in the "paths" our lives had taken...









With a small amount of decoupage high gloss finisher (we used Gesso) and a brush, we coated the entire illustration in order to stiffen and seal the fabric feather.





Once they were dry (only took about a half an hour...enough time for a glass of wine and a chat!), we easily cut around the outline on the feathers.




If we hadn't outlined the feathers earlier, or found we had lost too much structure or definition in the stiffening process, we added definition with a water-resistant fineliner now.




Positioning and mounting our textile masterpieces was the final step...here are some completed projects:






Thanks to all the participants for coming to the class and sharing your personal, respective journeys for the day.  Our focus on symbolism was a beautiful and strengthening experience for everyone!

12 comments:

  1. I like how the Haida people symbolize the feather!
    If I had taken your class, mine would've been darker near the vane
    with lots of green and purple towards the tips :)

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    1. Ooooh interesting, Duni! It was a very fun project...wish you could have been there :)

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  2. Sounds like a very interesting class!

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    1. It was very introspective, yes. I learned a lot, even though I was the instructor!

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  3. I would have loved to have taken your class (maybe with pizza afterwards...)!

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    1. Aw, it would have been a pleasure having you in the group, M! I would have made a pizza-coloured feather if I had known there was pizza waiting for me at the end of the lesson :)

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  4. What a cool project. Very interesting symbolism with the feathers.

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    1. Thanks! Symbolism is fascinating in some artwork. I've always wanted to explore and create my own works in this way, layering and embedding messages in subversive ways...

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  5. Oh! I love the feather art! but especially what symbolizes... very interesting!

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    1. Yes, I don't know about everyone else, but I am always most caught up in the symbolism in artwork. It is such an ambiguous element. Thanks for stopping by, Daniela!

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  6. What a cool theme! And I learned something, too. :-) I'd love to find a local class like that around here...

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    1. Thanks for the feedback, Paige! Hope to be teaching more of these workshops in the future...

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