Dianne Corso with “Cascade”
Dianne Corso
Level 4 Studies in Experimental Stitch and Multimedia
This course focuses on combining skills in design, machine and hand stitch to create complex finished items to a professional level. It is the culmination of a number of years of study. Each graduate has developed an individual artistic voice.
Some months ago, I asked Gail about the themes she saw in my work over the years. One response was a focus on connections. I’ve thought about this comment a good deal while finishing the pieces for this exhibition and concluded, of course, that Gail is correct. Much of my work, in all stages from conception through sampling to completion, is about connections–visual, physical and intellectual. This can be seen in the major pieces shown here. “Sentinel,” the wrapped and coiled copper wire sculpture, depends upon connections for structure as well as for visual impact. It reflects my nearly lifelong interest in Japanese culture and aesthetics, from a minor in Far Eastern Studies through my first really successful piece in this course of study, a fabric and stitch book based on a study of samurai armor. The waxed linen wrapped wire structures are another example of physical connections necessary to the construction of the pieces also functioning as major decorative elements of the design. The form of the pieces was based on my earliest art making memory, a game I played with my cousins in which we “took a line for a walk,” drawing a squiggly line all over a piece of paper before connecting the line to the beginning point and coloring the resulting spaces in wild and wonderful ways. Which aptly summarizes my years studying with Gail and my classmates: wild and wonderful and full of connections. ~Dianne Corso
NOTE: Click on the first thumbnail image and then you can see the full-size images.
