PANDEMIC-INFLUENCED

Askew

30” x 24”x 5”

When the pandemic started, I was finishing up some of the Great Spirit series. I was not in the mental space to work. I eked out three small projects. One, COVID GIRL, is on my Instagram site (harrietcheney27)It took a while to feel steady enough to adapt to a new normal and get down to serious work. 

I knew that work was therapy and I needed to heal. Askew started as a repurposed shelf from a wine rack. I had an idea of a ladder with intersecting diagonals. The idea originally came from a stretched linen I had seen in Rembrandt’s studio in Amsterdam. The process was ingenious and visually interesting. I began in my usual way of layering textures but the piece “got away from me,” taking on a life of its own. It started growing out in weird, asymmetrical directions. My hands just obeyed. 

The dimensional woven triangle was the first element to jump ship. Then, I consciously tried to find a way to restore balance. It was a process of balance/rebalance, act/react. This was a strain. I worked hard to achieve the off-kilter result that reflected how I felt. There is a heavily beaded element balancing that triangle. I had a need to bead because it’s calming and I had a gorgeous stash of chartreuse green beads.