Lisa Thorpe
I am a storyteller, torch bearer, maker. Art quilting is my medium. The use of stitch is connected to being a doer - something I learned from my foremothers — the way that making a quilt, a garment or meal could be both necessity and creative at the same time. I am compelled to illuminate and retell women’s stories and mine the depths of the human condition. The etymology of the words “textile" and “text” comes from the root, texere, meaning “to weave”. My art weaves a story, some are complex laden like Eve in the Garden, others a single word like “ask”. My art provides a place space to step into the story and make it your own. If an image sticks, ideas prick, an opening is made in how the stories are seen and told. More stories and perspectives add to the pantheon, we widen and strengthen warp and weft of the complex textile that is human existence. I want my art to tear old stories apart, then lovingly stitch it them back together - bolder, brighter, more inclusive.
To create these pieces, I employ both traditional and innovative techniques. All the pieces fit the definition of a quilt - a multi-layered textile, traditionally composed of two or more layers of fabric. These layers traditionally include a woven cloth top, a layer of batting or felt, and a woven back bound together with stitch. All my work here fits that definition. I include machine stitch using a free motion technique in which I move the fabric freely under the machine needle to create a “drawn” line of thread. You will also notice hand stitching with thicker threads in a running stitch and sateen stitch that provide depth and texture. Some pieces have hundreds of French knots stitched densely together to create knotted Turkish rug effect. Appliqué, and hand beading techniques are also employed. I hand paint, print and dye my fabrics and as well as print photographs on organic cotton for use these layered collage quilts.
Artist Bio
Lisa Thorpe is a mixed media fiber artist and educator based in Little Rock, Arkansas. Her visual work is idea and story driven and often connected to words and writing. The art created is both personal and universal. Driven to pique and poke, she strives to invite discussion and discovery, reflection, and wonder.
Over the years Thorpe hsa explored many mediums, for the past ten years her focus has been on fiber and fabric art. Dyeing, printing, and marking her own fabric, and using photos printed on fabric of to create art. She is drawn to the use of fabric and stitch as a reference the tradition of stitch as a feminine art that clothes and covers and comforts. Her work plays with the boundaries of what is quilting, what is photography, what is art. Her work reaches back to herforemothers’ quilt making as an expression of self, a comfort and gift for those who encounter it.
All the work in this show was created in the past three years, made right here in Little Rock. Thorpe moved here from Northern California three years ago. Adrift and struggling, she started making art here to ground herself and help find a new Arkansas voice. What seemed most important each day was to observe the extraordinary in the ordinary. Thorpe takes photos of everything, cataloging them in her phone by categories like shadows, clouds, rusty things, etc. – hundreds upon hundreds of photos. These observations and photos became revelation and then art. The Shift Happens series, Studies in Change series and the Delightenment Boxes are born of these everyday revelations. The larger pieces are a deeper dive into the same themes of mindfulness, presenceand the transitory nature of the human journey.
Thorpe has a BA in Design from University of California, Davis and an Art Teaching Credential from San Francisco State University. Her identity is equal parts artist + educator and she loves to share what she has learned in hercreative explorations. To that end, she has published writings and art in About Place Journal and Cold Mountain Review and numerous technique and inspiration articles in Quilting Arts and Cloth Paper Scissors magazines. Thorpe was a featured artist both Quilting Art TV PBS season 2024 and The Quilt Showin 2022. teaches at quilt guilds throughout the country and at national and international art quilt venues. Most recently, at the International Quilt Festival in Houston, the Gulf States Quilt Festival in Baton Rouge and the SAQA(Studio Art Quilt Association) conference in Toronto.
Inquiries
For pricing and availability, contact Boswell Mourot Fine Art at boswellmourotfineart@gmail.com or by phone 501.454.6969.