Monday, September 30, 2013

'All is Silent' by Linden Lancaster

The ‘Sounds of Silence’ was a tricky theme, as there are very few situations where there is no sound. What is it like to be deaf? Is it silent on the moon? Then I thought of the saying ‘All is Silent on the Western Front’. Being an avid reader of first and Second World War history, I remembered the pictures of pastures and woodlands turned into a muddy wasteland. This piece is meant to reflect the silence after the catastrophic winter battles on the Somme. At the recent anniversary of 9/11, I heard about a man who dug his way up and out of a collapsed tower. When he crawled out and looked around, he said what he remembered most was the absolute silence.

Using some reference pictures from books I drew up my own composition. I decided to have a large land mass and small sky. Using a piece of mottled hand dyed grey fabric as my starting point. I then discharged all the parts I wanted white (the sky and the craters). I then masked them off and applied a Shiva stick rubbing over various handmade collograph plates. The reflections were added with Inktense pencils. The trees, wheel and fence posts were fused on lastly.
I quilted horizontal lines in metallic and rayon threads for the water. To offset this, the sky was done in vertical lines. The ground was quilted in a heavier variegated thread in a squiggly pattern that got smaller and more horizontal towards the horizon.The barbed wire was added using bobbin drawing with Pearl 8 thread.
This was a quick and satisfying quilt to make and one I would like to make into a larger and more considered piece. This would be especially significant as the centenary of the first landing at Gallipoli (and subsequent First World War events) is coming up in 2015. My great grandfather was in the first landing of Australian soldiers on April 25th, now our national day of remembrance, Anzac Day.

'All is Silent' by Linden Lancaster 2013

'All is Silent' detail 1

'All is Silent' detail2

9 comments:

  1. Linden, this sombre piece carries a huge amount of emotion. Everything works to convey the desolation, and your choice of media is perfect.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow Linden! This is amazing, my girls all went on school trips to battlefield sites so we have watched films, read books and poetry, somehow you have captured those feelings of devastation perfectly. Your technique is brilliant.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This is a strong piece, and I'm fascinated by the depth in the quilt. Almost 3D. I think making this as a larger work will be a good idea. I'd love to see it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Your piece gives the feeling as though when there is nothing left in your world, you still have the sound of silence. Your piece shows this so vividly. The techniques you selected have worked exceedingly well.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Your piece gives the feeling as though when there is nothing left in your world, you still have the sound of silence. Your piece shows this so vividly. The techniques you selected have worked exceedingly well.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Yes, wow! This is an amazing piece that truly conveys silence and is a very powerful piece. I love your techniques and would love to see the larger piece you are planning. You are a true inspiration.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Amazing. The silent is almost deafning in your quilt. One can also really imagine how loud it must have been before. Sabine

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oh Linden -- when I first saw this, I thought it was a photograph. This is magnificent. You have completely captured the heave silence of a battlefield. Bravo.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Another tour-de-force. So perfect in every detail. Bravo.

    ReplyDelete