Last fall the Art Quilts exhibition at the Vision Gallery in Chandler AZ had a call for entry called Palette Cleanser that was looking for minimalist work. I'd been thinking for a while about how to use some of the white burnout silk velvet I got from Georgia (thanks Georgia!!) The background was very see through but looks white when put on batting. I decided to use it as the base for another in my series of smocked quilts. I quilted it in sort of deserty colors mostly along the pattern of the fabric.
For the smocking pattern I tried one I haven't done before that looks sort of like dragon scales. It smocked up fairly easily. I was pleased it got into the show and is now actually on its way home back to me.
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| The Vanishing, c. 2025 Shannon Conley, 41x30x3 |
I named it "The Vanishing" because it reminded me of the scales of the Pangolin, an adorable endangered animal that are highly illegally trafficked. It makes me think of the mass extinction even currently happening due almost exclusively to human activity, destruction of natural habitat, trafficking, and climate change.