Just Keep Swimming, Just Keep Stitching

My LineScapes Show at The Dairy Center for the Arts in Boulder, CO opened on October 25th.

On opening night, I gave an artist talk in the gallery space to about 50 people.  Every time I get a chance to talk about my work, I get a little bit clearer in my own understanding of my inspirations and intentions. 

Standing there in front of the audience, I felt surprisingly calm (or maybe it was just exhausted from having worked right up until the last minute to finish the final piece for the show).  Not having had a chance to “prepare” my talk, I thought about how this series had come about and just told the story.

About 3 years ago, I was doing some web research for a piece I was making to honor a good friend, Captain Bill Catlett, a former Navy Test Pilot.  During my research I came across some beautiful aerial photos of abandoned Navy airfields and was struck by the lines, compositions, the textures and the sense of history of place created as the land was reclaiming it’s space through the deterioration of the forgotten asphalt and concrete.

I was also reminded of how much I enjoyed the quiet meditative thinking time and the views, staring out the airplane windows during my all-too-numerous flights back and forth from Denver to the Bay area during my corporate road warrior days of the early 2000’s.

At the same time I came across the airfield photos, I had been experimenting with finding ways of bringing more of my printmaking background to the textile medium.  I was using impermanent silk screen printing techniques, printing with dyes on fabrics, enjoying the loss of control and the “happy accidents” of various beautiful lines, marks that resulted from these processes. 

LineScape #1, 19″ x 20.5″, (Textile Painting) © Ayn Hanna

And this was how my LineScape series was born.  With obvious reference to landscape and homage to the importance of line in every drawing that I make.  Each piece celebrates a particular “scape”, whether it be a real place with personal story or an imagined scape from my intuition and dreams.

Just Keep Swimming…LineScape #21 (Pelican Lake)

LineScape #21 (Pelican Lake), 38″ x 48″ (Textile Painting) © Ayn Hanna

A real place with special significance, LineScape #21 is site of the Pelican Fest Triathlon, held each year during Memorial weekend in Windsor, CO.  A few years ago, I spent 8-12 hours every week, training around this area with a group of tri-athletes and then racing in this event.  It became my favorite local triathlon course.

Swimming has never been my strong suit – the best part about the swim leg of the race is that my bike is waiting for me when I make it out of the water and that’s where I make up lots of lost time, on my bike.

LineScape #21 (detail) © Ayn Hanna

During races, I’d always find myself swimming alone at the back of the pack so to keep my cadence and keep myself going I practiced a lot of positive self-talk and singing in my head.  That writing that runs across the lake in the piece is all that stuff I used to sing to myself during the swim:

“Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, one two three, stroke stroke breathe….My bike is waiting, bike is next, yay, just keep swimming….”  There’s more, but it’s enjoyable to discover it in person, so I’m hoping you’ll drop by The Dairy Center to see this piece and the rest of the show.

My LineScapes will be on exhibit through December 2nd and the Gallery is free and open to the public seven days a week during the following hours: Monday 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Tuesday – Friday 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., Saturday-Sunday 1:00 to 6:00 p.m.

Just keep swimming, Just keep stitching….