Artist Statement:
     The "Divergence" exhibition came about as a result of a lot of fabric scraps. I consistently find myself immersed in fabric. Many times, the pieces are small and I’m torn as to whether to continue to hold onto them…or to pitch them.  In this case, I began with a wealth of fabric in varying shades of green, the remnants of a previous project.  When viewing another exhibit recently, I found that I enjoyed examining a quilted wall hanging that featured a traditional log cabin quilt block. These blocks essentially stack fabric in a rotated pattern, creating a type of spiral. I always admire artists who take the time to cut these thin strips and sew meticulously to get the perfect width as the fabric pattern wraps around.  I decided to make my own log cabin designs, but to do it with my own spin. By  dyeing my fabric, I created collections of primarily analogous colors and started with four pieces that each feature a collage of log cabin type designs, with angles slightly diverging from parallel.

     As I experimented with angles and combining various sizes of blocks, I wanted to push the angles and the quilting to add more focus on the existing lines, but also to create new patterns with sewn lines. From here, I created a series of works, each with it’s own analogous color theme, all with divergent lines, starting with a center point and moving outward.

Quite a few years ago in a Design class, I had a professor who introduced a term I had never heard before, “slight discord”.  This concept relies on the idea that sometimes there is a design element that perhaps does not quite fit into standard rules of design or color theory, but yet its inclusion creates a feeling of being attractive, though you may not know why.  Perhaps something stands out as not quite belonging, but yet it does in a way. Each piece in this series started with a selection of five colors of fabric. In addition to that, each “block” began with a fabric piece that was a color that was outside of the analogous collection, but hopefully you will find that these colors tie the pieces together and draw your eye into the middles, where the design begins. Each piece began simply, as a progression. As a divergence on a central theme. And as a divergence from the traditional block, adding my own expression along the way.  ~ Artist Sarah Merideth

Learn more about artist Sarah Merideth.

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