Tea Bags
My tea bag bed series began when my then-teenaged daughter and I worked on geometry homework, snuggled under her comforters, drinking tea. Inspired by those intimate moments, I hand-stitched the accumulation of dried tea bags on the window sill into a quilt. Extending the Useful Life is the third one in the series.
Extending the Useful Life, 2010. Hand stitched. Tea bags, embroidery floss, muslin, batting. 26” x 33” x 65”
Extending the Useful Life, detail.
Installation view, 555 12th Street, Oakland, California
Installation view, 555 12th Street, Oakland, California
For the second series, using exclusively round tea bags, I experimented with graphic arrangements based on the six-sided symmetry of the hexagon grid. By varying color, value, and size of the units, myriad designs are possible. With hand-stitching, I acknowledge the heritage of quilt making. Though the basic pattern has traditional roots, the materials and expanded design are my original, up-dated ideas.
Inner Facets, 2012. Tea bags, acrylic paint, embroidery floss, muslin, batting. 63” x 48'“ x 1”
Inner Facets, detail.
Garden Transformed, 2011. Tea bags, acrylic paint, embroidery floss, muslin, batting. 59” x 42” x 1”
Grandmother’s Tea Garden, 2008. Tea bags, acrylic paint, embroidery floss, muslin, batting. 48” x 36” x 1”
Installation view, 555 12th Street, Oakland, California
Garden Variations, 2009. Tea bags, acrylic paint, embroidery floss, muslin, batting. 65” x 45” x 1”
Garden Variations, detail.
No Two Alike, 2010. Tea bags, acrylic paint, embroidery floss, muslin, batting. 72” x 48” x 1”
Installation view, Geometricity 3.0, 2019
Installation view, 555 12th Street, Oakland, California
Colony, 2012. Tea bags, glue, wood. 38” x 34” x 2”
Colony, detail
Blankie, 2012. Hand stitched. Tea bags, embroidery floss, muslin, batting. 39” x 29” x 1”
Filtered Light II, 2006. Tea bags, found object, glue. 28” x 24” x 2”
Settle, 2012. Hand stitched. Tea bags, embroidery floss, muslin, batting. 32” x 22” x 1/2”
Filtered Light II, backlit
Steeped III, 2005. Hand stitched. Tea bags, embroidery floss, muslin, batting. 48” x 30” x 1/2”
Special Occasion, 2005. Tea bags, embroidery floss, muslin. 65” x 18” x 18”