INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S MONTH

Sue Hotchkis


Artist Statement

I am an artist with a passion for texture, surface and space. I create unique printed and stitched abstract pieces.
I gain inspiration wherever I travel; this is often found in the insignificant and overlooked. I’m particularly drawn to man-made objects that have been distressed by the passage of time. As in the Japanese aesthetic wabi-sabi, I treasure the imperfections found in the natural changes that occur in such things as weathered walls, rusting metal or peeling paint
I aim to create fragment like pieces that realize these aesthetic qualities, challenging perceptions of beauty in our surroundings. Where rotting wood can become a multifaceted surface of overlapping threads or mould a lacelike intricate print. Crumbling walls are transformed into the tactile and beautiful.
Initially I study the photographs I’ve taken of a specific place or object. Then I work with its qualities, colour, form, texture and composition, creating hand dyed and screen printed images onto fabric. These fabrics are then either left as they are or they may be manipulated, torn, ripped, layered and further worked on with stitch by hand and machine. I work intuitively responding to what develops; pieces are often constructed only to be deconstructed. The pieces evolve over time and the process can take weeks or often months.