By Frank Ross
In this piece titled "Copper Swirl", Phillippa uses copper foil to add both color and texture to her work.
Phillippa Lack, known more simply as Phil; is recognized by the International Organization of Silk Painters as a Master Silk Painter. She has developed her artful talent over 24 years of dedication to detail, color and a passionate devotion to fine quality needlework.
Her work is distinguished by a love of bright colors, texture and innovative design elements using a variety of accents such as beads, shells and now copper foil. She acquired her love of color growing up in the tropical world of Jamaica and has been pursuing their ultimate combinations ever since. Her home now is in Cheyenne, Wyoming, where she balances her time between gardening and painting her beloved fabric, silk, when the winter winds howl across the high plains.
On the direction of her work she muses, “I do a lot of what I call ‘what if’ creating. I take a piece of silk and some sort of embellishment and say, ‘what if I do this or that’? Sometimes it works out, sometime it doesn’t.”
Copper came to her attention when she discovered the many and varied colors that were possible through patinas, and the textures that were possible with the use of copper foils. “I use the .001 thickness copper foil because I’m concerned the thicker foil might damage my sewing machine, but the .001 sews beautifully. I heated it over my gas stove by nailing it to the wall and holding the foil with a pair of tweezers to heat it. I had my wok handy with water and dropped the hot metal into it to cool. The colors came out beautifully,” she said.
This unfinished piece uses copper foil that has been run through a paper crimper to give it texture and a three diminsional feel.
“Another trick I used with the copper foil is to run it through a paper crimper. It makes very nice pleated peace, then I used an ordinary needle to sew it to the fabric backing. I use a calico backing with the silk fabric on top and sew the copper to that. I’m not a quilter, but it’s the same type of technique,” she added.
Much of her work involves hand stitching and she laments the passing of this once common dedication to quality. “Hand stitching is common in England still today. You can actually make a good living in England doing hand stitching and embroidery. They have the first royal school of needlework. Historically, their garments were heavily embroidered, so they had to have people who could do this work,” she said.
She explained that during her childhood growing up in Jamaica she had an hour of art and embroidery classes almost every day in school. The tradition of handwork was handed down but she feels today, here in this country, young people want everything to be quick and easy. “I don’t mind machine work but the best work is done by hand. People say to me, ‘My aunt could do that on her machine’, but she couldn’t. Handwork is the finest work,” she insists.
Copper is also used in this piece to enhance the feeling of motion.
Phillippa first discovered the fine art of silk painting when she and her husband went to France to collect their daughter who was studying French while staying with a French family. “The lady was an incredible generous. She gave me a silk scarf she had painted. It was so beautiful, I wanted to protect it and said that I would frame it to display on the wall. She quickly corrected me, saying that it was to use and to wear. I was so taken by its beauty that I came back with some French silk dyes and a book that my daughter translated for me from the French it was written in. I spoiled a lot of silk learning how, but now I don’t spoil as much. I’ve learned to correct my mistakes,” she recalled.
Silk painting, she explains is an exactingly critical art. “With silk, once you touch your brush and dye to the silk you are committed, there’s no going back.”
In her artist statement she explains her devotion to this artwork, “The fluid surface of the silk dares me to play with its shifting textures. The fibers hold and release the tropical colors of my childhood in their own quixotic alchemy. From the sheer transparency of silk chiffon to the deeply-plied silk charmeuse, each fabric takes the precious French dyes from my brush like a willful child.”
Until the recent downturn in the economy, she was supplying five boutiques with scarves and silk fabric. Today she does custom yardage on commission and will do custom creations for reproduction in digital printing. But that is an expensive process, costing around $35 per yard for the reproduction costs alone. While that may sound expensive, she has created dresses from fabric that cost $95 a yard, and she explained, with the digital printing you don’t have to sit down and paint 20 yards of fabric the exact same way, yard after yard.
In the spring of this year, her work was on display at an exhibition titled “Silk Roads meet in Verona, Italy”. Phillippa also teaches her craft at various seminars around the country, but she is often frustrated with her students whom she says do not want to take time to learn their craft properly. Her advice for those who think they have arrived is priceless, and applies to other disciplines as well. “It’s what you learn after you know it all that makes a difference,” she admonishes.
“People have sent me aluminum foil to try but I haven’t used it yet. It might be ok, but the colors of the copper are so beautiful. I am so intrigued by the colors of copper. Looking at my supply of materials, it is time for me to order some more. I’ve used up most of the last order I made with Storm Copper,” she said.
To learn more about Philippa’s silk painting, visit her website, http://www.pkldesigns.com/. She also recommends two books for further study.
This Lustr’ed Cloth .. a fibre artists’ workbook of metals by Alysn Midgelow-Marsden. This book is published by Artfully Bound in the UK. ISBN 10: 0-9554048-1-9
Paper, Metal and Stitch by Maggie Grey and Jane Wild. Published by Batsford, UK. ISBN 0-7134-8918-9
To try your hand at creating with copper, order some copper foil from QuickShipMetals.com and let the colors flow!
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Quick Ship Metals offers a wide variety of products that appeal to the professional as well as amateur craftsman and weekend artist. In this blog my mission is to provide useful information and occasionally inspiration to all levels of creative spirits wishing to take on a project involving decorative or utilitarian metals such as aluminum diamond plate.
