Sondra Dorn

We acknowledge the past through the present --- memory. We acknowledge the present through the past --- perspective. I see the events of my life as an accumulation, each day adding to the "stack". Eventually, the layers of occurrences do not differentiate themselves from one another. Instead, they appear as one whole, becoming each other. A larger whole is created from the separate parts.

Cloth has the ability to absorb and withstand events and maintain its integrity. Through our usage and action we add to the record. The materials and processes I use in my work are a metaphor for this daily living. I layer one action or process on top of another, first embedding the pieces of cloth with information: color, image, texture. I attach layers of cloth with stitched marks and text, creating a physical and metaphorical connection. I then "burn" or cut away the "present" to remember the "past," changing it irrevocably.

I am currently concentrating on the formal aspects of color, structure and design. I work abstractly, leaving out almost all of the referential imagery. I am focusing on using arrangements of color, pattern, shape, and textures. I am exploring how color relationships behave and how to use these very forms, and in some ways academic, aspects to pose the questions: How do we see? How do we feel about our responses to others and to our environment? What are the relationships between us as humans, and in turn to the world around us?

I draw my inspiration from the observation of the colors and textures and spatial relationships in the landscape, from human relationship, interactions, and rhythms.

Click on a hanging below to see a larger image.