Lauren Ohlgren

I came with an open mind, a variety of materials and tools, and prepared to respond to the environment in whatever direction it took me. I was happy to settle into a project that is based on observations from the beach. It is an abstract, hand-stitched fabric hanging scroll. I am using layers of linen, some I stained with mineral based watercolors out on the picnic table, with cotton and dyed threads of varying weights. This piece fits well into my series of hand-stitched scrolls called ‘Nomadic Threads; stories from the road’. I have long been an Urban Sketcher, keeping travel journals as well as teaching others how to sketch while traveling. I recently started to do the same with small hand-stitched scrolls on wooden spools and weaving spindles. A fellow artist commented ‘Your journals show us what you see, and your scrolls show us what you feel’. I couldn’t say it better myself. Though I had tried to make this a small project to finish in a week, it quickly became quite intricate and will take me more time to complete.