Samantha McGhee

For this project I researched the artists Wayne Thiebaud and Louise Bourgeois to create a piece honoring both of their styles in a composition that combines the Gestalt principals of figure ground and similarity. Throughout the year I have been experimenting with mixed media pieces and using scrap fabric in my works. It fulfills me to give a second purpose to something that was destined for the landfill. I went through fabric scrap bins to find different textures to convey different stories. I used a creamy silk for decorative icing, sturdy denim for a coat of frosting, patches whose patterns resembled the sketches of Bourgeois for the insides of the cake, and an iridescent blue that resembled glass. I am inspired by the materials that find me and they tell me what direction to go in next, not the other way around.