Samples and Explorations 

I build my view of an “artistic laboratory” on the creative work of the Russian artist, Natalia Goncharova (1881‒1962), whose art I first encountered through her costume and stage designs for Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, including key works such as Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s Le Coq d’or (The Golden Cockerel) and Igor Stravinsky’s Les Noces (The Wedding). It was through Goncharova’s own artistic practice that I learned about the idea of a design laboratory: the concept of working through different styles and techniques by exploring the same theme through a plurality of means. It contrasts, for example, with the almost obsessive singularity of such series as “Homage to the Square” by her contemporary, Josef Albers. In effect, a number of (male) critics considered Goncherova’s “stylistic pluralism” as the absence of the artist’s “personal signature.” As a feminist, I find her embrace of plurality over single-mindedness a model to follow.

Such an artistic laboratory is experimental and allows for play, testing, and even failure. This excitement of discovery is exactly what I encounter in the samples that I create as I work my way through topics and ideas. A laboratory offers the freedom to explore different styles and techniques. Not all of them will be successful, but often my designs emerge from these laboratory experiments.

Many of my laboratory pieces are finished so that they can serve as a growing collection. My German need for order has made me decide on a size of 6 x 6 inches: large enough to explore materials and stitch, but small enough for limited engagement. This page will share some of these experiments as a repository that, perhaps, might invite others to play, too.