On February 28th, 2020, around 7PM, I stepped off the 34th Street subway platform onto the uptown #1 train to go home, tired but pleased because I really loved the two new collections we’d finished that day, on time for once.
Seven months and one pandemic later, I haven’t been on a subway since.
Because I live in NYC and don’t have access to the necessary software or printer in my apartment, I commute daily to the midtown Benartex studio for the two months or so it takes to create an annual collection. Being an artist can be an isolating experience and I enjoy slipping into the studio culture although navigating the daily rush hour commute and twenty-minute walk in the winter to and from the subway gets old.
When I started the collection in January, I thought the watershed was Benartex’s decision to go digital, not that it was finished twelve days before a pandemic was officially declared and my classes through 2020 canceled. Printing digitally meant adapting everything I’d learned about designing fabric with an eighteen-screen limit to a new strategy that maximized the perks of infinite colors.
DUETS seemed the ideal theme. Each pattern combines at least two of my previous designs to create something brand new. Returning to my older designs is part of my quiltmaking process. Since my kaleidoscope piecing technique collages motifs from loads of different fabrics into seamless connections, I’m always revisiting favorite fabrics. I notice something new each time.
I stuck to my usual three colorways per pattern, partly because that’s what my audience is used to and partly to keep myself from being overwhelmed. More could really be much, much more this time around.
Concertina (#12353) is a match between Rabbit Hole (from MORE IS MORE!) and Good Vibrations (from WONDERLUST). The organized dashes from Good Vibrations were engineered to sit correspondingly on top of the aptly named Rabbit Hole and now there’s no way to know where one pattern stops and the other begins. Symmetry organizes this celebration of fabulousness and complexity into an agile yet balanced brew.
Rabbit Hole Multi from More is MORE!
Good Vibrations Multi from WONDERLUST
A detail of Concertina Multi from DUETS
There are four colorways because, seriously, who could make a choice between the two beautiful yet different blues. I want them both; I want them now. Note that the dashes in the Multi (12353-99) and the Blue (12353-54) versions are all multi-colored while the Blue-Multi’s (12353-55) dashes are all light blue and the Gold-Multi (12353-33) is embellished with the same gold throughout although it looks like the color changes as it falls on different backgrounds. Approximate repeat size: 15" x 8"
Windows (12354) is a mash-up of five previous designs, My friend, Cindi Despelder, cleverly dubbed the embedded materials “The Ancestors”. Approximate repeat size: 6.5" x 10"
1. Cathedral Windows (originally designed for LUMINOUSITY, revisited in DÉJÀ VU, PIECE & JOY and ARTFUL SNOWFLAKE
2. Chorus Line from PATTERNISTA
3. Hills & Valley from PATTERNISTA
4. Tapestry from WONDERLUST
5. Totem from PALINDROMES
Lava (12352) is a different type of DUET—this pattern was worked on by me twice, five years apart. The first version wasn’t printable as a screen print. I was disappointed because I found the molten nature of the fluid, entwined elements mesmerizing and potentially ideal for kaleidoscopic designs. I kept the printouts and was impressed that I could find them when I needed them again. The originals were scanned, revamped, and voilà, take two is a fabulous whirling dervish-like digital textile emitting a boundless amount of energy. Approximate repeat size: 3.5" x 10"
My soul is happy and my mind enthusiastically boggled by Anthology (12351). The assemblage of multicolored kaleidoscopes from most of my previous collections play well together. The scopes, distinct without being dizzying, deliver everything I’ve figured out in the past 30 years about the unique qualities synonymous with the kaleidoscope personality. Surprise. Magic. Change. Chance. I've learned to manipulate physical properties like rhythm and line to inject a feeling of motion into an otherwise static image.
I remember the first time it occurred to me to design an actual kaleidoscope on fabric over 20 years ago. That epiphany yielded an infinite vein of patterns culminating in this color-filled, wide-angle view, made possible because of digital print innovations. Due to the nature of the print process, each of the three layouts is unique, stretching from selvedge to selvedge. I don’t know how many colors there are or how many scopes are in a repeat. A lot.
Every mandala in the Medallion Panel (12350) merges motifs from previous mandalas into a new composition, each offering a fresh revelation. Use these kaleidoscopes to create Opulent Ornaments—here is the link to a printable version of the instructions: https://paulanadelstern.com/userfiles/file/Ornaments_Instructions_Spread_2019.pdf
