During a snowstorm in 2015, I had the honor of collaborating with my 7 year old, Mazzy, on a project utilizing her preschool and kindergarten drawings and paintings. We had a towering stack of drawings and paintings that she had completed in preschool and Kindergarten. Due to the use of lower quality papers and temper paints, many of the pieces were deteriorating over time. She selected her favorite pieces to keep. The other pieces we photographed and then used in a collaboration called Mazzy's Sketches.
Mazzy cut her drawings and paintings into various geometric shapes. She then collaged them on to heavy watercolor paper using PVA glue. To preserve the paint and papers, I coated the collage with Matte Gel Medium. Once dry, I heat adhered silk organza I had previously dyed with fiber reactive dyes to Pellon 805 Wonderunder. Mazzy then cut geometric shapes from the Pellon backed silk organza and I helped her adhere them to the collage with a heated iron.
Gluing a layer of mid-weight cotton fabric to the back of the collaged watercolor paper added a more secure foundation to stitch through. Once the PVA glue dried, I then used a rotary cutter to slice the collage in to rectangles. We then arranged the rectangles in a pattern that we both liked. To add additional texture and further secure the layers together, we took turns using free motion machine stitching. The free motion stitching also connected the rectangles to each other in a panel.
I then hand stitched hexagons in a flowing pattern across the panel using a rainbow of embroidery threads.
I hand dyed a background fabric using fiber reactive dyes. I hemmed the fabric edges and added a rod pocket for display. Finally, I adhered the panel to the background fabric using smoky invisible thread and a stitch in the ditch quilting concept to hide the method of attachment. Due to the overall size of the project I have been unable to get a clear picture of the complete project. Therefore, all of my photos are currently of the panel before attaching to the background fabric. I will experiment further in methods of photographing large pieces clearly.
Collaborating with my daughter was both a fun and frustrating experience due to her young age. I am happy that we were able to create this piece together. Mazzy was thrilled when I displayed this piece in a show of my work. Perhaps at the end of elementary school we will come up with another project for her first through fifth grade drawings.
