Artist Member
Map Book (untitled)
Made from 3 layers of maps (old atlas, bike trail map, map of Boston), folded, layered and dyed; linked with thread and embellished with handmade paper beads.
Panel Book (untitled)
Made from watercolor and other paper; Layered gelliprints are attached to both sides of movable panels.
Coptic Binding Book (untitled)
Made from a dismembered autobiography of Marian Anderson; Paged were dyed, assembled into signatures, and bound with a Coptic binding.
Diane Franklin
https://www.dianefranklinart.com/
https://www.instagram.com/diane.franklin/
BIO
Diane Franklin is an artist, teacher and writer living and working in Boston. For the past 13 years, she has made large wall pieces from fabric and/or paper, using a variety of surface design techniques. Starting with white fabric or paper, she uses shibori dyeing, screen printing, painting, rusting, botanical dyeing, monoprinting and photography. to transform the surface of her materials. She then combines these materials into abstract compositions.
In 2020, at the start of the pandemic, Diane lost her studio space and had to figure out how to create smaller objects. She begun to experiment with artists’ books and became fascinated by the many possibilities that book making afforded. Since then, she has experimented with numerous book forms and styles some of which incorporate her photographs, prints and fiber art.
Diane has exhibited her work in numerous group and solo exhibitions throughout the United States and has won awards for several of her pieces.
She is the author of Dyeing Alchemy, a primer and interactive workbook on Procion dyeing. She has also written for Fiber Art Now and Fibrearts Take Two. She has taught workshops on dyeing, printing and composition in the US and the Netherlands.
Diane has a B.A. from Radcliffe College and an M.A. and Ph.D from the University of Chicago. She had a long career in academia and the nonprofit world before retiring 10 years ago. Since then, she has immersed herself in the world of fiber and paper and has taken many workshops from well-known teachers such as Jan Meyers-Newbury, Elin Noble, Joan Schulze, Carol Soderlund, Kerr Grabowski, and Sally Hirst.
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
In my fiber work, I am fascinated by texture and color and inspired by a myriad of images from the natural and constructed worlds. I’m particularly intrigued by the interplay of color and light, including reflections, shadows, and unexpected luminosity. I try to create some of these effects when altering the white paper and fabrics with which I begin.
I am also entranced by organic marks generated by wind, water or erosion. I especially like the erosion present in the urban environment and have created a series, Urbana, that focuses on eroded images related to cities. One of the joys of cities are its layers, resulting from development over centuries and the influx of many kinds of people, all of whom eventually leave their imprint. As these layers peel away, they reveal much of what happened in the past. I have tried to portray these layers in my work through the materials I use and how they are assembled.
As I have moved into the world of artists’ books, I have brought with me the skills and interests that I developed when making fiber pieces. I have also thought a lot about how book forms differ from the large wall pieces I’ve made for a long time and what they require in their construction. As with my fiber art, as I make books, I am experimenting with different materials and structures in an attempt to figure out what ideas and processes inspire me the most.
Overall, my artistic process is generally more intuitive rather than conceptual. Most pieces are inspired by materials I have created rather than by a vision or sketch done beforehand. Sometimes my work tells a story, but mostly it conveys feelings and emotions that can be interpreted by viewers in myriad ways.