Where do your ideas come from?

by Gabriele DiTota

A common question asked of me is ‘Where do the ideas for your art come from?’ What seems like an easy question is perplexingly difficult to answer, and is likely different for every artist you ask. For myself, I would have to say that my art is a product of living my life. Everything that I see, hear and read about may influence me and make an appearance in my pieces. 

Nature 

The world around me has always been reflected in my work. The calming colors of blue and green in foliage, water and sky appear often. I also use the power of the sun to create fabrics  using Cyanotype chemicals. These fabrics are then included in my art. Both ‘Bewildered’ and ‘Let it Grow’ make use of cyanotypes in the leaves and fronds.

Music

The power of music inspires me all the time. The Beatles and rock and roll were influences on my early years. At this time, before music videos and MTV, we filled the spaces in our heads with our imaginations. ‘The Fool on the Hill’ is my representation of the fool from the song, of the same title, that appeared on the 1967 Magical Mystery Tour album by the Beatles.

Fool on the hill.

Books

In the same manner that music allows us to create visuals in our minds, books permit the creation of entire worlds. I recently read ‘The Overstory’ by Richard Powers. Which led me to watch a Ted Talk by Suzanne Simard which led to additional research on my part about the amazing world of the underground mycorrhizal network in which the grand old trees share nutrition and information with fledgling trees. The result of all this research is a new understanding of the need to protect our old growth forests and a new fiber art piece called ‘Mother Tree and the Wood Wide Web’.

‘Mother Tree and the Wood Wide Web’.

Social Issues

It’s not just the old growth forests that need protecting, but all of nature. Our climate is changing but we are not changing our ways. We still covet oceanfront property and the convenience of plastics. Two pieces that I created to highlight these issues are ‘Denial’, showing a sand castle crumbling as the waters rise, and ‘Is it Safe?’ showing fish made of Mylar balloons in polluted waters.

‘Denial’

“Is it Safe”

The Materials Themselves

Sometimes it is the material itself which leads to the creation of the art piece. I embrace processes like dyeing and over dyeing as well as folding and manipulating the fabric that are often inexact and serendipitous. Examining the finished fabric can yield surprising results which then inform next steps. This was the case with ‘Refuge’. When all the processes were done and the fabric was washed out, dried and pressed, the hands and the cross behind them appeared. Totally unexpected, they became the focus of the piece.

‘Refuge’

So, to answer the question ‘Where do your ideas come from?’. They come from the world around me!

View more of Gabriele’s work on her Gallery page.