Charlotte Schmid-Maybach
Altered Landscapes
On View: 09/10/22 to 10/29/22
Artist Reception: Saturday, 10/01/22, 4pm to 7pm
Detail 3
Stories in the Winter Woods, 2022
Sewn archival pigment prints on kozo paper,
thread, lace, iridescent paint, buttons
70" x 55" framed
Detail 2
Detail 1
Flying Over Land and Sea, 2022
Sewn archival pigment prints on kozo paper,
thread, found objects, buttons, beads
38" x 30" framed
Detail 1
Detail 2
Blue Flower, 2022
Sewn archival pigment prints on kozo paper, thread
27" x 34" framed
Detail
L'heure Bleu, the Blue Hour, 2022
Sewn archival pigment prints on kozo paper, thread
55" x 55" framed
Detail 1 (back of piece)
Detail 2
Detail 3
Stories in the Woods, 2022
Sewn archival pigment prints, thread
23" x 37" framed
Detail
Positively Fourth Street Bridge, 2022
Sewn archival pigment prints on kozo paper, thread, found metal pieces
70" x 55" framed
Detail 1
Detail 2
Detail 3
On the Way to the Magnolias, 2022
Sewn archival pigment prints on kozo paper, thread
28" x 35" framed
City’s Gleam, 2022
Sewn archival pigment print on kozo paper, thread
Framed 11 x 14
Into the Mystic, 2022
Sewn archival pigment print on kozo paper, thread
Framed 11 x 14
Neighbor, 2022
Sewn archival pigment print on kozo paper, thread
Framed 11 x 14
Night Lake ,2022
Sewn archival pigment print on kozo paper, thread
Framed 11 x 14
Night Music, 2022
Sewn archival pigment print on kozo paper, thread
Framed 11 x 14
Winter Night, 2022
Sewn archival pigment print on kozo paper, thread
Framed 11 x 14
Artist Statement
With this new body of work I’m deepening my investigation into altered landscapes, both natural and urban. I combine photography with thread, found objects, maps, iridescent paint, buttons, lace. I sew over and into my photographs until the threads integrate with the photographic images to create a new object: phototapestries.
I begin by making archival pigment prints on kozo paper. Then I use free motion embroidery to draw/sew with a wide color palette of metallic and mixed thread. I started sewing on my photographs in 2018 with one line of hand stitching, and since then, the work has grown into a detailed process involving layers of thread, assemblage and collage.
I sew along the lines of the forest photographs and seek out the in between spaces of urban landscapes with thread. Train tracks echo city streets resemble branching paths in the woods. For the larger pieces I use a grid format to stitch together different views of the landscape. The grid helps me organize and create a more nuanced experience of environments that are meaningful to me.
Sewing allows me to get my hands into the photograph, and thread changes the photographs into something more dimensional and textural. Thread is a transformational element in my work, and the finished pieces feel like fabric. The threads also blur the line between what’s real in the photograph and what’s beyond the picture or imagined. The metallic threads in the forest pieces evoke fairy tales and the history of the forest with no humans present. In the city, a car disappears in the fog, a figure walks alone on a street and the viewer gets the feeling that something is about to happen.
Artist Bio
Charlotte Schmid-Maybach is a photographer and mixed media artist based in Los Angeles. Originally from San Francisco, she earned her BA from UC Berkeley in South Asian civilization and MA in photojournalism from the University of Missouri, Columbia. Her background as an archaeological photographer in Pakistan and fifteen years as a newspaper photojournalist inform her artwork. Charlotte started studying with artist Tom Wudl in Los Angeles in 2016 and made the transition to a full time studio practice. She was a recipient of the Photolucida Critical Mass Top 50 award in 2021. Her work has been shown at the Fuller Craft Museum, Neutra Institute Museum, Lois Lambert Gallery, Center for Photographic Art, Colburn School of Music, Brand Gallery, A. Smith Gallery and other galleries. Her work is held in private collections in the U.S.
Exhibition View
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