ELIN NOBLE

LEIPZIGER SUITE
 

During a stay in Leipzig, Germany, I began to create a series of pieced quilts. I used fragments of marbled cloth I had saved over the years. These collage works allowed me to return to a renewed inquiry of abstraction, investigating complex spacial relations and gesture. The first weekend I was in Leipzig I found an old postcard at a flea market of the astronomical clock tower in Prague. I pinned it on my design wall. As I began to juxtapose and layer cloth, it became apparent that I was drawn to the history and mood of the postcard. Its rectangular arrangement and asymmetrical imagery gave me a base for establishing a format to work with. What is important is that the postcard is an image of anticipation. On the hour, two doors open and saints parade in front of the open doors, a skeleton rings a bell, and a rooster crows. I went to Prague and saw the clock among throngs of tourists. The experience did not capture the nostalgia and solitariness of the postcard. It was a great gift to be able to devote a sustained amount of studio time in a new environment. Culturally, Leipzig is an remarkable combination of history and neglect, of classical music and goth subculture. It is a city devoted to Bach, and to exciting new explorations in contemporary art.