Slipper Orchid with Lattice
With relatives and friends in the Washington DC area, I can usually visit some of the museums there every two years or so. On our last visit, I discovered a huge display of orchids in the Kogod Courtyard at the National Portrait Gallery. This cross stitch was designed from one of my photos taken there. Then the lattice work was created to enhance the orchid design.
This series is a continuation of several bodies of work created over the years in which I overlap several layers in different materials. As noted in some of the comments below, these layers have always been about protection.
The wooden latticework appears to act as a protector of the Lady Slipper design – I can see but I sense that I should keep my distance. It makes me think of the fragility of plant life and our environmental challenges, or that plant life is always coexisting with our very rational, horizontals and verticals of architecture (in the western world). I also think there is an interesting tension that is compositionally resolved – the hard edge of the wood against the softer, rounder threads of cross-stitch.
I would love to see this piece in person. The colors and the composition in the cross stitch section seem very complex, with the graceful criss-crossing of the orchid’s
stems and long drooping petals working within the vertical and horizontal of the purple stripes and lattice. My first emotional reaction looking at it is sadness. The distance. The lattice separating me from the orchid feels like looking through the window at the world, safely inside but apart.
This piece is currently hanging in the actual Salon Gallery at State of the Art. Though the Salon is temporarily closed due to Covid 19, the main gallery is open and the sitter could show you the piece through the window. Just ask!
I will see it this afternoon
I think of beauty in confinement when I look at this piece – a lens that I am experiencing in this time of Covid. The refined lattice work which breaks through the frame echoed by the horizontal vertical lines stitched in the background both shield and ground the delicate flower. The thriving orchid shows me that even when sheltered in place there is new growth. I urge folks to see this artwork in person at the gallery, to experience Capobianco’s impressive craftsmanship in wood work and stitchery.