WHELKS

Taking inspiration from shells collection from the North and South Carolina coast, my Whelks series considers shells in their perfect and battered states. Although shells are hard mineral forms, they protect soft bodies—their own, in the case of whelks, and those of their offspring, in the case of the nautilus. The series began with a cluster of smaller whelks, which will form a jumble of shells appliquéd into one quilt. While working on these, I began selecting single shells as the basis of larger, more individual, works. Whelk 4: Inside Out, plays with relationships of inside and outside, what is hidden and what revealed. Its color patterns begin with the colors found inside a shell, transitions to colors from the outside, and ends with points of fabric imitating the sharper parts of a horned whelk. Another, tentatively titled Whelk 6: Fragment, aims to negotiate the broken form of so many shells when beached. This piece is composed of two fabric layers, one representing the inside of the shell, and the other the outside. The outside piece will overlay the inside piece, but will be torn and damaged, thereby revealing the inside piece. A third large piece, Whelk 7: Into and Out Of, was exhibited in the Member Show at the Greenville Center for Creative Arts in 2016, and it plays with a more mathematical spiral of colors.