Tracey Cameron Creative

Tag: fabric art

57 Vulva’s and counting!
All of my art work is a way for me to find my own personal power. I look at the natural world and am struck by the beauty and the innate sense of strength and connection in everything around me. With every piece I make I strive to inspire that feeling in myself again and to encourage it in others.

The Bloom project started as a way to use up scraps and for me to feel more comfortable with the natural size and shape of my vulva. No two are alike and I found that I got really excited about combing different colours and patterns and seeing how the fabric would fold. At the moment I am up to 57 individual vulva’s and I finding I’m not as motivated to continue.

I had a particular exhibition space in mind for these pieces and unfortunately they weren’t selected, and honestly it’s got me a little bit bummed. Sometimes with art it feels like you have to be constantly hustling to get your work “out there” and all that effort can be draining. So I don’t know where this project is going to go. I know I will continue to make my little fabric vulva’s because I love how they turn out but I don’t know where in the world they will find a home. But I guess sometimes I just have to trust the urge to make and believe that everything else will take care of it’s self. Even if I throw myself a little pity party or two along the way.
December 7, 2021
How I Started Working In Textile Collage

One of my first soft sculptures, the Great Grey Owl

I didn’t always work in textile collage. I trained as a Graphic Designer. I spent three years learning about fonts, kerning, grids and prepping files for print. It was okay, I was good at it. But I really missed the tactile feeling of making something in real life.

In my last year of my bDes I decided to switch my major to illustration and focus on watercolour paintings. Spending all my days working in front of a computer didn’t seem appealing. As an illustrator I would be painting and drawing and creating work for art directors. As my final year was coming to an end and I was about to graduate, I had two classes that sparked my interest in sculpture. In one class I created girly analogue video game characters for a gaming company (they were not well received :P). Another class I worked with a local Catholic School Board to create relief sculptures for the exterior of a new high school.

Those classes gave me the confidence and permission to try something new.

I went back to my 80’s child crafting roots and broke out the wire, fabric, hot glue and styrofoam and started creating these cute graphic sculptures. I progressed into bigger more complex pieces and realized my home was too small to store all these new soft sculptures. Out of the desire to save space I decided that I would take this style 2D, and work flat.

My first large scale textile collage, Group of Ostrich

Collaging with fabric felt very natural to me. I love combining different colours, patterns and textures of fabric in interiors so this new method of working felt like combining my art and interior design worlds together. The large scale and dramatic colour I was now able to play with felt like an extension of the watercolour style I had developed. It took me until this year to figure out how to bring the mediums of watercolour and textiles together but I am happy with the results and can’t wait to see what comes out of this new methodology.

December 1, 2020
Why Birds?!

This is a question I’ve been asking myself for a while, “What’s with all the birds Tracey?!” And the simple answer is, I don’t really know…

It’s not something that has been a rational choice. I don’t have a manifesto about the social implication of flight or the environmental consequences of species loss. I can’t sit down and tell you what my intellectual intention behind a piece is, and honestly, for a long time that has made me feel like less of an artist. I used to think you must have something to say and make people stop and think. But my personal approach to art is more feeling and less thinking. I am a visceral artist. I don’t make art to make a point, I make art because it makes me feel good to make something beautiful and I hope it makes people feel happy to see something beautiful.

Right now I choose to celebrate the beauty in birds because I seem to be endlessly fascinated by them. It’s the curve of their necks, the graphic shape of their form, their strange staccato movements, their ability to take flight, their wildness, their diversity, their colour, their songs … They interest me on so many levels and maybe one day I’ll put into better words why I am so drawn to them but for now it simply boils down to I think they are pretty.

November 26, 2020
Ostrich Flock Wall Hanging

I’m starting to run out of space in my studio to create new sculptures, so I decided it was time to work flat! Although I went flat, I didn’t go small. This mammoth 60″ x 30″ wall hanging put my sewing machine and my patience through it’s paces. But I’m very pleased with the results. I had a lot of fun working flat. Got to be a little more graphic and abstract with the shapes. Next piece I will try to mix in a little paint with the fabric and have the shapes dissolve and become a little more raw.

Ostriches have such personality and individuality I wanted to create an ostriches flock but allow each bird to stand on it’s own as well. I layered cream, white and yellow laces and sheer fabrics over black shapes to create their form. And kept adding layers towards the head to create dimension and texture. Their eyes and long lashes are such a dominate feature I wanted to put the focal point there. If you look closely you can see I also added some lines of stitching in yellow, grey and white to give more depth and interest and line quality.

July 29, 2016
The Pink Flamingo in the Room

June 6, 2014
New Gang in Town

April 15, 2013