Pat Hertzberg Signature

As an artist, I am absorbed in the process of fibre manipulation and embellishment,
orchestrating colours, and creating unique textural surfaces.

Technically, my current work examines the relationships of both colours and textures,
as well as the fraying properties of various fabrics - both ripping on grain and cutting off grain.
I combine these with assorted cords, threads and yarns. The result is a mosaic, a textural menagerie.
When tightly reassembled, these works can have the properties of a modern patchwork quilt,
or a painted canvas with tonal shades resembling brush strokes.
When loosely reassembled, the effect is entirely different. These open works
become unique, diaphanous surfaces - contemporary lacy quilts.

My works are both flat and 3-dimensional, utilizing an assortment of techniques
such as hand-dying, deconstruction, fraying, knotting, free-motion embroidery,
raw-edge quilting, abstract weaving, and 'thread-web' using dissolvable fabrics.

Thematically, my work is diverse. It is a reflection of, and my reaction to, the world around me. It is frequently a social commentary, and can also be a captured moment of exquisite beauty. Since I live and work in the magnificent Caledon hills just north of Toronto, Canada, many different aspects of nature inevitably inspire me - with both a macro and micro perspective. I have had a very long fascination with transparency, shadow and negative (empty) space, as well as texture and colour interactions.

Art Piece Background