Wonderscapes

PHOTO: Hermosa Beach, 19" x 15", wool, roving, and satin on monk's cloth. Designed and hooked by Brigitta Phy, Sebastopol, California, 2015.

The Wonderscapes concept emerged while I was brainstorming ideas for a class at the 2015 TIGHR Triennial in Victoria, British Columbia. I had recently attended an exhibition at the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco of David Hockney’s work. A large collection of his landscape paintings were at the show, and seeing those through the eyes of a rug hooker blew my mind! Hockney’s landscapes are filled with brilliant colors and unexpected patterns.

With that exhibit in my mind, I wanted to hook a landscape a la Hockney. I decided to create a piece of my own inspired by his work—not something copied. I started with my own photograph of a real place then played with changing the colors from the true, real life colors to fantasy colors, creating a stylized wonderland that was still recognizable as the place in the photograph.

Changing to wonderland-style colors presents a challenge in perspective and depth.


This article is from the January/February 2016 issue. For more information on this issue, check out our issue page.