Today we’d like to introduce you to Mardell Rampton
Hi Mardell, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My path to being an artist came through a career as a software engineer in the telecommunications industry for more than three decades. The intensity and pressure both from the work and my own internal drivers took a toll on my health.
I’ve always worked with cloth, making garments for myself as a creative outlet. Learning how to dye and paint cloth was a pathway to the work I do today, together with working with an art coach on how to develop a body of work.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I live with a damaged vestibular system which deeply affects my physical balance. The condition makes it very challenging for me to process the torrent of information we are exposed to in modern life – lights, motion, sound – all of these easily overwhelm me. Part of managing this condition is to do things in small enough increments to stay below the threshold of overwhelm.
Over time I’ve developed my studio processes to be compartmentalized: one step is preparing dye solutions, another step is preparing the cloth, another step is painting the cloth, eventually I reach the step where I am using the cloth to create the painting. Doing this allows me to work at a pace that is sustainable for me. As well, every one of my processes are each very grounding and calming.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I create paintings from cloth I’ve marked and painted. From a library of hundreds of pieces of this painted cloth, I choose a small palette for each painting, usually around 20-30 pieces. From this palette, each piece of cloth that goes in to the painting is chosen intuitively, responding to what has been selected already. The initial surface of the work is built up by free hand cutting one thin organically shaped rectangle at a time from the cloth, stitching it to the previously chosen piece, repeated over and over until this layer of the painting is complete.
The painting is then layered over a thin layer of bamboo fiber, and a layer of cloth. From here very fluid lines of stitches are laid on to the cloth with my domestic sewing machine to create subtle texture and another layer of colour. Next the painting receives even more texture and colour from hand dyed threads applied by hand to the painting. The final step is mounting the painting on a custom fabricated metal frame I designed for my artworks. This allows the painting to hang as if suspended from the wall giving it a beautiful and elegant presence.
Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
Don’t wait until some future time when you think it will be the perfect time to do whatever your dream is. Try to find ways to take even the smallest steps towards it now.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.mardellrampton.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mardellramptonart
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvxk7LKEJZyCPnM2CDJvMjw
Image Credits
gallery images by Byron Dauncey, remaining images by Mardell Rampton