Brigitte Kopp

A somber palette punctuated by accents of red and orange draws your attention to Brigitte Kopp’s work. Her use of line, whether embroidered or appliquéd, creates a hauntingly powerful story. She believes that art should be more than beautiful. Art should stimulate the viewer’s thinking about political and social issues. Women’s role in society, domestic abuse, and our care of the environment are just some of the themes you are invited to contemplate.

I grew up in a tailor’s shop that produced work for couture establishments in Paris and Berlin. I collected every scrap of my favorite fabrics, mostly velvets, silk, and lace, beginning to copy the couture creations for my dolls. At first I sewed by hand, but as soon as I could reach the pedal of an old sewing machine that was being used as decoration, I was allowed to use the machine.

I bugged the seamstresses with my questions: how does this work, how do you do this? I learned other needlework techniques, such as weaving, spinning, knitting, and embroidery from my grandmother’s numerous sisters, who were all professionals in their chosen métier.

Being a member of SAQA brought me in contact with other professionals working with or for quilts and textile art. It pushed my boundaries to an international level, gave me support, and encouraged me to show my work worldwide.

I studied art, both painting and graphic design, as well as music, and later received an M.A. in music. After I got married, I was offered many concert engagements and was able to make a living through teaching music. I have always created in music and painting and drawing at the same time. I think

they interact well with one another. In both types of artistic endeavor, you have to learn about proportion, timing, effects, and color. The most important thing I ever learned was from Johannes Brahms. He said: “It is not hard to compose, but what is fabulously hard is to leave the superfluous notes under the table.” That principle is very important in the visual arts, too.

Stitch is my favorite medium for making art because my work is more graphic, somewhere between abstract and representational art. I use stitch as my drawing pencil. I prefer blacks and greys, but I sometimes add color with painted, appliquéd fabrics to express emotion.

I like to play with the different possibilities of hand and machine stitching. Machine stitching in black or grey creates a solid line that I use for the main com

above, right: On her road to… 64 x 61 inches, 2014 below: Hau ab!/Hands off! 52 x 42 inches, 2012

59 x 65 inches, 2014

position. A running hand stitch creates a line less solid, more delicate, so I’ll use it to draw things disappearing in the background as I did in On her road to…. I also prefer the running stitch for quilting, in the way one might use it for hatching in a drawing, as you will see in Gebärmütter. Or I use long hand stitches with thick threads for accents.

There are many different ways in which our society perceives women, depending on their roles or the roles that people allocate to them. One is having children. The German plural for

wombs, Gebärmütter, designates both the organ as well as the women who are having more and more children. My Granny had 21 or 23 children. I don’t know the exact number because some died early. She had twins several times and gave birth to her last pair of twins at the age of 56. This piece focuses on the struggles women have making decisions about contraception and abortion versus having a lot of children.

On her road to… is dedicated to all the women who have to suffer losses, whether the loss of their home, their livelihood, or even their family. I conceived of this piece while watching the news on television and seeing what’s going on in Syria. The main design object in this piece is the “L” of the word loss. (In German, we would write the word with a capital L.) You can find the “L” in the black lines, the cuts, and in the red stripes of fabrics. The stitching for the background shows numerous crosses, also a sign for loss. Too Tired To… is about women being exhausted by all the conflicts and fights they have within their lives. And eternal God created Woman is about woman as an object of desire, but also about a woman’s wish to be loved, about women’s sexuality. The holes in this piece

80 x 35 x 35 inches, 2012

reference a woman’s body. The black lines, made of draped latex, are a reference to the snake in the Garden of Eden. They constitute a threat and drag your eyes to the focal point.

I am an observer of my environment. If I conceive of an interesting theme, I develop a picture of the quilt in my head including colors, materials, and tech- niques. This process can take months. Then I do a very detailed drawing. If I am not sure about the drawing, I will scan it and use Photoshop to play with propor- tions or colors.

My work should be more than simply beautiful. I would rather stimulate critical thinking. My art is my commentary on the world, on our environment, and on how humans interact with one another. I hope to help viewers open their eyes and possibly look at things in a different way.

58 x 49 inches, 2015