animal, vegetable, mineral batik
erosion shibori
earth from space painting 2
 

Patterns in Nature
For more than 45 years, Myrrh has explored patterns in nature. Often, her strategy was to use art pattern-generating processes to mimic them. This is explained in her Leonardo article,"The Study of Patterns is Profound."

  
radiolarian batik                              
In the 1970s, Myrrh's works done in batik
 centered around hexagonal patterns in nature.
 Below: Animal, Vegetable, Mineral. Left: units
from the work show a radiolarian and
a virus.		 insect wing shibori      
   
     
                             

In 1978 Myrrh studied shibori
at Fiberworks, and exploited its
unique look to render natural
patterns.

Above, Dragonfly wing, detail. 15 X 24 inches, indigo on linen. Right, Erosion, 15 X 20 inches, indigo and Inko on rayon. This involves a lot of sewing!

Shibori, or wrinkle resist, is an intricate form of tie-dye. See the links page!

        
    virus batik                        
                                 
                                           
          earth from space painting 3                  
            Using what she learned about folding and resists in shibori, she concocted a technique on thin paper to mimic the earth as seen from 16,000 meters above. She dubbed them her N.A.S.A. series (Not Actually Science Achievements).

Myrrh calls the technique "paper shibori painting" or "crumpled paper painting."

Left: Long Fault, 11 X 29 inches. Above, Appalachian II, 14 X 30 inches. Below, Rift Valley, with collage of geologic map in river. 30 X 40 inches. Floating: My Father's World III. The paper used was a geologic map, Chicago area, from the wastebasket of P.B. King, her geologist father. Mountains in Lake Michigan!		          
  earth from space painting1                              
      earth from space painting4                  
                         
                               
                                   
                marbling on cloth            
                                   
        Two other techniques Myrrh experimented with then were paper marbling and lift drawings (a monoprint technique) on cloth.
Right: Mushroom Cloud Head, 8 X 10 inches, acrylic on cotton. Wave is a lift drawing with oil-based ink (plus a couched yarn line accent) on cotton, 15 X 30 inches.		            
ocean wave on cloth  
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