Too Tired to… (2015)
148 x 123 cms
self painted and dyed linen and cotton, latex, different threads
Brigitte Kopp
One Morning in the City (2016)
130 x 80 cms
silk, cotton, various threads and cords, partly self-painted or dyed found non-woven material and batting.
Earth Stories Copper (2015)
162 x 159 cms
silk, linen, different cords, copper wire, cut Styrofoam balls, cotton backing
Global Players (2016)
146 x 150 cms
cotton, acrylic inks, spun bond (self painted), cotton batting and backing, cotton threads
Earth Stories: The Clock is Ticking (2016)
182 x 106 cms
silk and linen self painted or dyed, different threads, polyester stuffing, cotton batting, viscose and cotton backing
Hope is the last to die (2018)
154 x 178
hand painted cotton, acrylic inks, spun bond (self painted), cotton batting and backing, different threads
Alter Ego: Rose (2020)
both 50 x 70 cms
acrylic paint, cotton, cotton threads
Alter Ego: Rose (2020)
both 50 x 70 cms
acrylic paint, cotton, cotton threads
Alter Ego: Thistle (2020)
both 50 x 70 cms
acrylic paint, cotton, cotton threads
German artist Brigitte Kopp’s art covers a number of genres including embroidery, quilting and painting to name but a few. Her work often has an abstract quality and ‘provides everyone with a reason for reflection.’
Firstly where are you based and where do you work?
I live in a small village in the Spreewald south of Berlin. I have my studio in my home and I use my barn for the “wet” processes like dying.
What is your background in textiles?
I grew up at my grandmother’s sisters who were working as tailors, weavers, embroiderers and knitters. I played with their remnants and I started early on to copy them. I then worked in my aunt’s tailor shop to earn the money for my studies of fine art and music at the University of Arts (HDK) Berlin.
How do you work?
I have many sketchbooks, where I sketch, write down new ideas for a work, my inspirations for a new technique or a colour combination. And I collect pictures from newspapers, magazines and the internet. If I decide on a theme I sketch for proportions, size, colour and material.
How do you describe your art?
I make art with thread, fabric and paint. With a background in fine arts I don’t think that much about quilts, embroidery, paintings or all those pigeonholes. My work should make the viewer interested and perhaps provide everyone with reason for reflection.
What is it that appeals to you about textiles?
I loved the texture of fabric the colours, threads. It is lovely to work with these materials which you can use in so many different ways.
How long does a piece take to make from start to finish?
It is different, depending on the techniques I use. Hand embroidery is much slower than machine embroidery. The sketch is done in some minutes, developing the work, thinking about it can take up to a year or more. The realisations can take some days up to half a year depending on techniques and size.
Where do you find inspiration?
I am inspired by the world surrounding me, things I watch on TV or the internet.
Do you have any advice for aspiring textile artists?
Be curious, try to develop your knowledge, ask for everything you don’t understand and look, look, look! Try to gain any knowledge about the medium and techniques you will use. Try to do the things as teachers will show you but find out if there are other ways to do it. Keep on going forward and look at art created outside of the textile medium.
What are you most proud of in your artistic career so far?
That I have found a new way to make art after personally hard times. And of course the awards and that my work is shown in museum collections.
http://www.brigitte-kopp-textilkunst.eu/