Janine Brown
Building a Strong Foundation, 2024
Home-cooked bioplastic, red rose petals, shredded US currency, food coloring, hand-stitched with crochet thread 57.5" x 57.5" x 0.25"
Building a Strong Foundation reimagines the log cabin quilt pattern utilizing alternating squares of roses and shredded U.S. currency. Historically, a red center square in a log cabin quilt represented the hearth in the home. In this piece, I add the green centers to suggest that money, one of the top reasons for marital arguments, might be necessary for a strong partnership.
Janine Brown
Wheel of Fortune for the Fortunate, 2025
Home-cooked bioplastic, shredded U.S. currency, white peony petals, hand-stitched with crochet thread 42.5" X 42.5" X 0.25"
This piece uses the Wheel of Fortune quilt block to reinterpret the quilt using bioplastic embedded with shredded U.S. currency (fortune) and white peony petals (prosperity. The diamond border represents luxury and perfection.
Janine Brown
Lover’s in the Rose Garden, 2025
Home-cooked bioplastic, red rose petals, white rose petals, hand-stitched with crochet thread and pearl cotton, wood panel 14.5" x 14.5" x 1.75"
The True Lover's Knot is reinterpreted in bioplastic embedded with red rose petals (love) and white rose petals (innocence).
Janine Brown
Bittersweet Thoughts, 2025
Home-cooked bioplastic, calendula petals, white zinnia petals, hand-stitched with crochet thread and pearl cotton, wooden stretcher bars 15.5" x 15.5" x 1.75"
This piece uses the Joy's Delight quilt pattern reinterpreted in bioplastic embedded with calendula petals (joy or grief depending on the culture) and white zinnia petals (remembering a fond friend).
Janine Brown
Sarah’s Choice (Love, Grief, and Grace), 2025
Home-cooked bioplastic, red rose petals, hydrangea petals, calendula petals, hand-stitched with crochet thread and pearl cotton 12.5" x 12.5" x 1.75"
This piece used the Sarah's Choice quilt block to reimagine it in bioplastic. The bioplastic is embedded with white hydrangea petals (grace), red rose petals (love), and calendula petals (grief).
Janine Brown
Friends and Lovers, 2025
Home-cooked bioplastic, white rose petals, yellow rose petals, red rose petals, white zinnia petals, hand-stitched with crochet thread and pearl cotton, two wood panels 14.5" x 14.5" x 1.75"
This piece uses one of the Friendship Quilt blocks and the Lover's in the Mist Quilt block to create a diptych. Friends is created with yellow rose petals (friendship) and white zinnia petals (remembering a fond friend). Lovers is created with red rose petals (love and passion) and white rose petals (innocence).
Janine Brown
Wedded Bliss (Love or Money), 2024
Home-cooked bioplastic, white rose petals, shredded U.S. currency, hand-stitched with crochet thread 38.5" x 38.5" x 0.25"
In the late 19th century, there was a tradition in America of mothers and grandmothers creating a double wedding ring quilt as a gift to their children on their wedding day. In this piece, I rethink the double wedding ring pattern as it relates to the Victorian dilemma of marrying for love or money.
Janine Brown
Marital Constraints, 2023
Home-cooked bioplastic, artist's financial statements, crochet thread, artist's and artist's mother's wedding dress 20" x 20" x 14"
In this work, I combine a home-cooked bioplastic with the paper pulp of my financial statement. The "material" was stitched together using leather crafting/crochet techniques to make the corset. I have used my mother's (and my) wedding dress with the corset to represent ideals of marriage and constraints within marriage that are passed down through generations.
Janine Brown
Grandma’s Flower Garden Was Filled with Love, Hope, Grief, Elegance, Innocence, Vanity, and a Little Bit of Justice, 2025
Home-cooked bioplastic, red rose petals, calendula petals, white zinnia petals, white hydrangea petals, cornflower petals, yellow dahlia petals, globe amaranth petals, brown-eyed Susans, hand-stitched with crochet thread and pearl cotton 58" x 62.5" x 0.25"
This piece is a variation on the Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt pattern using Victorian Floriography and home-cooked bioplastic. Each of the flowers used in the quilt has it's own meaning as suggested in the title. The piece is an homage to home economics by cooking the materials and stitching them together. The intent is to make the invisible labor of women visible.
Janine Brown
No Way Out, 2023
Home-cooked bioplastic, shredded U.S. currency, artist's financial statements, hand-stitched with crochet thread 8" x 5.5" x 8"
No Way Out contemplates housing using a home-cooked bioplastic material embedded with shredded US currency. The inside walls of the structure are created with a bioplastic embedded with paper-pulp from my financial statements. I was thinking about shelter and how once a person owns or rents a place to live, money is continually needed for upkeep or to pay the rent, hence there are no windows or doors and no way out.
