4 Common Corners (4commoncorners.com) is an invitation fiber art group composed of artists from New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and Utah. We each answer 3 themed calls for art each year and exhibit widely.
Blue Sky Day (2025) 24″ H x 25″ W
Themed call: “Cottonwoods.” The group was so inspired by our stay at a retreat in New Mexico and the lovely golden cottonwoods surrounding our building.
Posca Play (2024) 30″ H x 40″ W
Themed call: “Improve at the Corners.” We were asked to create on the fly, with no plan, and with the caveate that the piece had to contain at least one corner.
Tiffany Stone (2024) 40″ H x 30″ W
Themed call: “4 Common Corners Rocks!” As a rockhound’s daughter, I am very familiar with the semi-precious rocks in my state. This is a representation of Tiffany Stone, only found in Utah. Fabric inks painted directly on satin.
Nesting (2024) 31” H x 34” W
Themed call: “Hidden Life.” Once the leaves fall, it is remarkable to see how many bird nests have been hidden literally feet away from us as birds raised their chicks. How did we not know? We probably walked within feet of these nests all summer. Did you know that birds become very secretive and quiet during nesting? They even vary the ways they fly to and from their nests to disguise their presence and confuse lurking predators. Fabric inks painted directly onto whole cloth white satin. Disperse transfer dyes painted onto paper and heat transferred to whole cloth satin. Holes cut through the 3 layers and commercial bird fabric sewn on the back. Stitched on a domestic sewing machine with rayon and cotton threads.
Pond Pals (2022) 42″ H x 32″ W
Themed Call: “Oasis.” People think of Utah mostly in terms of its red rock desert national parks. But Northern Utah is home to the Salt Creek Waterfowl Management Area and the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge (both in Box Elder County). Many migrating birds, including swans (which winter in California and fly through Utah to nesting grounds in Canada and Alaska) find an oasis and respite here each migration season.
Love is the Only Bridge (2022) 34″ H x 27″ W
Themed Call: “Cryptography.” Asemic writing is an artistic use of line to convey a message or an emotion. Much of this type of mark making is not related to actual words but is used as a way for a viewer to fill in meaning. Here, however, my asemic writing is made of words that hold hidden messages. You (probably) can’t read them, so I will share the words that have profoundly affected my family: “Success isn’t final. Failure isn’t fatal. You must love what you do. Love is the only bridge. (The meaning of flowers is another form of secret communication.)
Girl in Tree (2022) 21″ H x 24″ W
Themed Call: “The Way We Were.” Those glorious, halcyon childhood days – was there magic in your life back then? Special places you could go to dream your future?
Materials: Whole cloth cottons and rayon, rayon thread, fabric inks, and beads. Techniques: Original art sketched on whole cloth cotton, quilted, then painted with fabric inks. Leaves painted with fabric inks and hand cut, then attached with fusible and beading. Raw edge shibori indigo vat dyed rayon binding.
Islands in the Stream (2023) 34″ H x 32″ W
Themed call: “Transparency.” Just reflecting on a quiet moment of relaxation in the tub contemplating the meaning of life . . . and my knees.
Super Bloom (2023) 29″ H x 32″ W
Themed Call: “Heads and Tails.” Record snowfalls during the winter of 2023 and the melting spring snowpack had the fields and meadows near me alive with lush grasses and blooming wildflowers. What a lovely setting for a couple of painted ponies. A riot of color everywhere.
Rosanna Lynne Welter 