Fan #17

Fan #17 takes the folding fan — a form with deep resonance in both Japanese and European decorative traditions — as its organizing compositional motif. As the seventeenth work in what appears to be an ongoing series, this piece likely explores the fan's radiating pleated structure as a framework for layering fabrics, painted papers, and stitched passages within a defined, arc-shaped field. Lippens may incorporate antique Japanese textile fragments, whose existing surface designs interact with her own painted and stitched additions. The fan form provides natural divisions that guide the eye outward from a central pivot point, and Lippens uses stitching to trace the ribs of the pleats, reinforcing structure while adding tactile surface incident. The numbered series format suggests an investigative approach — each fan a variation on a constrained set of compositional problems — making this work as much about material research as finished object. The mixed media surface rewards close inspection, where individual threads, paper grains, and fabric weaves remain legible.