"PRAISE FOR LIFE"

Praise For Life #9 “Praise for the power of forgiveness and letting go”

In 2005 I created a series of 10 small (16” by 16”) framed works that celebrated and illustrated the poem “Praise for Life” a Kaddish prayer adapted by Rabbi Arthur Waskow.

PRAISE FOR LIFE

Praise for Life.

Praise for all the senses of the body

reaching out and plucking the universe like an autumn apple.

Praise for the dream of justice here upon the earth,

equity and well being for the whole of humanity.

May our children’s children harvest the dreams

            we plant in our brief lives.

Praise for Life.

Praise though all of our philosophies and explanations

 trickle through the fingers of our experience like water.

Praise for Life.

Praise for it though it is brief before the lives of stars,

            and the lives of worlds,

                        and the lives of even the trees that shade us.

Praise for Life.

Praise for the sacred power of remembrance.

Praise for the sacred power of forgiveness and letting go.

Praise for Life, the beginning, the middle and the amen of this prayer.

 These pieces have been exhibited in many galleries, and other exhibits and now it is time to let them fly off on their own. So rather than selling them as a collection, I am selling them as individual pieces. One has already sold and others are being contemplated. Please contact me if you are interested. Each one comes with a copy of the full poem as well as the story of the individual piece.

These pieces are for sale in the gallery now - so please explore this powerful collection of works that illustrate a poem that sings a song of love and celebration of life. Please let me know which one speaks to you.

 

Casting Off

Casting off

These words have a few different meanings.

Stone cozies in a huddle. Maine beach stones with crocheted linen dyed with madder.

 One of them is textile related – as in “to finish a knitted fabric by casting off all the stitches.”

Another definition is a mariner’s term for unfastening or untying a boat line.

And lastly a dancing term: “to turn one’s partner in a square in a square dance and pass around the outside of the set and back.”

 This week I cast off from the mainland, heading to Monhegan for three weeks.

I will be binding off one season’s end and casting on new threads for the fall.

I will loosen my ties to one chapter and turn round to face a new one.

Solo exhibition - Maine State Capitol, Augusta Maine.

 Closing out this season I highlight the following:

·      Solo exhibition at the Maine State Capitol, Augusta, Maine. I have 13 pieces up in a one person show that runs until December 31, 2022.

Biddeford Blooms - the mill building.

·      “Biddeford Blooms” a yearlong community art project was completed and unveiled at the Fringe Fest on August 19th. This quartet of tapestries that illustrate the life and history of Biddeford, will be on display throughout the community for a few months – and eventually will be permanently installed in either the city library or the mill buildings.

 

Sunset from Indiantown Island

·      The language of color - I look back at my year long journey into learning new dye techniques and marvel at the depth of my new palette. I am keenly aware that my work hasn’t taken full advantage this new vocabulary. I have been dabbling here and there –making stone cozies that honor the small and unpretentious. I’m not sure what lies ahead, except that there will be a horizon line awaiting. Because, you know, every sailor who casts off, has to set sights on something.

Summer in Maine

This ever so brief slice of warm days perfect for cool salt water swims, blueberries and lobster on the menu, low tide explorations, osprey calls across the bay and even the foggy mornings that keep us in the harbor.

Need I say more?

As is our tradition here in Maine — we soak up every minute of every day, with deep gratitude for our good fortune to live in such a magnificent place.

I took a collection of recently completed stone cozies on the boat with me this weekend. We had fun rearranging them on rocks, logs, crushed shells and sea grass.

And when I got home I was delighted to see that the Madder red series of stone cozies has been featured in the summer 22 issue of FiberArt Now. Thank you juror Michael Rohde!

Stone Cozies get highlighted in the summer 22 issue of FiberArt Now!

Seedlings and sprouts

    If you are a gardener you will know what I am talking about. It’s that moment when the efforts of your labor and your vision show real evidence. Those tiny leaves that seem so tender and fragile push up through the damp spring earth, beginning the way for a cornucopia of vegetables, flowers and dye plants.

     Today feels like that kind of day for me – when the fruits of many months of labor are evident. Today I take months of art work to the photographer to be documented. And this week I announce my new community art project.

    After months of contemplation I am ready to launch my fifth community art initiative - WHITE FLAG  - motivated to by a desire to foster openness and transformation through conversation, creativity and reflection.  As with all my previous community art projects, WHITE FLAG uses a textile as a vehicle for healthy communication and creativity to encourage understanding between individuals and communities.

    The centerpiece for this project, a WHITE FLAG, has been recognized for centuries as a symbol not only for surrender or truce, but a willingness to have a dialogue and negotiate. If we are going to survive as a species, as a planet - we need to find ways to come together peacefully, to listen and to be vulnerable.  This community art project builds on that concept – asking participants to sit at a table, talk, listen and use embroidery threads, sewing trims, buttons and writing/drawing tools to embellish the WHITE FLAG with words, images and patterns reflecting their dialogue. This project will have 10 handwoven linen WHITE FLAGS and 10 – 20 hosts (an individual, family, school, household, institution, restaurant/café or collective) who will support the project at each site, using prompts and guidelines.

    Parallel to the creative embellishment of the handwoven flags, I will ask people to write about “making peace” on kozo paper. I will spin this paper will be spun into thread and later weave it into one large WHITE FLAG.

    WHITE FLAG is centered on encouraging conversations for understanding and connection through interactive and engaging activities, appropriate for all ages and abilities. Throughout the project, the hosts and participants will witness how the WHITE FLAG changes with each get-together, becoming more and more layered with threads, stories, ribbons, images and text. The project will culminate with a public exhibition of the 10 embellished WHITE FLAGS, the large WHITE FLAG woven with “making peace” paper threads, along with photographs and videos of the white cloth community events. Through curiosity, action, listening, observation, responding and reflection this project aspires to transcend conflict and transform communities.

   Keep your eyes open for WHITE FLAG events near you! I will be soliciting folks to be event hosts and participants later this summer. Please contact me if you are curious to know more and/or want to participate.

 SOON in my gallery I will have several new pieces - so excited that I finally got the last several months of art work photographed!! Stay tuned to my gallery for seven new pieces!

OTHER NEWS ~

LightsOut Gallery featured a short YouTube video interview of me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOWameeGv-I&t=7s

“Well Used, Well Loved” is on exhibit in “the PERFECT AGE: reflections on the passage of time”  HERA Gallery Wakefield RI. May 14 – June 18. There will be an artist Zoom talk on May 26th at 7 PM Zoom link on the gallery website.

“Hold Me Like A Mother” has been accepted to “Yarn Rope String” FiberArtNow Juried on line exhibition. July 2022

 

“Live Your Truth” and “Indigo Nights” have both been accepted to the Handweavers Guild of America’s Convergence Symphony of the Mountains exhibit in Knoxville TN. July 2022

 My piece titled “Sinking House #1” is included in “Unraveling Women’s Art” by P.L. Henderson SuperNova Books, England, 2021

 

 

 

Blush

I am deeply honored for the opportunity to share my work in the latest edition of Creative Maine Magazine.

I hope you enjoy reading the story behind each piece.

Much gratitude to the editor and publisher Nancy Gordon.

When We Remember (detail)

Watery World

I am 70% water. 

Swimming at age 5.

(And so are you.)

The Earth is 71% water.

I’ve been thinking about the qualities of water a lot lately.

Water is flexible – easily fits and flows around other more concrete objects. 

Water is open to change --  rapid change. 

Water reacts and responds to the environment around it – the wind, shoreline, air temperature. 

Water can gently changes the shape of things over time.

Water can wear down things that are difficult, heavy and resistant, such as stones at the beach. 

Water flows easily, goes where there is least resistance.

And yet there is so much hidden under the surface of water.

I can immerse myself in water. 

Submerge. 

Rounded Maine Beach stones.

Float, sink.

Swim through.

Dive and dip.

 

Detail: “One Bright Island”

Water has been a muse for my work for a long time. 

And so on this breezy March day – I tip my hat to water. 

 Without water, I could not make my art, dye my threads, or paint.

Without out water, I would not exist.

Thank you water.

Detail “Dissolving Boundaries”

Material Meaning

The materials we select to make our art are embedded with many layers of meaning, metaphors, messages, political implications, historical connections and more. I’ve been exploring this topic with my textile colleagues and giving it much thought as I work alone this winter in my studio.

The material I use to build my art is thread. Threads in general are a metaphor for connection - the threads that bind us, our common threads. Thread also is a line - a continuous line of thought (the thread of a message), a line of reasoning, a continuous element. 

A thread is a group of filaments twisted together to make a long continuous strand. And within the realm of threads there are many fibers from which to construct this long line, this connective strand, this flexible linear element. 

My preference is to use fibers that have organic origins such as paper, linen, cotton, silk and rayon (made from cellulose fibers). Threads made from these organic materials are effected by humidity, light, wind and abrasion. I find the susceptibility to change of these organic fiber materials parallels the changes I observe in my own changing/aging body. Exploring these parallels of impermanence, I treat my hand woven linens to rust dyeing, weathering, bleach and compost dyeing. These transformative and dye processes allow me to be a witness in the process of metamorphosis and to challenge my attachment to what I once deemed as precious. 

These materials are not only metaphor for change but a vehicle for personal growth and reflection. This avenue of thought about materials and meaning is only one of many. What does the material you use mean to your message, to your process, to your growth as an artist?

My interview with the Handweavers Guild of America can be found on FaceBook (no account needed). Enjoy!

Stone Cozy: Beach stone with crocheted madder dyed linen