Fourteen

This piece is entitled “Fourteen”. It is one of my earliest textile pieces having been created in the mid-eighties. I had gathered vintage gloves for a year or more and stashed them away for a series yet to be determined. This was the first piece I created with them. I tea-dyed them and bleached them and tea-dyed them several times to get them just the right shade. I was using the French knot a lot at the time so I embellished the gloves, which created the slight undulation on the surface which I quite liked.  Around that time I had seen some artwork (Northwest Coast Native American Button Blankets) created with lots of little buttons so I dipped into my button collection. The all-seeing –eye had appeared in some other works of mine at that time (along with the heart and brain – a triumvirate of recurring symbols) so I did an early Xerox transfer.  Around the edges of the gloves and the eye I did some blanket stitching – my favorite stitch learned as a Brownie in my youth. Things were moving along nicely when I got a strong urge to incorporate something into the piece that had been written in my own hand from childhood. I did not know if I had anything in the house but I began to dig in the back of the closet. There in a box of old photos I found an essay I had written in Jr. High School for a class assignment. It was an autobiographical essay entitled “Me, Myself, and I”. I had no recollection of writing this piece and yet there it was. It is hard to read it in the photo but the paragraph I chose says something about how I am “just another nice girl” (?!) but if I could be an artist when I grow up it would give me something that would make just a little bit different. WOWIE! SHAZAAMMM!!! This is the magic of  the creative process.  I went on to create many works with vintage gloves, some I have sold, but I have never been able to part with this piece. It is my totem.

Below is a link to view some examples and more info. on the Northwest Coast Native American Button Blankets.

http://www.freespiritgallery.ca/basketsblankets.htm

A Stitch In Time - I Begin It

I woke up this morning and decided to begin a blog. After all - if there is anything I love as much as creating and stitching it is words. So from time to time I will muse, ponder and post about art and such. I am a finder and a maker. I have been collecting things and making things since childhood.
I have been creating Art Textiles and other mixed media art work seriously (most recently photographic work) for two decades and I do have something to say. Perhaps this is a sort of retrospective in blog form. My plan is to post photos of work from the past and new work and blah blah blog about it.  Although if I have learned anything from making art and teaching for thirty years, things do not always go as planned and some of the best things happen when the plans go out the window. We'll see where I end up. Stay tuned.