Stitched Dissent debuts on Friday

Four years ago I plunged into the political maelstrom that is our country more than I have ever done before. Reading reports of politicians lying, watching as closeted racists and white supremacists showed up in prime time, and seeing international relations disintegrate into name calling and resentment, my worries grow large. I’m an independent voter concerned with the environment, education and the welfare of all people across the globe. I vote for people who focus on peace, protecting the environment and who have empathy for those who have great challenges. No surprise, then, that my artwork reflects this focus.

I’m including a short slideshow here of the pieces that are included in the show. If you are in the Memphis area January 17-February 12 I hope you have an opportunity to see the show in person. I’ll even meet you over there to talk about this work if you want me to. We all need to start talking more.

I quilt to piece, layer and stitch a narrative that represents my concern for what is going on in our country. My art reflects American anxiety in a world of danger and distrust. It mirrors the ominous overtones of decisions disconnected from everyday life and a feeling that we are helpless in the wake of unmoored leadership.

I believe that cornerstone American values can emerge through the power of individual voices during the 2020 election cycle. The body of work in Stitched Dissent adds to the fundamental conversations going on in our media, our families, and our government.

Go to the show for your free sticker.

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details

Working on the last bits of a piece can be like standing in line at a government bureaucracy. Tedious buzzing calculations — how many more stitches for that one last line of stitching? Will the employee behind the counter tell me I am in the wrong line after standing (im)patiently for an hour in the first line? Can the exhibit use a staple gun to put my piece up instead of me having to stitch a sleeve to the back?  Tedious buzzing reminders that this is a slow art.

Tying this piece every two inches with crochet thread has given it a new dimension as well as a blister on my left middle finger.

I start to question my sanity when I work on little details for days on end and then tear half of them away. Or when I decide to add another layer to an already complicated collage. Is this layering saying something about my state of mind? Short answer: yes.

Pollinators is an assemblage of details tied together with details.

The rewards? Meditation, escape, complexity, depth, and mystery. I let the thread lead me.

This piece on nuclear arms testing had to have some olive branches drifting to the edge.

I'm going with disorder for now

Recently I got an email from one of my readers who said that one of her teachers left her with this thought one day:

Disorder is unnamed order.

This might be a perfect time to share a piece that was close to being cut up over the weekend. Luckily for me I shared it with a friend who said it just needed more thought. She couldn't put a name to it but had a number of comments that showed me how she perceived the piece. And, our conversation about it gave me new perspective on how I might proceed. You might recognize the piece from previous posts. It is a flag made with scraps and scrapings from the studio. A study of immigration, assembly and union.

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Adding more stitching created a bumpy topography that bordered on chaos.

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There's movement alright, a rippling and straining that only bias stitching can create.

Trouble was, I had this brilliant idea that if I stitched a radiating line out from each of the hand applied stars in the composition it would add movement and convey the coming together of the states.

But, without a good substrate to bolster the bias stitching the flag waves and wanders over the table as if in animated agony. Bubbles, bulges and pits are not a pretty thing.

Going back to my original intention for the piece -- a study of immigration and union -- conflict and resolution -- life stories and belonging, I realized that bulges and bubbles may be just what it needs. Our nation is a compilation of histories. The disorder is resolved by naming the injustices, applying the rule of law and coming together in harmony.

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So for now I am adding more stitching. Journeys of thread texture, gatherings of thread colonies and backbones of thread tracks. I am adding order to disorder and naming it This Imperfect Union.

This may take awhile.

Playing around

I am a lucky participant in an invitational art show in which each artist was provided a wooden cigar box. The show will be in alternative art gallery in October. This past week I looked around the studio for raw ingredients that might find a route into this creative gate. 

I am a collector of scraps. twigs. thread. snippets of fabric. rocks. dried weeds. you name it I got it. The pile of colorful threads next to my sewing machine started to look like it might have a heartbeat so I decided to take a stab at weaving it all together. Crosswise, lengthwise, in a circle, over a ball, into a nest, around a heart shaped rock and just plain balled up. The texture was emotive, chaotic, and intriguing.

The box I have is from Mexico. I have vivid memories of the colors and thread work I saw when visiting there a number of years ago. The art, the people, the history and the countryside are rich with inspiration and passion. Frankly, I was surprised. I was a victim of bad media coverage: fear of getting sick, attacked or kidnapped are all potently exploited by news reports here in the States. Fact is, it can be dangerous wherever you are and if you let fear rule your decisions you can miss out on a lot. It's a lesson that Congress could benefit from.

So that was the seed for this assemblage. The fact that we are a polyglot society dependent on and richly endowed by our immigrant population seems to be missing from our politicians mindsets. Woven together we are stronger, more creative and richer by far. At times it may look like chaos, but underneath there is a tapestry of truth.