Textile Society of America
Date of this Version
2010
Abstract
I am engaged in a conversation with nature. Each work produced is the result of an intimate dialogue between artist and materials. The conversation may begin as I gather recycled organic matter and collect man-made objects of little value, or it may commence with a sudden discovery: of the beauty in a corn leaf, for example. Leaves and flowers that have fallen to earth are dried, ironed, flattened and stitched: processes that I view as ceremonial transitions from one stage of being to another. Through preparing the materials, I am attentive to the ways they reveal, through shape, pattern, color, texture, scale, nature’s language of process and change. Patience and the passage of time enable me to discern my role in their evolution or completion. For me, a successful collaboration not only extends the natural processes inherent in the materials, prolonging their existence and meaning through a kind of rebirth, it also leaves me enriched. Each meditative, repetitive gesture, each cut, stitch and placement is part of the experience of merging the natural and the man-made, the physical and the spiritual. In this presentation, I will take us through that creative dialog and journey with nature.
Comments
Presented at “Textiles and Settlement: From Plains Space to Cyber Space,” Textile Society of America 12th Biennial Symposium, Lincoln, Nebraska, October 6-9, 2010. Copyright 2010 Textile Society of America.