Something to investigate..."THE NONA MYTH: Nona is one of the three Parcae goddesses of Roman mythology, symbols of human destiny and the necessary change. Nona spins the thread of life, Decima weaves it and Morta cuts it."

Thank you Liz Train for including me. #51. 'Mauna Kea / Powehi', is in the Hawaii Craftsmen 'Fiber Hawaii 2022' show. Opens June 8 - July 1. Fabrics used are scraps from Colleen Kimura's Tutuvi line and samples from Hawaii. Go see the back of this front panel. NFS.

#61 'Ukraine: Before and After' 56.5 x 52.5 Hawaii Costco sarong, blue Marimekko fabric, children print and various "ugly" fabrics.

Juror Kate Irvin, Curator and Department Head, Costume and Textiles at the Rhode Island School of Art Museum selected side B for 'Excellence in Fibers VIII' which will be published in the winter issue of 'Fiber Art Now', Jan. 2023.  A subsequent show will be held in San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles August 23, 2023. 

I'm excited that the "ugly" side has been selected to present. How interesting.

 

Side A

Side B

 

#55 'Juneteenth-2020 / Heroics' was accepted for publication and a show.

Jurors:

 Petra Slinkard, Director of Curatorial Affairs, The Nancy B Putnam Curator of Fashion and Textiles, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts.

Melinda Watt, President Textile Society of America, Chair and Christa C. Mayer Thurman Curator, Departed of Textiles, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.

Excellence in Fibers VII

Fiber Art Now. Vol 11 Issue 2 Spring 2022

Schweinfurth Art Center Summer Exhibition May 28-August 14 2022

 

?#. In Progress...

 

#60. 'Waltzing With Bears / Uncle Walter' 2021.12 66.5 x 60 Very lumpy and bumpy. American fabrics. Bears gifted from Missouri. SOLD 11/2023

I was contrasting these dark bears to light flowers and kittens; when I stumbled upon a song. 

My ukulele group sang 'Waltzing With Bears', written by Dr. Seuss and later interpreted by other musicians. I was inspired to learn that this song is an anthem for some gays and lesbians. 

Our Uncle Walter's not right in the head 

He's been that way all his life, my mother said

 Its not that he's violent or falls down the stairs 

Its just he goes waltzing, waltzing with bears 

 He goes wa wa wa waltzing, waltzing with bears 

Raggy bears, shaggy bears, baggy bears too 

There's nothing on earth Uncle Walter won't do 

So he can go waltzing, wa wa wa waltzing 

He can go waltzing, waltzing with bears  

Repeat #58. Appalachian Moose / Hawaiian Plastic Lei. Finally finished binding in December. 51" x 41". Tennessee thrift store and "silk" scarf from Economy Shop. Has been accepted in the 'Excellence In Quilts' by artist Sue Benner. It will be in the Fall 2023 issue of Fiber Art Now and will be eligible for exhibit at the Texas Quilt Museum May-August, 2024.

Exploring artifice.

A painted portrait of a moose in his natural habitat is printed on a piece of fabric. Why? He is hiding between candy cane stripes. Some areas are purposely exposed and not hidden under a weave so that viewers have enough visual input to actually see the moose.

A scarf was printed with a photograph of real flowers laid in a mandala circle. I wove it with a Hawaiian fabric of stiff plastic print of plumerias.  Surrounded and woven with a summery madras. 

A Beach Boy's vibe.

#59. Fae's Bear Hides in Honolulu. 7/2021. 46-47 height x 34.5-36 width. Honolulu sourced fabrics. Flower print sarongs from Costco and tapa design cloth from Central Union Thrift Store. Of course the bear came from the mainland. GIFTED.

Difficult fabrics. The tapa print is a woven twill which did not allow me to tear into strips. It may unravel despite sewing into place because some threads are cut along the edges. The large floral design is a loose woven fabric. The small floral print is a slippery synthetic knit which I used to patch "holes". All of this made it difficult to keep "square". 

 

 

#58. 'Appalachian Moose / Hawaiian Plastic Lei' 51" x 41" 2021.6 Moose hides while the other side dances the hula.

 Moose print was found in a thrift store in Tennessee. Lace printed bed sheet is from a thrift store in N. Carolina. Plasticky print of plumeria was salvaged in Hawaii. Scarf of photo printed flowers and camouflage fabric is from the Economy Shop, Oak Park, IL. Who knows where I got the plaid, not exactly a tartan but I think of it as such.

 

Scavenged from a thrift store in Tennessee. Can't wait to strip the Moose.

https://karm.org/karm-stores/    

(Cancer) "IS RELENTLESS. SO ARE WE". Advertisement printed on warp. "HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A REAL INDIAN" is printed on weft going horizontal.

Paper is easier to manipulate and weave unlike flexible fabric. It too spreads apart on the edges and weave tighter in the center. 

 

With vaccines come house guests. My studio gets shoved into boxes and turns back into a guest room.

 

#57. 'Dolly Parton's Christmas Present' 2021.2 58" x 55" Mostly American with some Japanese, Hawaiian, African, Indonesian fabrics; some left over from making Covid-19 masks. NFS. GIFTED to Dolly 2021.3.18.

 A podcast hosted by Jad Abumrad led me to Dolly Parton's song 'Coat of Many Colors'. This inspired me to make as traditional a quilt as I could. It's worth listening to 'Dolly Parton's America'.

 https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/dolly-partons-america

Christmas wrap the exterior of the many colored and faceted "coat". 

#56. 'Election-20, Red/Blue' 50 x 55.5 African, Hawaiian, Japanese fabric, and a contemporary fabric that reminds me of Russian Deconstructivism. 700.00

 

This piece was in an online show 'Uncommon Threads', SCORE/Santa Fe. 2023 

                              

55. 'Juneteenth-2020 / Heroics' 2020.9 51"x41" African wax print, Kente design, and Civil War pictures on cloth. Gifted and found materials. 900.

This is in the 'Fiber Arts Now' spring edition, as part of the 'Excellence in Fibers VII'. It will be on display at the Schweinfurth Art Center, Auburn, NY. 

May 28 - Aug 14, 2022.

Some questions I answered about this piece is below.

 

        

What do you want the audience to feel when they see your work? 

I want the viewer to feel joy.

What is the overall goal of this piece? 

To remind us that the Civil War resulted in a people freed from bondage and that is what we celebrate on Juneteenth. That history includes all people in a conflict, not just the leaders.

What is the most important thing to you about this artwork?

That I get to express what I feel and share it.

Why did you choose to highlight this political undertone in this piece? 

I’m not a very political person. But I do listen and am a part of my society.  When I learned about Juneteenth in 2020, so many years after the fact, I took note.

A Missouri acquaintance knew of an artist getting rid of fabric and got me a whole bunch of scraps. Among them were a few small pieces depicting scenes of Confederate and Union soldiers not fighting but making peace. I thought of how Missouri was a state that had men fighting on both sides of the war. 

I also have beautiful African fabrics. I framed the heroic figures coming together in peace with the celebratory colors of African cloths on the front side. On the back you see fabric printed with red, white and blue bunting against a night sky of small fireworks, this is interwoven with the African cloth from the front. To me, I feel the euphoria of 4th of July festivities combined with Juneteenth.

Is this a theme of more of your work?

Not exactly. All of my two sided woven quilts deal with commenting, complimenting, and/or contrasting one side with the other. I wouldn’t have searched for fabric of Confederate and Union soldiers. Chance plays a large part of what I bring together.

Is there anything else I didn't ask about that you'd like to add?

Some of the best views of my pieces are seen when they are tossed into a 3D heap. Of course the “story" is not read easily as it becomes a jumble of colored and patterned squares. Sometimes I can be very literal and sometimes very abstract.

54. renamed: 3x's retitled... ' Spring Chaos (Confined Chaos)'.6.2020 - 6.2025. 68" x 68". Contemporary cloths, cottons and synthetics. 900. Formerly called: 'Flowers Protest 2020 (Confined Chaos)' or, 'Spring-2020 (Confined Chaos)' 6.2020.

One quilt different names, different protest rallies, cycles back again. 

2026.2 renamed 'Spring Chaos (Confined Chaos)' 

Formerly titled, 'Flowers Protest 2025' after No King Day rally against Trumps reign. 6/14/2025. 

Protested with like minded people in Ballwin, MO. A red state compared to where we're from blue Chicago.  (Also date of the Army's 250 yr anniversary, Trumps birthday and sadly the shooting of two MN senators and wives.) 

Spring 2020 (Confined Chaos)

 

Spring 2020 was unlike any other spring. The idea of an idyllic formal flower bed surrounded by a white picket fence turns into a mayhem of flowers confined by black bars. "A riot of colors". I stripped several floral patterns and mixed them up but also had them "randomly" clump together. Aerial drone videos on the 6:00 News reminded me of how small and lost and random we can be in a rally. One side is without color, quite dead.