Tuesday, November 07, 2017

commonplace holiness

 
we have astonishment
there is life held within materials
and in the art made from them
This is an idea Giuseppe Penone speaks about often.
Astonishment.  Poetry.
That there is life held within materials.
My friend, Connie Wilson,  gave me these handkerchiefs.  (I wrote about them here)
She died on Saturday and I miss her.
 
she was a daughter of the spirit,
a friend for two dozen years,
she taught me how to love

11 comments:

Ms. said...

love hangs on the line.

arlee said...

((((())))) across the ether

susan hemann said...

I am so sorry for your loss, a beautiful quilt, hanging on to memories

Sue McQ said...

Friend, I am sorry to hear of your loss. Memories of her are stored in your heart. There is life in cloth: it started out as a plant - a life. Waiting to be harvested for greater things. Blessings.

Judy Martin said...

I finished putting this two sided cloth together for Connie and me.
For my memory and for my healing. I had been working on it for weeks.

I refer to Penone's idea about life being held within materials because it seems to me that the life force of my friend remains in these handkerchiefs that she gifted to me.

Domestic objects are full of life.
Stains and worn places, hand stitched edges and initials. We carry and keep some items in our daily life for so long that they receive some of our life.

You know how clothing scraps in a quilt always make us point them out and remember mother's apron or the dress we wore for first day of school.

life and death
the two together
and continuously

xo

Mo Crow said...

love this beautiful honouring of your friendship

jude said...

one-ness. never separate.

Unknown said...

You honour her and remember her in taking her gift to you such a level that allows her never to be forgotten.
Your art moves me ... please know that I am very sorry for the loss of what was a special friendship.

Cris Winters said...

How wonderful to have had such a friend! And your memorial to her is so beautiful.

Velma Bolyard said...

beautiful memory, beautiful red stitching.

Carol Wiebe said...

I don’t think there can be a higher commendation than “she taught me how to love.” I am enamored with the idea of how we transfer our life into objects, and how by gifting them we give part of ourselves to others. Artists who work from the heart understand this deeply. Luckily, the more we give of ourselves, the more we have to give. We do not have to worry about “running out” of ourselves.

What a gift your friendship was to each other.